This book about media programming deals with the emerging as well as the established mass communication media. The authors focus on how programs (units of content) are selected (or not selected), how the programs are arranged in schedules or menus of various kinds, how the programs are evaluated by the industry, and how they are promoted to audiences and advertisers. Eight major changes related to programming guided the revisions for this edition :
- The networks’ shift from multiplatform marketing to a multiplatform programming strategy.
- The assimilation of diverse broadcast, cable, online, and syndicated interests within a giant parent corporation.
- Incorporation of changing network configurations.
- Proliferation of streaming television and radio on the internet.
- Expansion of mobile phones, PDAs, and handheld music players into real-time programming media.
- Growth of new kinds of programs.
- Full parity with broadcast ratings for cable networks and Hispanic stations.
- End of the classic era in network news.