Blue Skies: A History of Cable Television
- ISBN-10
- 1592137067
- ISBN-13
- 9781592137060
- Series
- Blue Skies
- Category
- Business & Economics
- Pages
- 816
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2008-04-05
- Publisher
- Temple University Press
- Author
- Patrick Parsons
Description
Cable television is arguably the dominant mass media technology in the U.S. today. Blue Skies traces its history in detail, depicting the important events and people that shaped its development, from the precursors of cable TV in the 1920s and '30s to the first community antenna systems in the 1950s, and from the creation of the national satellite-distributed cable networks in the 1970s to the current incarnation of "info-structure" that dominates our lives. Author Patrick Parsons also considers the ways that economics, public perception, public policy, entrepreneurial personalities, the social construction of the possibilities of cable, and simple chance all influenced the development of cable TV. Since the 1960s, one of the pervasive visions of "cable" has been of a ubiquitous, flexible, interactive communications system capable of providing news, information, entertainment, diverse local programming, and even social services. That set of utopian hopes became known as the "Blue Sky" vision of cable television, from which the book takes its title. Thoroughly documented and carefully researched, yet lively, occasionally humorous, and consistently insightful, Blue Skies is the genealogy of our media society.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2022-07-26
- 384 pages
- Paperback
- St. Martin's Paperbacks
Similar books
-
Blue Skies
By Catherine AndersonTwo people discover the healing power of love in this Coulter Family romance from New York Times bestselling author Catherine Anderson.
-
Blue Skies
By Anne BustardFor fans of Kate DiCamillo’s Louisiana’s Way Home, this heartwarming novel tells the story of ten-year-old Glory Bea as she prepares for a miracle of her very own—her father’s return home.
-
Blue Skies Tomorrow: A Novel
By Sarah SundinAnd can their young love survive until blue skies return? Filled with drama, daring, and all the romance of the WWII era, Blue Skies Tomorrow is the captivating final book in the popular Wings of Glory series.
-
Blue Skies
By Robyn CarrSo when they're presented with the challenge of joining a team starting a new airline in Las Vegas, they don't hesitate. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, these three friends are going in search of their own blue skies.
-
Nothing but Blue Skies
By Thomas McGuaneThomas McGuane's high-spirited and fiercely lyrical new novel chronicles the fall and rise of Frank Copenhaver, a man so unhinged by his wife's departure that he finds himself ruining his business, falling in love with the wrong women, and ...
-
Blue Skies
By T. L. MartinBlue Skies
-
Blue Sky White Stars
By Sarvinder Naberhaus"A ... poetic tribute to the beauty and wonder of America's symbols, history, landscape"--
-
And Blue Skies From Pain: A Book of the Fey and the Fallen
By Stina LeichtNorthern Ireland, 1977.
-
Beyond the Blue Skies
By Vanessa SoyerBeyond the Blue Skies
-
Blue Skies, Green Hell: A True Story about Bush Flying Pioneers in Wild Venezuela - I Was There
By Marilyn Lazzari-WingA flight to Miami turns sour as their twin-engine C-46 conks out over the Caribbean. Best friends die in fiery crashes. Aston age Indian appears where he shouldn't be. This is drama from the cockpit of vintage aircraft.