The Television Will Be Revolutionized, Second Edition

Go behind the TV screen to explore what is changing, why it is changing, and why the changes matters. Manyproclaimed the “end of television” in the early years of the twenty-firstcentury, as capabilities and features of the boxes that occupied a centralspace in American living rooms for the preceding fifty years were radicallyremade. In this revised, second editionof her definitive book, Amanda D. Lotz proves that rumors of the death oftelevision were greatly exaggerated and explores how new distribution andviewing technologies have resurrected the medium. Shifts in the basic practicesof making and distributing television have not been hastening its demise, butare redefining what we can do with television, what we expect from it, how weuse it—in short, revolutionizing it. Television,as both a technology and a tool for cultural storytelling, remains as importanttoday as ever, but it has changed in fundamental ways. The Television Will Be Revolutionized provides a sophisticatedhistory of the present, examining television in what Lotz terms the“post-network” era while providing frameworks for understanding the continuedchange in the medium. The second edition addresses adjustments throughout theindustry wrought by broadband delivered television such as Netflix, YouTube,and cross-platform initiatives like TV Everywhere, as well as how technologiessuch as tablets and smartphones have changed how and where we view. Lotz beginsto deconstruct the future of different kinds of television—exploring how“prized content,” live television sports and contests, and linear viewing mayall be “television,” but very different types of television for both viewersand producers. Throughinterviews with those working in the industry, surveys of trade publications,and consideration of an extensive array of popular shows, Lotz takes us behindthe screen to explore what is changing, why it is changing, and why the changesmatter.