Lessons from History, the Future of Television?

Abstract

This chapter considers historical comparisons to the current period of digital disruption, discussing two periods in the history of Hollywood where powerful incumbent market leaders have been seriously challenged by new competitors. The first was from 1917 to 1927 during the “Theater Wars” when Hollywood’s dominant studio-distributor was challenged by the emergence of vertically integrated studio-distributor-exhibitors. The second was from 1948 to 1958 when commercial television began to diffuse widely into American homes, fragmenting regular movie-going audiences. We argue that these comparisons hold strategic lessons for the present by focusing on the advantages that companies have that control the platforms that deliver content to audiences. As an introduction to the following chapters, this chapter introduces criteria for what makes a TV network.