Temporal Qualities Of Digital v's Analog Tv

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1. Compare and contrast the temporal qualities of digital subscription television (e.g. Foxtel) with those of analogue free-to-air TV. How do the temporalities of both forms shape the constitution of ‘the public’? WORD COUNT: 690 The temporal qualities of analogue free to air television can be seen to construct/follow the flow of everyday life. The industrialisation of time is mirrored in free to air scheduling where distinct time zones are evident. Programmes are scheduled to be appropriate to the audience who is able to watch at the particular time e.g. kids’ cartoons run in the morning before school starts and are also allotted time in the afternoon when children would be home from school. Programs not suitable for young viewers are aired later in the evening when its presumed they have gone to bed. The temporal routine of analogue TV is dependable; the time of day is defined though the shows which are expected at a certain point. The news cycle on free to air TV exemplifies Scannell’s idea of ‘Dailiness’. In contrast to analogue TV, digital subscription television does not construct ‘the day’. With multiple channels screening shows 24/7 there is a breakdown of the time zone viewing imposed by free to air TV; kids’ cartoons run all day and all night on channels like Cartoon Network. Digital TV has channels solely for news and so the news cycle no longer has such an important dailiness role. The aim of both TV forms is to create a sense of flow in their sequencing of time. The flow of analogue TV cycles with the day and dictates viewing time but digital TV’s flow is quite different. According to Rizzo, the flow of digital TV is a two-way process which allows time to be shifted as recoding technologies give people the power to what they want when they want. Flow as a sensation encourages prolonged viewing with one programme

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