Digital Television and Control

This chapter outlines how the television industry regained power in the TV III era through a variety of digital technologies. Continuing the discussion of power and control in relation to television’s ancillary technologies, this chapter discusses DVD and DVRs, YouTube and catch-up platforms Hulu and iPlayer. These technologies helped move the ‘hub’ of media convergence onto ‘the digital’, to be accessed via a range of devices. In the course of this, the link between the television set and television content was severed. Through a collection of more accurate viewer data and technologies that serve to limit viewing of content to specific geographical areas, industry was also able to regain control. These TV III technologies continue to be relevant in a TV IV environment, but also create some preconditions for Netflix: specifically, the possibilities of binge-watching and the viewing of television content on devices that are not the television set.