Television in The United States - The Business of Television

The Business of Television

Over-the-air commercial stations and networks generate the vast majority of their revenue from advertisements. According to a 2001 survey, broadcast stations allocated 16 to 21 minutes per hour to commercials. Most cable networks also generate income from advertisements, although most basic cable networks also receive subscription fees. However, premium cable networks, such as the movie network HBO, do not air commercials. Instead, cable-TV subscribers must pay extra to receive the premium networks.

In the days of broadcast television, networks allocated a portion of commercial time for their shows to the local affiliates, which allowed the local stations to generate revenue. In the same manner, cable-TV system operators generate some of their revenue by selling local commercial time for each cable network being broadcast. The other main source of revenue for the cable-TV operators is subscription fees.

Read more about this topic:  Television In The United States

Famous quotes containing the words business and/or television:

    Mily: You must remember me!?
    Tadeusz: I never remember pretty women. It’s so expensive.
    My friend, after twenty thousand years murder is still a business that’s mainly in the hands of amateurs.
    Orson Welles (1915–1985)

    His [O.J. Simpson’s] supporters lined the freeway to cheer him on Friday and commentators talked about his tragedy. Did those people see the photographs of the crime scene and the great blackening pools of blood seeping into the sidewalk? Did battered women watch all this on television and realize more vividly than ever before that their lives were cheap and their pain inconsequential?
    Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)