Media Globalization
Television and Global Culture
Part I: Media Transnationalism
• The rise of transnational television lies at the heart of the current
regional and global shaping of media industries and cultures.
• A crop of trans-border TV channels has played a determining role in
the transformations of media cultures in the region.
• In South Asia, Zee TV and Star TV have accompanied sweeping
cultural and radical transformations in the television industry.
• The sheer variety and reach of these cross-border channels is
staggering.
• International channels cover every possible niche market and
present several types of transnationality.
• Every type of broadcaster has launched trans-border TV channels,
whether public service organizations, state organizations or private
concerns.
• Some channels address an audience of migrants with a common
linguistic and cultural background, others target the cosmopolitan
elite.
Stages of Media Transnationalism
• Content Strategy Evolution:
▫
The corporate strategy to make channels cross boundaries has evolved over time.
• Global-Local:
▫
International feeds were adapted to local tastes leading to the emergence of practices of
localization.
• Glocalization:
▫
Practices of adaptation include an array of methods ranging from multilingual services
(dubbing or subtitling) to local program inserts.
• Adaptation:
▫
The practice of adaptation differs according to channel type and region. Entertainment
channels that appeal to mass audiences need to localize more than international news
channels aimed at the corporate elite.
• Geo-cultural Programming:
▫
Not only has audiences affinity to their culture taken into account but the recalcitrance of
governments vary of foreign influence on their indigenous cultures also addressed.
• Digital Divide:
▫
The unevenness in the distribution of technology in Third world countries due to the
population’s low access to cable and satellite services also has to addressed for global channels
to achieve their required advertising revenue targets.
Structure of Media Globalization – Four tiers
• Global media industry:
▫ Vertically integrated transnational media corporations whose activities spread the
globe and span most media sectors.
• Global communication producers:
▫ Multinational companies with strong regional sales or those with global reach
specializing in a niche market. These are responsible for producing news and
entertainment products, including film TV series and documentaries.
• Global communication networks:
▫ Companies which constitute the technology infrastructure of this system. They
comprise undersea fiber-optic cables, communication satellites and the Internet,
enabling media companies to deliver their products almost free from geographical
impediments.
• Global regulatory regime:
▫ Comprise the legal framework being shaped by international agencies such as the
WTO and the ITU. It covers an increasing number of countries and aspects of the
multinational cultural trade.
Structure of Media Globalization
The formation of the global media system does not in itself explain the changing nature of the
international television market. It’s a multilayered surface involving four dimensions;
(1) Local, (2) National, (3) World-regional and, (4) Global.
•
•
•
Geo-cultural Regions:
• This region sits between the national and the global levels and is not defined solely by world contours but also
commonalities of language and culture.
• Regional media systems have their own broadcasting associations.
• They frequently host a TV news exchange system and have a network of program distribution.
• Their communication satellite networks are organized on a regional basis (Arabsat, Eutelsat, PanAmSat).
• Media hubs are set up and they act as clusters of expertise, creative talent and capital for the industry. Miami,
Hong Kong, Dubai and London each play a similar role for their respective regions.
• Corporate players have also emerged strongly in this sector and have capitalized on the growing trend of
regional TV.
• Thus it has been seen that geo-cultural region plays a pivotal role in the worldwide development of
transnational TV.
Regional Feeds:
• These share more of their programming but have their distinct schedules.
Reception Universe:
• A majority of cross-border TV channels (RTL in Europe, ART in the Middle East, Multichoice in Africa,
Televisa in Latin America and Star TV in India) are pan-regional in scope.
• An example of this is Zee TV’s strategy of transnationalizing which shows the growing ‘reverse traffic in
television flow’ from the the global South to the West- chasing South Asian viewers worldwide.
• The size of the reception universe is largely determined by audience access to cable and satellite services.
Regional Development of Transnational TV
• Importance of Homogeneity:
• Regional, cultural and linguistic homogeneity is of great importance as linguistic
boundaries delineate the reach of trans-border channels. Arab and Latin
American channels are linguistically the most homogenous
• Global Reach:
▫ A certain number of regional channels have been successful in achieving global
reach.
▫ Those in private hands include CNN, CNBC, Discovery, National Geographic,
Cartoon Network, Hallmark, MTV and Zee TV to name a few.
▫ Public service broadcasters have also have their distribution in all five regions and
are essentially the BBC World, TV5, NHK World.
▫ Several media conglomerates have developed a presence in key geo-cultural
regions even without global channels, usually by forging alliances with local
partners. Such as News Corporations Sky Digital (UK), Sky Italia (Europe), Star
TV (South Asia), Phoenix TV (Greater China) and Sky Latin America.
• GUV’s:
▫ Trans-national TV channels however, are not entirely free from geographical
impediments because most markets are local by definition and they must abide by
national and regional regulations.
Part II
Television and global Culture
Consumption of Global Television
• Empirical Findings:
▫ Global television has little impact on viewers.
▫ Does not affect their deeply entrenched values.
▫ Viewers usually preferred local over foreign
programs.
Consumption of Global Television
• Cultural Proximity: was a major factor
contributing to the flow of global television.
• Audience Preferences
▫ Consumption of programs divided into a three
tiered model;
 Local programs
 Culturally proximate programs/ popular genre
 Less culturally proximate/ information related,
sports, science and animation
Television Consumption
• Cultural Absorption
▫ Explains the flow of global television;
“a process whereby a country chooses to import global television on its own
terms with a view to meeting local cultural needs”.
• Audience Perception
▫ Foreign cultural values rejected.
▫ Comprehension of Foreign cultures takes place.
• Gratification
▫ Audiences have different motivations while consuming global TV.




To get information not available at home.
Better entertainment .
Get news about their favorite movies or celebrities.
On average audiences prefer watching local over foreign productions.
Local appeal versus Export-rated
Quality
• Appeal vs Quality
The Quality of cultural products is hard to define because the perception of
it varies with cultures.
▫ Quality of Perception lies in;
 Technical attractiveness of audio-visual images
 Appeal of story plot
 Performance of artists
▫ Appeal
 Common people generally get confused between “appeal” and “quality”.
 Programs appeal refers to “The ability of a program to put together elements
that satisfy the informational, entertainment and cultural needs of the
audience and to induce consumption”.
 Appeal of cultural products involves cultural tastes which change with time,
generations and cultures. Therefore global TV should also adjust to these
changes.
 Example: Success of Phoenix and Zee TV in the Star TV Network Asia.
Global television & Global Culture
• Fear of a homogenous global culture is
ungrounded.
▫
▫
▫
▫
▫
Decline in television viewing.
Alternatives to TV available.
Glamour of TV lost with time.
Proliferation of channels.
Fragmentation and inattentiveness of audiences.
Homogenizing Various Cultures
•
•
•
•
First: Access to various host countries.
Second: Prime time slot.
Third: Consumption.
Fourth: Affect and replace audience cultural
values with its own.
• Fifth: Values of global TV should be
comprehensive enough to substitute every
aspect of hosts cultural values.
Globalization and Fear of
Homogenization
What is Globalization?
“The rapidly developing process of complex interconnections
between, societies, cultures, institutions and individuals
worldwide”
• Compression and shrinking of time and space which brings
human beings and events related to them closer to one
another.
• The concern about the “Sameness of Cultures” at the end of
this century is related to the phenomenon of globalization eg.
McDonalds, Coca Cola, Disney, similar skylines, shopping
malls, chain stores, brands and products. Celebrity events,
death of Michael Jackson, Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.
Dimensions of Globalization: The State
& the Market
• Internationalization
▫ Strengths
 Increasing interaction between states & international
organizations.
 Formation of regional & international organizations.
 Adoption of standard rules & behavior.
 International collaborative efforts in health, crimes, drugs &
now terrorism.
 Common institutional ideology such as judicial, economic,
educational and political systems.
▫ Weaknesses
 Cultural apathy.
 Reconciliation rather than harmony.
 Does not address social or cultural differences amongst
nations.
Dimensions of Globalization
• Marketization
The process of turning the world into a single market through multinational corporations can be
termed as “marketization”.
Capitalism is inherently globalizing.
▫ Strengths
 Capitalization of Third World – factories, division of labor, assembly line production
models.
 Consumerism – mass advertising
 Standardization – automobiles, living amenities, tech products.
 Deregulation – to break down national barriers for capital flow.
 Television is seen as the natural carrier for homogenizing and globalizing world
cultures.
▫ Weaknesses
 Ineffective on Value systems
 Spiritually inert
 Therefore it is highly unlikely that global television can commodify people’s values
and persuade them to change their belief of their cultures.
Dimensions of Globalization
• Inter-acculturation
“It is a process by which different cultures learn to adapt the values
of one another’s cultures and assimilate them into their own”
▫ Features of inter-acculturation
 Universal Issues: Environmentalism, equality,
democracy, liberty.
 Adoption of Universal Values: not to kill or steal.
 Voluntary exchange
 Diversity not Uniformity
Contests among Markets, State and
Culture
• Cultural Myths
▫ State: protector of Culture.
▫ Market: intruder in Culture.
 Culture is not subservient to either market or state.
 If the state or market cannot satisfy peoples needs they
will look elsewhere for substitutes.
 Quite often global television has to adapt to local cultures
in order to be accepted and consumed.
 Therefore in the contest between market and the state,
local culture is the strongest player as an arbitrate
between the state and market and their contest for
dominance over people.