Cable visions: television beyond broadcasting

Looks beyond broadcasting's mainstream, toward cable's alternatives, to critically consider the capacity of commercial media to serve the public interest. This work offers an overview of the industry's history and regulatory trends, case studies of cable newcomers aimed at niche markets, and analyses of programming forms introduced by cable TV.

The moms 'n' pops of CATV / Megan Mullen -- A taste of class : pay-TV and the commodification of television in Postwar America / John McMurria -- Cable's digital future / Francois Bar & Jonathan Taplin -- If it's not TV, what is it? the case of U.S. subscription television / Amanda D. Lotz -- Where the cable ends : television in fringe areas / Lisa Parks -- Discovery's Wild Discovery : the growth and globalization of TV's animal genres / Cynthia Chris -- Tunnel vision and food : a political-economic analysis of Food Network / Cheri Ketchum -- Target market black : BET and the branding of African-America / Beretta E. Smith-Shumade -- Monolingualism, biculturalism, and cable TV : HBO Latino and the promise of the multiplex / Katynka Z. Martinez -- Gay programming, gay publics : public and private tensions in lesbian and gay cable channels / Anthony Freitas -- The Nickelodeon brand : buying and selling the audience / Sarah Banet-Weiser -- Cable watching : HBO, The Sopranos, and discourses of distinction / Dana Polan -- Bank tellers and flag wavers : cable news in the United States / Toby Miller -- Dualcasting : Bravo's gay programming and the quest for women audiences / Katherine Sen…