1. Beginning, 2. Golden Age, 3.Competition

3. Competition

In the early years of TV, losses were common in the industry due to the high costs involved and the relatively low number of sets owned in the US Profits grew as the market expanded, though, and the size of the network market peaked in 1986. At that time, competition from cable TV, Pay Per View TV and VCRs began to heavily cut into market share. The big three broadcast networks had a 91% share of prime time audiences during the 1978-1979 season. This dropped to 75% in the 1986-1987 season, and further to 61% in 1993-1934 (Ad*Access Project). Especially, invented to expand the reach of network TV in areas, cable TV was the most powerful competitor of TV: "In 1979, ESPN, a total sports network made its debut on cable and became the largest and most successful basic cable channel, carried by virtually every cable system with reach of more than 57 million households. In 1980, CNN, Ted Turner's Cable News Network was born, lining up TV's two major sponsors, Procter & Gamble Co. and General Foods. At the same year, MTV, Music Television made its debut, too. Finally, in 1987, more than 50% of US household were wired for cable" (The History of Film & Television). Now, TV should face the new dimension of competition in the broadcasting market place.

As one response of it, TV tried to survive in the increasing channel competition by seeking several ways, one of which was merging with other media (e.g. cable TV and Internet) : "In 1989, Time Inc. and Warner Communication announced a $14 billion merger. In 1991, the broadcast TV networks and cable's CNN decided to provide extensive new coverage of the Persian Gulf War, even though major advertisers refused to air spots during news coverage of the war. In 1993, Time Warner announced plans to launch a full-service interactive network in Orlando, Florida. In 2000, AOL and Time Warner merged and became the largest company of its kind in the world (The History of Film & Television). In conclusion, now it is true that network TV has lost the power it had during the golden age with increasing media channels equipped with more advanced technology. However, it remains as one of the main media with greater effort to accept the new media environment actively in order to maintain its audiences by developing new TV technology as well as use advantages of Internet on TV.