An instructive, if misnamed, volume on emerging technology in the
fields of television, telephony, and computers. Owens, an
economist, tends to approach his subjects with the issue of
cost-effectiveness foremost. He treats his material methodically
from both historical and prognostic points of view, covering radio
as a precursor to television and making predictions on the success
of high-definition television (HDTV). In the case of telephones and
televisions, there is a further division into analog and digital
subsets, and with television additional stratification between
broadcast and cable media. Much of this discussion is quite
helpful, and Owen certainly renders the technical jargon far more
clearly than a typical owner's manual for a product does. For
instance, he offers an instructive discussion on the origins of the
word "broadcast," employing a comparison with "narrowcast" to
underscore the importance of bandwidth to predigital and
non-computer-based forms of communication. Similarly, Owens makes
strong use of charts and diagrams to elucidate his contentions. His
political stance, on those rare occasions when it can be discerned
at all, is innocuously laissez-faire, criticizing both monopolies
and government-sponsored protection of the industry. However, the
study eventually sinks under the weight of too much material
crammed into too slim a volume: confusion inevitably results,
despite the helpful glossary. More importantly, the issue of
convergence between television and the Internet - the very
phenomenon that the book's title suggests is central - comes late
in the discussion and is given short shrift. Owen seems somewhat
behind the curve, predicting that television/computer convergence
is further off than it may actually be, though his points about the
requirements for higher computer speeds and greater memory capacity
are well taken. Despite its future-oriented hype, more useful as a
historical text than a handbook for the 21st century. (Kirkus
Reviews)
After a half-century of glacial creep, television technology has
begun to change at the same dizzying pace as computer software.
What this will mean--for television, for computers, and for the
popular culture where these video media reign supreme--is the
subject of this timely book. A noted communications economist,
Bruce Owen supplies the essential background: a grasp of the
economic history of the television industry and of the effects of
technology and government regulation on its organization. He also
explores recent developments associated with the growth of the
Internet. With this history as a basis, his book allows readers to
peer into the future--at the likely effects of television and the
Internet on each other, for instance, and at the possibility of a
convergence of the TV set, computer, and telephone. The digital
world that Owen shows us is one in which communication titans
jockey to survive what Joseph Schumpeter called the "gales of
creative destruction." While the rest of us simply struggle to
follow the new moves, believing that technology will settle the
outcome, Owen warns us that this is a game in which Washington
regulators and media hyperbole figure as broadly as innovation and
investment. His book explains the game as one involving
interactions among all the players, including consumers and
advertisers, each with a particular goal. And he discusses the
economic principles that govern this game and that can serve as
powerful predictive tools.
General
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