Klein (1971) Why you watch What you watch

7 - Klein is a former VP in charge of audience-measurement at NBC
-feels most people complain about the programs and claim to never watch TV
-however instead of turning the set off, they continue to watch each night
-TV audiences are growing each year

Main Argument - Viewers watch TV regardless of content
Programs try to appeal to everyone, so in most cases it will not meet your needs or specific tastes

Klein compares TV to reading and says "reading requires a process called decoding."
-Here he does not give credit to the notion of the active audience
-He says that kids take in a lot more information than adults because they are less burdened with guilt when watching (doing other things would be better for adults and they know it)

8 - Visual quality of TV attracts people to shows that most of them would otherwise ignore in printed form

It's the medium that meets people's tastes
Least Objectionable Program Theory - flip around the channels and settle for the least objectionable program to watch

**This throws the entire ratings system into question

Inaccuracy in ratings is not an issue, it's the irrelevancy of ratings.
-There are many homes with multiple viewers, so why should a home be counted monolithically?
-Five people in the home watching Laugh-in versus One person watching Gunsmoke are counted the same - 1 home, 1 vote
-He calls it "non-sense"

9 - Additionally, popular shows may have consisted of people who "could not buy enough of the advertised product to pay for advertising time."

The high rated show made the other programs opposite low rated.  Low rated shows are then dropped.  However, the irrelevancy of these measures have become understood and has led to the rural purge, redefining a "TV hit."

TV Hit = "a program that reaches a mass of young adults, preferably those who live in the big cities."

10 - Very difficult to raise or lower HUTs, which indicate content has little to do with it.

Klein predicts this will eventually change and someone will figure out how to deliver more satisfying content (like niche networks?) - we are moving toward a "completely visual culture."