Case Study C: Bruce Christensen The President Of PBS

1. List the main character(s). The main characters in Case Study C are Bruce Christensen the President of PBS. Also, Peter Downey is the Senior Vice President for the program support group that the cable company calls railroad train racing in our direction. (Oster 197)

2. Give a brief overview? A brief overview of PBS would be in 1988 when the increasing of a variety and availability of television programming through cable television, satellite telecommunicating, and VCR’s, the Public Broadcasting Service’s (PBS) is the leading provider of alternative, high-quality programming that has been challenged. (Oster197) The public television decentralized and slowly changed in the midst of a telecommunications Revolution during the mid-and
What are the issues to be addressed? The issues to be addressed in the world television has been abrupt and unsettling it’s enough to make you count the years of retirement stated in July 1988 by Mr. Christensen. (Oster197) Americans were becoming more dependent on television for information and entertainment, new technology advances that created more choices for people viewing televisions. (Oster197) Cable Television had become a great threat to PBS. (Oster197) PBS needed to adapt in order to survive and thrive within this new kind of competitive environment. (Oster197) Mr. Christensen needed to change the PBS structure and operations. (Oster197) He also would have to realize that the changing in the competitive environment could create substantial opportunities for public television (PTV) as well. (Oster197) The PTV’s is very existence and is being called into question. (Oster197) Mr. Christensen saw that cable’s challenge might be the necessary catalyst for invigorating change in public television. (Oster 197) In the mid-and late1980s, the PTV system lacked funds and, on an aggregated station basis, operated with deficits. (Oster 197) Aggregated income of PTV licenses in FY 1986 totaled $ 893 million, while aggregated expenditures reached $959 million. (Oster201) The Financial structure of PTV is extremely complex as it includes funds flowing among CPB, PBS, individual stations, independent producers, and regional networks relating to the issues. (Oster201) In the
What the solution? The Solution is the Future Technological Developments that came in 1988. (Oster216) The revolutionary advances were on the horizon, including Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) and Fiber Optic Systems. (Oster216) Increasing the number and capabilities of channels in a home, these alternatives to Cable could be eliminated by local broadcast station’s role as the primary providers of programs to viewers by directly supplying continuous programming. (Oster216) This Cable system delivers programs that would transmit images over ultrapure hair-thin strands of glass. (Oster216) This new system could possibly be available at the end of the 1990s. (Oster216) Fiber optics system could be operated by multiple systems operators or by telephone companies as both enjoy entrees into the home via Coaxial Cable and telephone lines. (Oster216) The DBS was likely to compete with cable by 1995, involving the evolution of smaller and smaller satellite dishes that would be easier to install and even less expensive than the larger satellite dishes. (Oster216) The DBS system could be a more efficient distribution system than cable because there is no need for multiple system operations. (Oster216) Well, the DBS and fiber optics could help the companies or hinder PTV.