A European Television History / Edition 1

by Jonathan Bignell, Andreas Fickers

Overview

European Television History brings together television historians and media scholars to chart the development of television in Europe since its inception. The volume interrogates the history of the medium in divergent political, economic, cultural and ideological national contexts

• Taking a comparative approach to the topic, the volume is organized around a set of common questions, themes, and methodological reflections
• Deals with European television in the context of television historiography and transnational traditions
• Case study chapters written by scholars from different European countries to reflect their specific areas of expertise

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781405163392
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	12/15/2008
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.70(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Bignell is Professor of Television and Film at the University of Reading (UK).

Andreas Fickers is Assistant Professor for Television History at the University of Utrecht (NL).

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Table of Contents

List of Contributors vii

Acknowledgements ix

1 Introduction: Comparative European Perspectives on Television History 1
Jonathan Bignell and Andreas Fickers

2 Early TV: Imagining and Realising Television 55
Knut Hickethier

3 Institutionalising European Television: The Shaping of European Television Institutions and Infrastructures 79
Christina Adamou, with Isabelle Gaillard and Dana Mustata

4 Searching for an Identity for Television: Programmes, Genres, Formats 101
Jérôme Bourdon, with Juan Carlos Ibáñez, Catherine Johnson and Eggo Müller

5 TV Nations or Global Medium? European Television Between National Institution and Window on the World 127
Sonja de Leeuw, with Alexander Dhoest, Juan Francisco Gutiérrez Lozano, François Heinderyckx, Anu Koivunen and Jamie Medhurst

6 American Television: Point of Reference or European Nightmare? 154
Ib Bondebjerg, with Tomasz Goban-Klas, Michele Hilmes, Dana Mustata, Helle Strandgaard-Jensen, Isabelle Veyrat-Masson and Susanne Vollberg

7 European Television Events and Euro-visions: Tensions between the Ordinary and the Extraordinary 184
Rob Turnock, with Alexander Hecht, Dana Mustata, Mari Pajala and Alison Preston

8 European Television Audiences: Localising the Viewers 215
Mats Björkin, with Juan Francisco Gutiérrez Lozano

9 Conclusion: Reflections on Doing European Television History 229
Andreas Fickers and Jonathan Bignell

10 European Television Archives and the Search for Audiovisual Sources 257
Andy O’Dwyer

Index 264

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"With this collection, Bignell and Fickers bring together an outstanding team of scholars to draw together the best of existing and new scholarship in the field. This collection should inform all future studies of television, media history and, given the centrality of media to the formation of contemporary Europe, the study of European history as a whole." 
–Sean Cubitt, Director of the Program in media and Communications, University of Melbourne

Editorial Reviews

"The approaches of this book...should become part of the preparation of anyone teaching about television." (Communication Research Trends, 2009)

"A European Television History brings together television historians and media scholars to chart the development of television in Europe since its inception. The volume interrogates the history of the medium in divergent political, economic, cultural and ideological national contexts." (Viewfinder, March 2009)

From the Publisher