Rating takes priority over 'quality' when it comes to television Essay

Rating takes priority over 'quality' when it comes to television programming provision. Discuss - Essay Example s, due to the introduction of innovative modalities such Cable Television, Satellite and Broadband Television and due to the multitude of channels available, the television industry worldwide has become extremely competitive1. Broadcasters and channels, in order to maintain their position in the industry, often face a dilemma as to whether to adopt an audience-oriented approach, thereby maintaining quality of programmes produced, or a market-oriented approach, focusing on ratings and the business generated and compromise on aspects of the final product2. In order to attract more viewers there is often a trade-off between quality and ratings thus jeopardizing program quality. This paper discusses the various measures of assessment of television programs including their quality and ratings, and elucidates whether ratings are prioritized over quality in the current competitive era of television programming. Television viewing can be best described and explained as being pervasive in nature and television programmes have a significant impact on the lives of the viewers as they help the audiences in formulating their views, opinions and notions regarding various matters. According to Strivers (1994)3, mass media plays a significant role in shaping the public opinion and perceptions, in both a negative and a positive manner. This has important implications for the media, including the television industry as the media has to play a very responsible role in relaying constructive notions of the society only. In addition to that, one of the integral purposes of television programming is the provision of entertainment. Entertainment can be defined in several different ways. Gripsrud (2002) states that the purpose of provision of entertainment is to capture the audience’s attention and making them ‘so engaged in/by something, that we mentally leave our immediate surroundings to some extent (pg 276)’4. The aforementioned discussion serves to underscore the importance