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2018 | Book

Introduction: Netflix and the Re-invention of Television Read chapter Read first chapter

Netflix and the Re-invention of Television

Author: Mareike Jenner

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" , Springer Professional "Technik"

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About this book

This book deals with the various ways Netflix reconceptualises television as part of the process of TV IV. As television continues to undergo a myriad of significant changes, Netflix has proven itself to be the dominant force in this development, simultaneously driving a number of these changes and challenging television’s existing institutional structures. This comprehensive study explores the pre-history of Netflix, the role of binge-watching in its organisation and marketing, and Netflix’s position as a transnational broadcaster. It also examines different concepts of control and the role these play in the history of ancillary technologies, from the remote control to binge-watching as Netflix’s iteration of giving control to the viewers. By focusing on Netflix’s relationship with the linear television schedule, its negotiations of quality and marketing, as well as the way Netflix integrates into national media systems, Netflix and the Re-invention of Television illuminates the importance of Netflix’s role within the processes of TV IV.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction: Netflix and the Re-invention of Television
Abstract
The introduction of this book sets out the parameters of the debates of this study. It sets out the broader themes of this book and positions Netflix within the context of reconceptions of television (Kompare 2005) and the processes of TV IV. It introduces the broader themes and structure of this book: a focus on television’s ancillary technologies in the TV II and TV III era to place Netflix within a broader television history, the centrality of binge-watching to the structure, marketing and branding of Netflix and its broader role as transnational television within a dialectic relationship between the national and the transnational. The book remains focussed on Netflix’ in-house productions. These three parts are drawn together by an overall theme of the concept of control in relation to television and the way this positions Netflix within the processes of TV IV.
Mareike Jenner

Controlling Television: TV’s Ancillary Technologies

Frontmatter
Chapter 2. Introduction: Control, Power, Television
Abstract
This introduction to Part I “Controlling Television: TV’s Ancillary Technologies” sets out the theoretical parameters for the discussions of this part. In this, it largely focuses on concepts of control and choice, power and subversion. These concepts and their relationship with the history of ancillary technologies to television are embedded within neoliberal discourses that emphasise the viewer’s role in ‘repairing’ television, as Max Dawson (2008) puts it. This introduction also lays out the way the individual chapters of Part I debate different aspects of the relationship between power, control and television’s ancillary technologies. This is discussed in the chapters of this part by focusing on the remote control (Chapter 3), the VCR and its role in positioning television as the ‘hub’ of media convergence (Chapter 4) and digital technologies, such as DVD and DVR, YouTube and online catch-up platforms Hulu and BBC iPlayer in the TV III era (Chapter 5).
Mareike Jenner
Chapter 3. Managing Choice, Negotiating Power: Remote Controls
Abstract
This chapter looks at the remote control as, as the name suggests, maybe the ultimate technology of control within the context of television’s ancillary technologies. Though television remote controls were first introduced in the late 1940s, they became more accurate and cheaper to manufacture in the 1980s (see Benson-Allott, Remote Control. Bloomsbury, New York, 2015), meaning that they became increasingly common among owners of a television set throughout the decade. In the context of the proliferation of channels through cable, remote controls became crucial in managing extended choice. The ‘triple threat’ of remote controls, cable and the VCR led to changes in programming and in adjustments to advertising in order to uphold the financing model of commercial television. Furthermore, social debates about systems of power surrounding gender and class were often formulated around the object of the remote control. Thus, this chapter discusses concepts of power and control in relation to the remote control from various angles.
Mareike Jenner
Chapter 4. New Regimes of Control: Television as Convergence Medium
Abstract
This chapter discusses television as the ‘hub’ of media convergence in a pre-digital era. In this, it remains focussed on the TV II era by looking at the VCR as technology of control and time-shifting as the practice of ‘controlling television’. The VCR also made it possible to watch programming exclusively designed for it (such as aerobics or how-to videos), meaning the function of the television set could be extended beyond linear television. The chapter further discusses video games as another technology that transformed the television set in the TV II era. The VCR and video games both emerged as technologies that changed the function of the television set from medium that exclusively transmits broadcasting signals to medium that can be used to watch films at home, record and time-shift television programmes or play video games. Thus, ancillary technologies transform the set into central ‘hub’ of media convergence.
Mareike Jenner
Chapter 5. Digital Television and Control
Abstract
This chapter outlines how the television industry regained power in the TV III era through a variety of digital technologies. Continuing the discussion of power and control in relation to television’s ancillary technologies, this chapter discusses DVD and DVRs, YouTube and catch-up platforms Hulu and iPlayer. These technologies helped move the ‘hub’ of media convergence onto ‘the digital’, to be accessed via a range of devices. In the course of this, the link between the television set and television content was severed. Through a collection of more accurate viewer data and technologies that serve to limit viewing of content to specific geographical areas, industry was also able to regain control. These TV III technologies continue to be relevant in a TV IV environment, but also create some preconditions for Netflix: specifically, the possibilities of binge-watching and the viewing of television content on devices that are not the television set.
Mareike Jenner

Binge-Watching and the Re-invention of Control

Frontmatter
Chapter 6. Introduction: Binge-Watching Netflix
Abstract
This introduction to Part II: Binge-Watching and the Re-invention of Control sets out the theoretical parameters for the next three chapters. This chapter grapples with the question of how to define binge-watching and how it can be approached from a variety of perspectives to take into account the various technologies that enable binge-watching and how it links in with concepts of control. Somewhat contrary to the addiction metaphors implied in the terminology (see Brunsdon in Relocating Television: Television in the Digital Context. Routledge, London, 61–75, 2010), binge-watching has been linked to concepts of control over the television schedule discussed in the chapters of Part I. However, building on these ideas of previous ancillary technologies, the analysis of Netflix in the following chapters also shows how it has pushed the concept of binge-watching to the forefront in its own structuring, branding and marketing.
Mareike Jenner
Chapter 7. Scheduling the Binge
Abstract
This chapter deals with the way Netflix employs binge-watching as a structuring force in its organisation and publication of content. In this discussion, this chapter puts Netflix’ organisational structure in relation to the linear television schedule, discussing similarities and differences. Central to this are Lisa Perks’ (Media Marathoning: Immersions in Morality. Lexington Books, Lanham, MA, 2015) concepts of insulated flow and entrance flow. Insulated flow describes the way Netflix forwards binge-watching as mode of viewing through features like the post play or skip intro function while entrance flow describes the way viewers find new texts to binge-watch. In the case of Netflix, entrance flow is guided by algorithms that nudge viewers towards different texts, sometimes following the logics of the linear television schedule, such as through the central role of genre. Thus, this chapter offers an analysis of binge-watching as central concept to guide the structuring of Netflix.
Mareike Jenner
Chapter 8. ‘Quality’, ‘Popular’ and the Netflix Brand: Negotiating Taste
Abstract
This chapter analyses the links between concepts of ‘quality’ television and binge-watching by looking at the way binge-watching became a more common practice in the early 2000s when television became ‘legitimised’ (Newman and Levine in Legitimating Television: Media Convergence and Cultural Status, Routledge, Abingdon, 2012) and DVD box sets of TV series became popular. This chapter then moves on to debate Netflix’ more recent forays into more popular television by developing more traditional sitcoms. Thus, it becomes necessary to develop an idea of the genre and Netflix’ deployment of ‘quality’ comedies like season 4 of Arrested Development (Fox, 2003–6, Netflix, 2013–) or Grace and Frankie (Netflix, 2015–) and its later movement towards more conventional sitcoms like Fuller House (Netflix, 2016–) or One Day at a Time (Netflix, 2017–). It is particularly the sitcom, with its long tradition as televisual genre, that betrays how problematic Netflix’ structure can be when it comes to the negotiation of ‘quality’ and ‘taste’.
Mareike Jenner
Chapter 9. Netflix Marketing: The Binge and Diversity
Abstract
This chapter explores the way binge-watching was deployed in the marketing of House of Cards (Netflix, 2013–) and season 4 of Arrested Development (Fox, 2003–6, Netflix, 2013–) through Kevin Spacey and Mitch Hurwitz to position the practice as central to watching Netflix. Interviews with both in 2013 highlight how the figures were used to ‘explain’ binge-watching and, thus, the platform itself. Other debates in mainstream media also point to the way the terminology was ‘mainstreamed’ by Netflix throughout 2013. After deploying binge-watching as central concept in marketing campaigns in its early years of in-house production, Netflix recently recalibrated its branding via content towards a concept of diversity. Yet, as most of its content remains American, this diversity remains bound by national social, historical and economic conditions that are hardly universal. As Part III discusses, the transnational nature of Netflix makes this problematic.
Mareike Jenner

Netflix and the Re-invention of Transnational Broadcasting

Frontmatter
Chapter 10. Introduction: Netflix as Transnational Broadcaster
Abstract
This chapter sets out the theoretical framework that positions Netflix as transnational broadcaster. Part III: Netflix and the Re-invention of Transnational Broadcasting discusses Netflix in relation to national and transnational broadcasting by drawing on the theory of Nick Couldry’s (Media, Society, World: Social Theory and Digital Media Practice. Polity, Cambridge) decentred media systems and Breidenbach and Zukrigl’s (Tanz Der Kulturen: Kulturelle Identität in Einer Globalisierten Welt. Kunstmann, München) analogy of the ‘dance of cultures’ as well as other theorists of media and globalisation. Chapter 11 outlines concepts of the national and the transnational in relation to media. Chapter 12 debates how Netflix negotiates issues of transnationalism and domestication through its publication model and texts. Chapter 13 looks specifically at the issue of a ‘Netflix audience’ distinct from a national mass media audience, but also from a truly global transnational audience. Like the rest of this book, Part III remains focused on Netflix’ in-house productions to consider transnationalism, domestication and the immediacy of online communication.
Mareike Jenner
Chapter 11. The Transnational, the National and Television
Abstract
This chapter debates how Netflix can be positioned within a system of national and transnational television. Within a decentred media system, it is important to consider how Netflix is positioned within a dialectic relationship between ideological constructs of ‘the nation’ and transnational television and the global exchange of cultural products. Traditionally, television has produced texts for national markets before exporting them. Within foreign markets, it is possible to domesticate television by placing imports within nationally specific schedules and via translation. Yet, Netflix has to consider transnationalism from the outset by offering possibilities for domestication in its markets from the start. Though not out of reach of regulatory systems that control media markets, Netflix still operates distinct from ‘traditional’ national and transnational broadcasting. Thus, this chapter considers how Netflix can be conceptualised as transnational broadcaster.
Mareike Jenner
Chapter 12. The Transnational and Domestication: Netflix Texts
Abstract
This chapter focuses more specifically on Netflix’ in-house productions to discuss how it is positioned within national media systems. First, it looks at how the binge model draws on social media and the instant communication possible through the internet and social media to explain how Netflix positions itself transnationally. The chapter then moves on to discuss a ‘grammar of transnationalism’ visible in Netflix’ in-house productions to make integration into different national media systems possible. This chapter then analyses how Netflix makes domestication of texts possible through its extension of translation options, increasingly available from the outset. These aspects position Netflix as a transnational broadcaster that manages to cater to ideological constructs of ‘the nation’, but simultaneously also evades these concepts by highlighting aspects that serve an idea of transnationalism.
Mareike Jenner
Chapter 13. The Netflix Audience
Abstract
This chapter conceptualises the Netflix audience as transnational audience. Transnational audiences have traditionally been conceptualised via social media and online communication. Yet, due to Netflix’ discursive links with television, its audience’s engagement is hardly the same. Television studies have previously conceptualised audiences as national audiences, even if these have become increasingly fragmented since the TV II era. Yet, Netflix’ audience is clearly transnational and fragmented across borders, rather than within them. Though Netflix’ audience can hardly be thought of as an audience of fans, fan studies offer concepts to understand audience formations around specific texts or platforms rather than as a national audience. Thus, this chapter considers how the Netflix audience can be considered as a transnational television audience.
Mareike Jenner

Conclusion

Frontmatter
Chapter 14. Conclusion
Abstract
The conclusion ties together the three debates of this book, tying them back to the overall themes of control and Netflix’ role in the processes of TV IV. This book debated the current reconception of television via concepts of control in relation to television’s ancillary technologies in the TV II and TV III era, the centrality of binge-watching to Netflix, and in relation to its role in a transnational television landscape. Drawing together these themes, the conclusion highlights the different forms of control exercised by television viewers and how this links in with broader discourses of neoliberalism. This also places Netflix within a context of television history as well as the processes of TV IV.
Mareike Jenner
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Netflix and the Re-invention of Television
Author
Mareike Jenner
Copyright Year
2018
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-94316-9
Print ISBN
978-3-319-94315-2
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94316-9