TV IS DEAD?

PROGRAMME 4: TIME FOR TV

ACTIVITIES

Guidance

These activities support a variety of individual, paired and group work and can be chosen and adapted to suit the needs of the students involved.

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Before viewing

Organise students into small groups and ask them to discuss the following:

1. How often do you consult a TV schedule to help you decide what to view? Do you use other ways of choosing your viewing?
2. Do you watch the ads? Are you aware of sponsorship of programmes?
3. Do you use PVRs (personal video recorders)? Do you fast forward through material? At what speed? Are you aware of the content of the material you fast forward through?
4. What do you understand by 'peaktime'? What shows do you think are currently aired during peaktime? Check your responses against a schedule.
5. Do you watch any soaps? Which ones and why?
6. Do you ever talk about TV? What makes it a topic of conversation?
7. Do you ever watch TV with the whole family or with a group of friends? What kind of programmes do you watch together? Do you watch in silence?
8. Have you ever voted for a contestant in a TV show? What do you think about this kind of audience participation?

Programme-related activities

To view 4Learning video clips you will need Windows Media Player for PC or Mac, which is free to download from Microsoft:
www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/
player/download/download.aspx

The video clips may contain a few seconds of extra material at the beginning and end, so we have included opening and closing descriptions to help identify the intended scene.

The schedulers
Clip: 07:00 – 07:52

• In (Stephen Price): '…you're constantly reviewing the schedule.'
• Out (George Dixon): '…and kind of a creative guess.'

What criteria do schedulers use to plan when programmes will be aired? What is threatening the schedule?

Peaktime

Why do advertisers spend more on adverts that go out during this period? Describe the difference between 'coverage' and 'frequency'. How do programmes going out at peaktime differ from those going out at other times of the day? Why are ratings so important to all broadcasters?

Soaps

What are the main characteristics of soaps? Choose three soaps you are familiar with. To what extent do they fit the pattern? How are they distinctive from each other? What advantages do soaps bring to a channel?

Interactive TV

What has made the public hungry for interactivity? How are television companies responding? What do you understand by 'lean forward' as opposed to 'sit back' experiences? What are the advantages of 'lean forward' experiences for broadcasters? Now look at today's TV schedule for the main terrestrial channels. Which programmes offer 'lean forward' experiences? Explain your reasoning.

After viewing

Organise students into small groups to carry out the tasks.

Scheduling

Study the scheduling section of broadcasters' websites. Remind yourself of the criteria schedulers use when carrying out their planning. Choose one channel and as a group put together an ideal schedule for Christmas Day. Now present your schedule to another group and be prepared to argue for your choice of programming.

Creating a new soap

There have been attempts, not always successful, to introduce new soaps. Can you think of any failed soaps or soaps that are no longer running? Can you offer reasons for this? In a group, your task is to come up with a proposal for a new soap that will be aired on a particular channel.

First consider what is already on offer on the various channels and revisit the criteria for a successful soap. Bear in mind that the soap must fit the identity of the channel on which it will be aired.

Using the following headings as guidelines (or using the downloadable worksheet), brainstorm to create your idea:

• Channel
• Audience
• Frequency
• Broadcast time
• Location and place (part of the country and specific setting)
• Main focus
• Main families
• Key characters
• Possible plot lines (three or four two-line summaries).

Now consider the opening programme and draft a proposal for it. Present your ideas to another group.