Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In the late 2000s, television no longer referred to an object to be watched; it had transformed into content to be streamed, downloaded, and shared. Tens of millions of viewers have "cut the cord," abandoned cable television, tuned into online services like Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube, and also watch pirated movies and programmes at an unprecedented rate. The idea that the Internet will devastate the television and film industry in the same way that it gutted the music industry no longer seems farfetched. The television industry, however, remains driven by outmoded market-based business models that ignore audience behaviour and preferences.

In Post-TV, Michael Strangelove explores the viewing habits and values of the post-television generation, one that finds new ways to exploit technology to find its entertainment for free, rather than for a fee. Challenging the notion that the audience is constrained by regulatory and industrial regimes, Strangelove argues that cord-cutting, digital piracy, increased competition, and new modes of production and distribution are making audiences and content more difficult to control, opening up the possibility of a freer, more democratic, media environment.

A follow-up to the award-winning Watching YouTube, Post-TV is a lively examination of the social and economic implications of a world where people can watch what they want, when they want, wherever they want.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgments (p. vii)
• Introduction (p. 3)
• 1 From the Remote Control to Out of Control: Music Piracy and the Future of Television (p. 21)
• 2 Television and Movie Piracy: Simple, Fast, and Free (p. 48)
• 3 Sports Television Piracy: They Stream. They Score! (p. 74)
• 4 Television's Scariest Generation: Cord Cutters and Cord Nevers (p. 94)
• 5 Disruption: Viewing Habits of the Post-television Generation (p. 124)
• 6 Innovation: New Sources of Competition for Online Audiences (p. 145)
• 7 Disintermediation: The Political Economy of Television (p. 174)
• 8 Post-television Society: Diversity, Citizenship, News, and Global Conflict (p. 206)
• Conclusion: Post-television Culture (p. 229)
• Notes (p. 247)
• Bibliography (p. 291)
• Index (p. 331)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Strangelove (Univ. of Ottawa, Canada) is to be applauded for having the courage to write a book on a topic that is so new (and still developing). He demonstrates that the term television no longer means just the central living room appliance but includes video storytelling on all sorts of flat screens. It is difficult to believe that it was only 2005 when YouTube started and 2007 when Netflix began streaming video offerings. This revolution in delivery has transformed the industry in just a few years, and more changes are coming. Digital content delivery has made it easier for audiences to become content producers and has also made it easier to illegally pirate content. The television industry also has to worry about the increasing number of cord cutters, people who are opting out of cable or satellite television. James Bennett and Niki Strange addressed some of these topics in their edited volume Television as Digital Media (CH, Aug'11, 48-6731), but so much has happened in four years that the subject is due to be revisited. Of course, this volume runs the same risk of being supplanted as the future unfolds. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers. --Dom Caristi, Ball State University