New Television, Old Politics
The Transition to Digital TV in the United States and Britain
Communication, Society and Politics Series

This book examines the economic, political, and technological forces that are shaping the future of broadcasting in advanced industrialized nations by comparing the transition from analog to digital TV in the US and Britain. Digital TV involves a major reordering of the broadcast sector that requires governments to rethink governance tools for the digital media era. By looking at how the transition is unfolding in these nations, the book uncovers the political underpinnings of the emerging governance regime for digital communications and explores the implications of the transition for the development of the Information Society in the US and Europe. The findings challenge much conventional wisdom about media deregulation and the globalization of communications. The transition to digital TV has not weakened but rather reinforced government control over broadcasting. Moreover, contrary to what many globalization theories would predict, it has reinforced preexisting differences in the organization of media across nations.

List of figures and tables; Preface and acknowledgements; List of acronyms and abbreviations; Part I. A Political Economy of Digital TV: 1. Introduction; 2. Why digital TV?; Part II. The American Road to Digital TV: 3. The genesis of broadcast regulation in the United States; 4. HDTV comes to America; 5. A new bargain; 6. A long journey; Part III. The British Road to Digital TV: 7. The European context; 8. The birth and evolution of analog TV in the United Kingdom; 9. Being first: the Digital TV race; 10. Murdoch phobia?; 11. Digital TV and the new Labour; Part IV. New Television, Old Politics: 12. One goal, many paths; 13. Explaining national variations in digital TV policies; 14. Conclusion: the regulation of digital communications and the resilience of national regimes; References; Index.

Hernan Galperin is an Assistant Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California. He holds a B.A. in Social Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University. Dr Galperin's research and teaching focus on the international governance and impact of new communication and information technologies. His research has been published in article collections and scholarly journals such as the Federal Communications Law Journal, Telecommunications Policy, the Journal of Communication, and Media, Culture, & Society. He is a frequent participant to numerous academic and industry conferences, including the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC), the International Communication Association (ICA), and the American Political Science Association (APSA). Dr Galperin is a former fellow of the Stanhope Centre for Communication Policy Research in London.