Network era

In television broadcasting, the Network Era refers to the period in American television history from 1952 to the mid-1980s, when the television market was controlled by a few large television networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC. This determination is established by institutional aspects that regularized television for the majority of the country, including the color television standard option.

Early television evolved from the network organization of radio in the early 1940s. The three networks that rose to dominance, NBC, CBS, and ABC, were nearly non-conglomerated corporations that were based in the business center of New York City. These networks were first established by radio and played a significant role in post war American identity. Because they had exclusive control of the market, there was no incentive for these corporations to take a financial risk in creating shows that catered to niche audiences.

Conventions that defined the network era such as the television set, antenna and 30-second advertisements were not established immediately.Film studios and independent television producers only had three possible places to sell their media, so they were forced to comply with the practices established by the networks. Early television, like early radio, had only one advertiser that usually sponsored a single program. The networks eliminated that format and changed to multiple corporations purchasing commercials. In the 1950s the network era advertising style turned into a single sponsorship style (Situation in which a single corporation finances the costs that could have been earned if advertising were sold to sponsors.It also allows more cinematic Television) with the corporations being more about selling a product rather than an image. With this change, the broadcast had more control over the network because they had a magazine style format for advertisers. The thirty second ads dominated during the network era. While initially the single sponsorship system worked, it soon became clear this advertising strategy {single sponsorship}could not afford to pay for the continuous production cost. Scandals also became an issue with this system and this only further contributed to the development of a new advertising model called the "participation format." For all involved, except the viewers,the participation format proved to be a far more beneficial advertising format. Not only was this system more cost sufficient in the production of television, networks also began to have a broader blend of advertisers.

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