As the world of television moves from analog to digital, political and economic forces are being brought to bear on companies as they attempt to deal with changes occurring in their industries. The impetus for the conversion from analog to digital TV comes from many quarters, including the broadcasting industry, the computer industry, governments, consumer electronics manufacturers, content developers, and the Internet. The widespread acceptance of digital technology in both the home and the workplace account for the ready acceptance of the belief that the move to digital television is an appropriate advancement. Not all authors in this volume however are believers. This book is divided into four sections each dealing with one aspect of the transition from analog to digital TV broadcasting. The first section presents the various technologies. It establishes a structure for understanding the technologies currently in use as well as those being developed by the industries involved in the delivery of digital television. Section two presents information about consumer TV viewing and includes examples of innovative, experimental interactive programs. Economics and financial issues are addressed from a variety of perspectives in section three. Section four concludes the book with a look at the international environment and the history of digital TV globally.

Television has become a ubiquitous part of our lives, and yet its impact continues to evolve at an extraordinary pace. The evolution of television from analog to digital technology has been underway for more than half a century. Today's digital technology is enabling a myriad of new entertainment possibilities. From jumbotrons in cyberspace to multi-dimensional viewing experiences, digital technology is changing television. Consequently, new advertising metrics that reflect the new viewer habits are emerging. The ability to capture a viewer's interactions changes the advertising proposition. Telephone and wireless companies are challenging the traditional mass media providers - broadcasters, cable and satellite companies - and they’re all finding ways to deliver TV programming, video content and Internet offerings to large and small screens in the home and on the go. This volume showcases insights from industry insiders and researchers from a variety of disciplines. It explores the economic, cultural, technical, and policy implications of digital television, addressing such questions as: How will content be monetized in the future? What programming opportunities become possible with the advent of going digital? Will content still be king or will the conduits gain the upper hand? This book analyzes the digital television evolution: its impacts on the economics of the TV industry, its significance for content creation from Hollywood blockbusters to You Tube, the changing role of the consumer, and what's coming next to a theatre near you.

Along with its interrelated companion volume, The Technology, Business, and Economics of Streaming Video, this book examines the next generation of TV—online video. It reviews the elements that lead to online platforms and video clouds and analyzes the software and hardware elements of content creation and interaction, and how these elements lead to different styles of video content.

Along with its interrelated companion volume, The Content, Impact, and Regulation of Streaming Video, this book covers the next generation of TV—streaming online video, with details about its present and a broad perspective on the future. It reviews the new technical elements that are emerging, both in hardware and software, their long-term trend, and the implications. It discusses the emerging ‘media cloud’ of video and infrastructure platforms, and the organizational form of such TV.

This book summarizes highlights of the investigation of “An Elucidation of the Role of Institutional Systems in Characterizing Technology Development Trajectories – A Global Comparative Analysis of Manufacturing Technology and Information Te- nology in the Enhancement of Business Practice” supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scienti?c Research (S) by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology/Japan Society for Science Policy over the period 2002–2006. Background and objectives of the investigation are summarized as follows: (a) Japan ranks far below the level of the USA with respect to the development and utilization of information technology (IT) in the information society that emerged in the 1990s. (b) This can be attributed toa vicious cycle between Japan’s non-elastic institutions, insuf?cient utilization of the potential bene?ts of IT, and economic stagnation. (c) The source of such a vicious cycle can be derived from the fundamental d- ferences of the characterizing process of technology between manufacturing technology (MT) and IT during their diffusion processes. This investigation - tempted to elucidate this mechanism. Noteworthy ?ndings obtained include: (a) MT has been developed largely by the supply side and its functionality is - tablished during the stage of its supply to the market. In contrast, IT is strongly driven by the demand side and its functionality is created through diffusion in a self-propagating way. This contrast can be clearly observed in the dramatic advancement of Japan’s mobile phone industry in the late 1990s.

"Addressing the issues that managers in the multimedia industry have confronted while developing and implementing this innovative technology, this book focuses on the latest research and findings in digital television technologies. Covered are the major issues surrounding digital convergence including the digital metamarket and new digital media devices and their potential for IT convergence at the macro level. Also addressed are multimedia and interactive digital television and the economic implications of these technologies. Additionally, the managerial implications of interactive digital television are covered, including branding strategies for digital television channels and the critical role of content media management."

This book reveals the core features of digital culture, examined by means of semiotic models and theories. It positions commercial and market principles in the center of the digital semiosphere, avoiding the need to force the new cultural reality into the established textualist or pragmatist paradigms. The theoretic insights and case studies presented here argue for new semiotic models of inquiry that include working with big data, user experience and nethnography, along with conventional approaches. The book develops a new concept of identity in the digital age, analyzing the digital flows of recognition and value, which led to the tremendous success of Social Media and the Web 2.0 era. Self-expression, entertainment and consumerism are seen as the major drivers of identity formation in the post-truth era, where the self can no longer be considered independently of a given person’s communication devices, where a substantial part of it is stored and actualized. It will be of interest to semioticians and researchers working on digital culture.