science

The Business of Television

The Business of Television is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Business of Television rather than just read about it. In short: The Business of Television is a 2018 book by television executive, Harvard lecturer, and lawyer Ken Basin detailing the business, financial, and legal structure of the American television business and how the economics of the industry is changing. A second edition was published September 19, 2024 and expands on the first edition's 320 pages to 644 pages with information on the evolving streaming television business.

Key takeaways

The Business of Television belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Business of Television to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Business of Television from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Business of Television is a 2018 book by television executive, Harvard lecturer, and lawyer Ken Basin detailing the business, financial, and legal structure of the American television business and how the economics of the industry is changing. A second edition was published September 19, 2024 and expands on the first edition's 320 pages to 644 pages with information on the evolving streaming television business.

Overview The chapters of the 1st edition book are:

A Beginner's Guide to the Television Industry The Life Cycle of a Television Series The Intellectual Property Context of Television (Or, When Do You Need to Acquire Underlying Rights?) Underlying Rights Agreements Talent Agreements Backend Exclusive Studio-Talent Relationships Network and Streaming Licenses and Studio Co-Production Agreements Sample Economic Model Unscripted Television The 2nd edition of the book expands on the 1st edition with information about the evolving streaming business, reflects the impacts of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The chapters of the 2nd edition book are:

A Beginner's Guide to the Television Industry Streaming: The End, Present, and Future of Television How Television Is Developed, Produced, and Distributed (and How Streaming Broke Television Distribution) The Intellectual Property Context of Television (Or, When Do You Need to Acquire Underlying Rights?) Underlying Rights Deals Writing and Non-Writing Producing Deals Directing and Production Management Deals Acting and Casting Deals Backend Overall and First Look Deals Network and Streaming License and Studio Co-Production Deals Unscripted Television On Negotiation

Publication history Basin, Ken (2018). The Business of Television. New York: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781351254182. ISBN 978-1-351-25418-2. Basin, Ken (2024). The Business of Television: Updated and Expanded Second Edition (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-040-10527-6.

References

External links The Business of Television, Updated and Expanded Second Edition

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Business of Television

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Business of Television claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Business of Television before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Business of Television ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Business of Television

In research: The Business of Television appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Business of Television in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Business of Television is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2018 non-fiction books, Books about television, Business books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Business of Television outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Business of Television in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Business of Television means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Business of Television out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Business of Television in simple terms?

Why does The Business of Television matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Business of Television?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Business of Television.