How Will TV Be Funded and Created in the Future? Great Panel on The Future of Television from the 2013 Annenberg Innovation Lab Summit



Thanks to Henry Jenkins for posting the link to USC Annenberg Innovation Lab's 2013 Innovation Summit panel on “Transmedia and the Future of Television.”

The title of this April 4th, 2013 panel proved to be a bit misleading: As the speakers got into it, the discussion turned more broadly to the future of TV in general... touching on various specific (fascinating) aspects of how TV will be funded and produced in the coming years.

For example, the conversation about the utility of "bundling" (i.e., the current model of TV distribution that supports a certain type of funding) at the beginning of the panel (e.g., the bundle is said to have allowed AMC to take the risk of funding The Walking Dead...) is right on point when it comes to the funding risks inherent in producing large-scale content. And the discussion about the newer models for breaking content - e.g., for House of Cards (pay close attention to the conversation about the limits of big data), Arrested Development and Veronica Mars- as well as newer short-form types of content is really great.

The idea that teams of TV creatives are watching social media to find themes, create new content and then spread them in real time is dizzying...

If you want to hear how big media professionals view  social media tools and viral phenomenon. e.g., Gangnam Style, K-Pop, Harlem Shake, etc.  - (hint, with great unease) - you should watch this panel.

One big idea that seems to surface from this convo? The patterns of discovery and circulation are changing - but the TV properties themselves are still very attached to the old content tropes.

As Prof. Jenkins asks: "What happens when “television” is less a technology than a set of programming practices? What happens when more people “cut the cord” or when the industry no longer depends on the “bundle”? What happens when the intensity of fan response may become as important as the quantity of viewers in shaping which programs remain in production?"

The moderator for this remarkable panel was Prof. Henry Jenkins and the panelists were Gabriel Kahn, Professor of Professional Practice, Journalism, USC; Hardie Tankersley, VP of Platforms and Innovation, Fox Broadcasting; Aaron DeBevoise, Executive Vice President, Network Programming, Machinima; and Howard T. Stein, Strategist for Entertainment, Facebook Inc.

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