SM5081 - Contemporary television (2025/26)
| Module specification | Module approved to run in 2025/26 | ||||||||||
| Module title | Contemporary television | ||||||||||
| Module level | Intermediate (05) | ||||||||||
| Credit rating for module | 15 | ||||||||||
| School | School of Art, Architecture and Design | ||||||||||
| Total study hours | 150 | ||||||||||
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| Running in 2025/26(Please note that module timeslots are subject to change) |
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Module summary
This module provides a broad overview of institutions, economics, technologies, texts, audiences and production practices, relating to television broadcasting and its contemporary online successors. You will consider the technological and institutional histories of television in the UK and USA and examine differences between public service and commercial television broadcasting. You will examine the impact of regulatory changes, convergence with other technologies, and globalisation on the contemporary landscape of television. You will study some of television’s characteristic forms and examine their differences from other superficially similar media forms such as cinema
The aims of this module are to:
1. Introduce students to a range of a range of debates about the role of television in everyday life.
2. Encourage students to deploy critical methods of analysis from previous modules to television and develop these skills through examination of specific case studies.
3. Enable students to critically appraise the contemporary landscape of television
4. Explore changing concepts of the relationship between television forms, institutions and audiences
Syllabus
The module examines television, considering its importance as a cultural and technological form in relation to everyday life in specific national contexts. (LO3)
It provides an historical account of British and American television, the industries, institutions, texts, audiences and their study. (LO2, LO3, LO4)
It provides a general introduction to the histories and key theories of understanding broadcast media, before focusing on specific issues in television, such as its audiences, genres, gender, technological change, and public service broadcasting. (LO1, LO2, LO4)
The module examines the impact of convergence between television and computing technologies for the production, distribution, form, content and audience for television programming. (LO1, LO2, LO3)
Balance of independent study and scheduled teaching activity
This module is delivered through a combination of modes of delivery, including formal lectures, seminars, film and television screenings, and individual tutorials. The mixed-mode module delivery is used to encourage a supportive environment for individual and peer-group learning.
A blended learning strategy is employed to enhance the learning experience, facilitate communication between students and tutors and develop collaboration among students. The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is used as a platform to support online activities including on-line discussions, evaluation of online resources, and access to electronic reading packs. The VLE is also used to facilitate formative assessment and related feedback, as well as a tool to integrate useful online learning materials provided by research institutions, academic publications, professional organisations and other relevant sources.
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module, students who engage fully with the reading, lectures and seminar activities will be equipped to:
1. Explain and apply a number of different theoretical approaches to the understanding of television.
2. Explain the changing historical and institutional forms of television in the UK.
3. Summarise the place and purpose of television in everyday life, together with its economic, political and cultural importance.
4. Undertake research across academic and industry sources about TV practices and their relationship to the texts and/or audiences of television and report on this in a piece of academic writing.