TV Global Influencing - Part 1

TV has been reviled for its moral decline and ignorance since it appeared in 1920x. Religious authorities from different countries considered television as a sinful tool of spreading immorality.

There was one TV set for 1.1 billion households around the world by 2007, and this amount is going to grow to 1.25 billion next four years.  The critics of TV are afraid of increasing such negative tendency as an obesity and desocialisation, solitude. But at the same time wide spreading of television can lead to the unity of people in face of global problems. It can lead to women’s emancipation in developing countries, and make the world more healthy and well-organized.

In the last few years new web-based social networks like Twitter and Facebook are at the center of attention, but, despite of this, a television keeps influencing the important changes around the world such as increasing amount of weel-educated poor people and decreasing level of the corruption. This effect was achieved with assistance of music shows and soap operas like local versions of American Idol and Desperates Housewives. It’s hard to believe, that households have more TV sets than refrigerators in 5 time! Even more, the distribution of a television in poor countries passes ahead of electricity.

Thus, the television seems to extend its broadcasting over the whole world with lightning speed: 90 percent of Europeans and North Americans, 80 percent of Vietnamese people, about 50 percent of Indians households already have a TV.

In addition to spreading geographically, a television is going to make revolution in the quantity of accessible channels providing wider choice. The half of TV viewers will be able to use digital broadcast through cable and satellite. Today Americans have access to more than 100 channels and there is trend to spread these technologies around the world.

In addition, wider choice of TV channels gives access to the diversity of opinions, and helps reduce influence of the bureaucracy. Of course, in many countries the state strives to control the main TV channels. For example, Hugo Chavez took the control over the most popular TV network in Venezuela and now people in this country have to enjoy TV show Alo Presidente during many hours. And the access to the bigger amount of TV channels gives the opportunity to choose what the audience wants. And in so diverse countries the people often have similar tastes. The final of 2006 soccer World Cup attracted to TV screens about 715 million people. Above 80 million people in 66 countries are addicted to medical drama House.  So most people prefer sports, reality shows and soap operas.