Purpose ¿ The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the relationship between the political orientation of television viewers and their perception of television programming quality. Design/methodology/approach ¿ Information from a sample of 2,843 viewers is used. Ordinary least square models are estimated to test the theoretical hypotheses. Findings ¿ The results suggest that the ideological position of viewers has a significant bearing on their evaluation of the quality of television channels. They also point to the key role played by news programming in the audience¿s general assessment of channels quality. Research limitations/implications ¿ There are a number of limitations to this research, which are largely related to the data analyzed, since they are cross-sectional and measures based on a single item are used. Future research in this field ought to take the multidimensional nature of the concepts discussed here into greater consideration. Practical implications ¿ If political orientation colors viewer perception of quality television, it seems worthwhile for television schedulers to have more information about the political-ideological profile of their audience, so as to design a more appealing programming range for their target viewers. Regarding the impact of the perceived quality of news programs on the perceived quality of the whole channel, it would make sense for television managers to invest in news programs not only on the basis of the size of the audience ...

This article examines perceived television quality by considering the role played by viewers concerns about television content. These concerns are classified into two categories: pragmatic and moral. The research question is analysed empirically for Spain. Results show that pragmatic concerns are more important for the audience than moral concerns both in 2008 and 2012. Both types of factors are considered to have worsened their development in this period. However, general perception of television quality in Spain has improved between 2008 and 2012. This is associated to a more positive opinion regarding national public service television, but to a more negative perception of the quality of television channels.

This article analyses perceived television quality in a sample of Spanish consumers by considering the role played by viewers' concerns about television contents. It applies to all kinds of terrestrial television channels in Spain. These concerns are found to be classiffied in two categories: pragmatic and moral. The intensity of these concerns is related to the socio-demographic characteristics of the viewers. Male, older and educated viewers are found to show stronger pragmatic concerns on TV content whereas women and older viewers show stronger moral concerns. Pragmatic concerns have a negative influence on perceived TV quality, but no effect is detected for moral concerns.

La globalización ha reavivado el debate sobre la concentración de los medios de comunicación. La industria cinematográfica representa un caso paradigmático. Este artículo analiza la situación del mercado cinematográfico en España, y en particular, del sector de la distribución. Para ello, aborda un triple objetivo: en primer lugar, identificar el grado de concentración del mercado cinematográfico español; en segundo término, analizar la relación existente entre el éxito de las películas norteamericanas y la posición dominante de las "majors" hollywoodienses; y, finalmente, evaluar los efectos de esta situación en el funcionamiento de las películas españolas y europeas en el conjunto del mercado nacional. Globalization has been re-opened the debate on the concentration of media companies. This paper analyses the Spanish film market, focused on the theatrical distribution sector. For this, it addresses a triple aim: first of all, to identify the degree of concentration in the Spanish film distribution market; secondly to analyse the links between U.S. movies¿ box office success and the dominant position of the Hollywood majors; and, lastly, to evaluate the effects of this situation on the performance of Spanish and European films in the domestic market.

The globalization phenomenon has reopened the debate on the concentration of media and entertainment industries, particu- larly in the film distribution market. Some authors consider that the dominant position of U.S. companies comes from the higher identification of American films with the tastes of the European audience. Others argue that the Hollywood success is mainly due to its control of the distribution system. U.S. films account for an average of 63.4% of the European market. In return, European films represent 3.6% of the North American box office. There are around 450 active film distribution companies in Europe, the majority of them being nationally controlled firms, and only a small percentage of them belong to U.S. majors. Nevertheless, these U.S. subsidiaries are ranked among the top 10 leading film distributors in Europe according to market share. This article attempts to make a further contribution in market concentration analysis, looking at the situation of film distribution in the 5 biggest Western European countries. It also explores if the success of American companies is due to their management and marketing skills or if, by the contrary, it is the consequence of their dominant market positions.

In this article, we will analyse the effects of digitalisation and convergence, both in the world of television and in the evolution of business models for firms in this sector. We will also refer to the convergence of business and technology in new intermediaries in the audiovisual market. Later on we will describe the public¿s increasingly important role and, finally, we will examine the possible scenarios for Spain¿s audiovisual sector in the second decade of this century.

El mercado de la televisión en España ha multiplicado su oferta de contenidos audiovisuales en los últimos años. El objeto de la investigación es la relación entre este hecho y la percepción de calidad de los servicios televisivos recibidos por parte del público. La metodología aplicada incluye una encuesta de ámbito nacional. Los resultados confirman que el nivel de consumo o la abundancia de oferta no se corresponden con un alto índice de satisfacción del público; que la percepción de calidad es menor entre las personas de mayor nivel educativo; que las cadenas generalistas no presentan de diferencias significativas en la valoración por parte de la audiencia; y, finalmente, que buena parte del público muestra preocupación con los contenidos televisivos y sus efectos en la sociedad.

Existe un amplio reconocimiento de la singularidad de las empresas de comunicación en cuanto a su impacto y responsabilidad. Este consenso que emerge de la literatura de nuestro campo científico, tiene su origen -o, al menos, un momento muy significativo de toma de conciencia colectiva- en la Comisión Hutchins en Estados Unidos, y ha influido también en las regulaciones de la Unión Europea sobre los medios. Tanto en Europa como en América se ha consolidado una tradición normativa que implica el desarrollo de legislación específica del mercado de la comunicación. Este trabajo tiene por objeto elaborar un paradigma de responsabilidad que sirva como referencia a las empresas de comunicación, influya en su gobierno corporativo y aumente los niveles de confianza del público hacia los medios. Se basa en las aportaciones científicas de Leo Bogart (1921-2005) uno de los pioneros del estudio del ¿Media Management¿ que, como veremos, dedicó la mayor parte de su larga vida profesional al estudio y a la práctica de tareas directivas en el ámbito de la comunicación. Los autores proponemos ¿como Bogart- que la responsabilidad puede ser una poderosa fuente de innovaciones y de creatividad en la industria de los medios y del entretenimiento.

his chapter will explore how media companies can use social networks for selling their products and services. We will suggest that the Web 2.0 is an efficient way to create and protect brand recognition, but it cannot be used as a substitutive of traditional marketing channels. First of all, we will analyze the nature of social networks: what are the reasons for their success, what are their competitive advantages and how they built entry barriers. Then, we will look at the expectations of networks' members, considering different typologies: frequent users vs. occasional users, ¿focused¿ networks vs. non specialized networks, young audiences vs. old audiences¿ After that, we will study how some of the most innovative companies are using social networks as a new option of their marketing mix. We will pay attention to cases of success but we also describe some failures and we will try to understand the reasons for those different results. Finally, we will show how media companies can make an efficient use of the most popular social networks to foster the value of their brands and also to avoid a possible spiral of negative opinions from unhappy consumers. We will use descriptive and qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews with managers of companies.