Thanks for this article, I found it really interesting. The medium of television is indeed changing dramatically, with the advent of new technology - primarily the internet. You have discussed much of this above, but I would like to note that another aspect that few critics seem to have touched on thus far (and I am aware that this is a relatively new field of study) is the impact of these changes to a global audience.

I live in New Zealand and our imported TV shows are always screened delayed. The internet has allowed me to engage in discussion with other fans, and provides access to articles and images that would otherwise be beyond my reach.

Nowdays, most TV shows are available to be downloaded only hours after they are originally screened. This has dramatically changed the way international fans can interact with their favourite shows.

One big issue that faces international fans is "spoilers". To allow for this, some websites have developed coding to minimize the spoilers. The Veronica Mars fansite MarsInvestigations.net has a drop-down menu on the top of their homepage where fans select "The last episode I have seen". The site then loads a version which has been edited to eliminate any spoilers that come into play further along the line from this episode. Thus the website becomes a "safe zone" for international fans.

The availability of downloads, the introduction of TiVo and the release of DVD boxsets are changing the way people watch (or "consume") TV. Often viewers will delay watching a show from the out-set, figuring they'll "catch up later". This changing form of consumption has two major effects on the studios - Nielsen ratings become far less important as a gauge of a show's success, and advertising during a show is losing a large share of its market.

Technology developments are allowing us to become a lot more interactive with our entertainment, and hopefully this will also lead to a higher quality of TV.

Good points about the international audience, Kate, that I don't really get into. The downloads you're talking about are at least mostly illegal - we still don't have many content delivery systems that bypass the network's control. Canada, where I am, usually airs shows at the same time as the US (except some cable shows), but iTunes episodes and some network-based streaming videos aren't available here. But audiences are demanding that kind of instant gratification and if a legal way to do it doesn't appear, they'll find other ways. I'm not sure what it will take to make networks and studios think globally, though.

I think on-air ratings and advertisements are already losing their power, and that's the only reason networks and studios are moving to embrace other platforms and distribution methods - it's all about what the advertisers want, not what the audience wants. Which is why I think there's such a lag between consumer behaviour and changing network behavior - they're using the advertisers as middle-men instead of looking directly at the audience.