Types of Television Transmission Systems

Technological advancements define and redefine the mode of delivery of television messages. The prominent ways of television transmission are given below.

TV Broadcasting

 It is over-the air transmission of audio visual signals from towers owned by television stations on frequencies allotted to them by Ministry of Communication. People can receive the signals without charge by simply turning on a television on a set. Sometimes, we need an antenna for receiving signals.

Cable TV

By definition, Cable TV is the process of sending TV signals to subscribers through a wire. Transmission of messages via cable was invented in 1929 and commercially utilized in 1940s. Cable television system was popularized in 1970s in America. The earliest cable systems were, in effect, strategically placed antennas with very long cables connecting them to subscribers' home sets. Because the signal from the antenna became weaker as it traveled through the length of cable, cable providers had to insert amplifiers at regular intervals to boost the strength of the signal and make it acceptable for viewing. With invention of optical fibers, it has been easy to transmit signal in a speedy way without loosing picture quality. Today, cable systems deliver hundreds of channels to some millions of homes, while also providing a growing number of people with high-speed Internet access. Some cable systems even let you make telephone calls and receive new programming technologies!

Satellite Transmission

It is transmission of television signals through satellites put in the orbit for communication purpose. It enables the households to receive signals directly from the satellites using dish antennas. This is also called Direct to Home (DTH) Satellite Services. It is digital technology that delivers up to 150 channels to a plate-sized receiver on subscriber’s house. For this, we have to use a set box to convert digital signals received by the antennas into audio visual format.

Home Video

It is not related with television transmission process. It refers to the pre-recoded video either sold or hired for home use. Most of the content are of entertainment nature. Educational documentaries are also available as part of this method. Earlier VHS/Betamax video cassettes played in Videocassette Recorders (VCR) were available. Now, these are now replaced with VCDs, DVDs( Digital Versatile Discs), USB Drives and Blue Ray Discs.

Structure of a Television Station

 A television station has five major sections under the General Manager. News Section, Sales Section, Programming Section, Engineering Section and Business Section. Who comes under each section is detailed in the graph given below.

The General Manager:

 At a television station, the general manager oversees departments. The GM is in charge of guiding the people who run the individual departments. Those departments normally include: news, production, sales, promotions and engineering. All departments impact how a news product is presented on the air.

The news department gathers, writes and edits the stories for a daily newscast. News departments consist of several job titles, including news director, assignment editor, executive producer, producers, reporters, anchors and photographers. Each position is important to providing quality programming. ( job titles may vary according to the size and policy of the station)

The sales department generates revenue for the station by getting companies to buy commercial spots. The programme production department puts on air what the news department creates. Production departments often include a director, technical director, audio operator, master control operator and camera operators.

The engineering department takes care of the technical aspect of a newscast and the station itself. When something breaks, they are the people employees in other departments call on.

 The Business department works with companies that buy commercials, creating a concept for the commercial and editing it to create an on-air product. Employees in the promotions department also create commercials to advertise the station.

Careers

News Director, Assistant News Director, Managing Editor, Executive Producer Assignment Editor ,News Producer, News Anchor ,Weathercaster (Meteorologists), Sports Anchor, News, Reporter News Writer, News Assistant, Sports Reporter Photographer, Video Editor ,Graphics Specialist, Internet Specialist are some of the careers available in the television journalism sector.

TV IN PAKISTAN 

The electronic media was well known in Pakistan after independence in 1947. Not only radio broadcast was being made from Lahore and Peshawar but it was growing steadily. 

Although the world at this point of time was familiar with a black & white television broadcast, particularly in the West and the USA, TV seemed a remote possibility in the newborn country. From the early 60s there had been a talk to start television broadcast in Pakistan. Planning continued and various departments prepared their reports about the feasibility of a complete TV broadcasting station. Main obstacle in setting up a TV station was not the money, but non availability of the technical staff which must run the broadcasting house on sound footings.  The efforts continued, however, and bore fruit when on Nov 26, 1964 country’s first TV station was set up in Lahore.  

By this time TV had advanced to color transmission in a number of countries, the PTV was a B/W version. Nonetheless the enthusiasm of starting a TV broadcasting house was overflowing and the staff – both on the technical as well as programming sides, showed determination to make this venture a success.  No one would have imagined at that point of time, that this small box would bring a revolution in mass communication in this part of the world where other means of mass communication were proving relatively costlier.  

Enthusiasm

Watching the moving images at your drawing room was a real treat. TV sets were not frequently available in the markets and the ones available for sale were expensive and only the rich could afford the cost of getting a set. A status symbol it was to have a set indeed. Relatives and neighbors would gather around the box much before the broadcast. Women would finish cooking early and the students would do their homework well before the TV would start playing its typical signature tune and showing its insignia. The first sight of the announcer was cheered and voices were raised to call others to come as it has started now. It is irrefutably difficult to forget those moments of history by the ones who had witnessed them. It was not limit to household activity; TV transmission was also watched at the monitoring rooms of newspapers for getting the latest from around the world. Sometime a snap of some very interesting footage was also had, though picture so taken lacked in quality. 

Evening Transmission only

TV broadcast was limit to five hours, from 6 pm to 11 pm with one weekly holiday on Monday. People would sit in front of the set from the signature tune, women would finish household errands, children doing their homework much before the first images of the day, usually recitation from the holy Quran. Hardly a person would move away till the national anthem was played to mark end of the day’s transmission. Due to the immense interest for watching the moving images and the restricted timings of the transmission, the work-schedule of many was now changed.  

Live Broadcast

The most prominent feature of PTV’s early years was the live transmission for it did not have the recording facilities. It was not the news to be read in real time only, but the talks, plays and music was also broadcast live. It was a unique experience for all the directors, producers, performers and the technical staff. Hardly one can imagine now that there had been such an exceptional time in PTV’s life. 

 Many radio artists seemed moving to and fro between radio station and the PTV building next door to accomplish the task of live transmission and rehearsals. 

PTV and the unforgettable War of Sept 1965 

The September 1965 war with India was a testing time for the whole nation. Nothing was above the country’s defense. The PTV Lahore station did the heroics it still gets credit for. Its OB teams went to the borders and captured some incredible images of the battlefield. Nothing more could have excited people seeing with their own eyes Pakistan Army’s jawans invading Indian posts, destroying them and capturing enemy’s land across the border. With madam Noor Jahan’s spirited national songs in the backdrop, the PTV’s showings worked as a catalyst to fuel the passion for national defense.    

National Microwave Network

 A major breakthrough was achieved in 1973 when all the TV stations in the country were linked by a microwave network, enabling live telecast of different programs which helped the PTV save time and money. Now a drama at Lahore station could be watched by viewers in Karachi and Islamabad at the same time and similar transmission from Karachi could be made for the upcountry stations. This facility was fully exploited at the time of Lahore Islamic Summit of Feb 1974. The Karachi and Rawalpindi stations, which were functioning since 1967, were linked with the live coverage of the events from Lahore. It was due to PTV that at one stage it looked as the whole nation was involved and a part of the unprecedented events of the summit. From Shalimar Gardens civic reception to saying prayers at the historic Badshahi Mosque, and from the public meeting at the Qaddafi stadium – also addressed by Libya’s president Col Qaddafi, to the business meetings at the Punjab Assembly floor was a great job done by the PTV in a commendably organized way.

PTV goes colored

Though the Islamic conference coverage was very successful, many thought it would have been far better had it been a colored transmission.  Another reason to do away with the black and white broadcast was that in most part of the world the TV transmission was getting colored and companies were now not making parts for the equipment used in the B/W transmission. The day came soon when in 1976 COLOUR TRANSMISSION STARTED on experimental basis.  Regular Color transmission started from Feb 18, 1982. 

More Developments

• 1987 – Federal TV centre at Islamabad commissioned. 
• 1992 – Second TV channel for education commissioned. 
• 1996 – Local area transmission from four (4) stations started. 
• 1998 – Transmission of PTV world programmes started.  
• Ptv-1 - Area covered: 38%, population covered: 86.48 %.
• Ptv-2/ Ptv World - area covered: 24.19 %, population covered: 55.83 %.

Dramas – the source of strength to PTV

PTV excelled in broadcasting various programs – news analysis, talk shows especially for the youth and entertainment purposes. But what earned it distinction was its drama production. To mention a few;  

• Parchhaian
• Aik muhabat sua afsanay
• Shama Waris
• Alpha bravo Charlie
• Tanhayian
• Alif noon
• Sona chandi
• Khuda ki basti
• Dhoop kinaray 

Another area where TV in Pakistan has been a major source of entertainment is the coverage of sporting events . From the times of making special arrangements to show live boxing bouts of all time great Muhammad Ali to all major sporting activities these days, PTV keeps people glued for hours to watch sports of their interest . It also brings business to TV.

EFFECTS OF TELEVISION ON SOCIETY 

Television broadcast has broad effects on the society all around the world. The strong verbal and non verbal combination and the facility to highlight different subject matters created one of the most important impressions in mass media. There are so many angles to see as to what extent TV has brought about changes in daily life of people and the nations as well. 

Here we will see some of the key changes affected by TV transmissions in general.

Seeing is believing 

The authenticity of news and other informative material has never been more acceptable to people through other means of communication than the one available on TV. People already informed about an event still like to see the news along with footage on TV. For instance, the winning run scored by your favorite team in an exciting match is something people would like to see again and again although they know the outcome of the match. So is about visuals on accidents and unusual events like hanging of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain etc. 

Changes in timings

 Most people have tuned their daily timings in accordance with their popular programs. Students tend to finish their homework before their favorite show. Housewives would make their cooking schedule as not to miss the soap tonight. Men would get ready for relaxing by watching programs of their interest. Much noticeable change is in bed-timings. Early to bed... dictum seems to have lost its meaning and watching TV till late night has become a norm at most households until children get a gaze from parents they tend to fight sleep only to watch a play or a show and discuss it next day with class-mates. 

Fashion

Working on the psyche of youth, especially young ladies, TV plays and shows have concentrated over the years in introducing new and trendy dresses, particularly in the advertisements which are integral part of TV transmissions all across the world. The new hair styles, dresses, make up and even body gestures very quickly gain currency and after any popular show or a drama serial its fashion effects are easily seen on the people.

Household entity and change in habits

TV has become one essential household entity. You remove TV from the house and everybody starts feeling as something is missing. It is this strong feeling of TV presence that is helping change habits pertaining to talking style, eating timings, and seeing relatives etc. 

Increasing general know-how

Being a strong medium TV has remarkably worked to increase general know-how on various matters of daily life. Though you are not concentrating hard on a program on health matters, the visuals shown are telling you how to clean you teeth or apply a medicine or take exercises. Watching a documentary on wild-life, even casually, makes you much more informed about so many aspects of ecological system and the habitat. 

Cultural changes and influences

Perhaps most affected of all areas due to watching TV is the cultural changes that have come about over the years. TV dramas and discussion programs have largely influenced the thought process of many on normal living to acculturation by seeing the blaze of exotic life style. That is one reason that intellectuals always campaign to show as much of a local culture on TV broadcast as possible so that cultural identity of a particular region, tribe, nation or clan be kept in its traditional way. 

There have been long debates on the influence of other cultures, especially the ones from the west, on the living style of other societies through TV programs. Smelling a deliberate attempt to seduce the youth of conservative societies to the sparkling and bold images of the west, there rages a strong debate under the title of cultural imperialism. Of late, these debates are paying off as there is an element of awareness to resist such manipulations and to keep one’s culture well defended against such invasions. Nonetheless, the conflict of influencing cultures through TV showings during news, entertainment and sports is going strong.  

Institutional transformation

TV has been chiefly responsible for the decline of cinema and stage. The time for gathering the family members for the matinee show is long over. The unique exercise of going to a huge cinema house braving extreme weather and other odds and watching action on large silver screen is no more with the same zeal. In most cases it is an interesting TV drama, musical show or a cricket match which is not allowing family members or friends to go out for entertainment. And how can it be if almost free of cost high quality and at times, a real time entertainment is available at home.  In many countries, and Pakistan is no exception, theaters have seen a steep decline in their business. Many a theaters have been demolished only to be rebuild as commercial plazas and their have been chaotic voices from different corners of the entertainment industry for the government to undertake some steps to save the cinema life.