This whole idea of ‘one to the many’ and imagined communities affect the way programs are scheduled as John Ellis claims that “just as editing involves a formidable activity of selection that is fundamental to the construction of any programme, scheduling defines the basic choices which define a broadcast television service” (John Ellis, Scheduling: the last creative act in television?, Pg. 25). With the very basic and simple fact that programmers can’t physically meet every single one of their viewers they rely on their beliefs of what a typical house hold would be doing at what time. Ellis insists that at the inception of Television broadcast, programmers were “providing people with the programmes when they were perceived as wanting or needing them, without much thought to the fact that they might want different kinds of programmes to those on offer” (John Ellis, Scheduling: the last creative act in television?, Pg. 25). The question of what to put on and what time has plagued programmers since the very beginning and there have many strategies to get the most accurate information as possible to rate the success of their scheduled shows. Perhaps the most well know one is the Nielsen rating system in America or the BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Bureau) in the United Kingdom. Ellis outlines that the BARB “is based on a panel of nearly 4500 homes, selected from an annual ‘large-scale random probability survey of 40,000 homes” ” (John Ellis, Scheduling: the last creative act in television?, Pg. 28). That might seem like a lot of homes but according to the Office of national statistics, in 2014 there were 26.7 million homes in the UK.
This is an issue when a show such as Hannibal is still under a system that still supports this kind of thinking. This program isn’t made to appeal to the general masses as its content can only interest a niche market. The fact that the show was moved around every season and twice in its latest season, demonstrates how unsuited this kind of program is under this broadcast system. Hannibal suffered from poor viewer ratings from the first episode because the show is simply a bad fit for the network and no amount of scheduling could solve this issue which is way the show was ultimately cancelled. This idea of imagined communities appears once again as the few dictate what will be available to the many but in its essence this is flawed. It is true that the relationship between Broadcast Television and its audience is to appeal to as many people as possible in order to sell mass audiences to advertisers. What many seem to overlook sometimes is that these Networks are business and their main aim is to make as big a profit as possible, the same as any major corporation. It is more suited to their interests to produce a relatively inexpensive show that has the potential to get the attention of the ‘average’ viewer rather than a critically acclaimed show that may only appeal to a niche audience.
Ellis, John. “Scheduling: the last creative act in television?” Media, Culture & Society 22.1 (2000), 25-38.
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/family-demography/families-and-households/2014/families-and-households-in-the-uk–2014.html