Introduction
The convergence of technology, as it has happened lately with convergence of television stations, is the evolving of different technological advances that perform similar tasks. The convergence of technology in the media field can be defined by the interlinking of the computing and information technologies that have become popular with the internet as well as the products and services which have emerged in the digital media space.
With the current competition and the changes in the television and online services, people are no longer willing to pay less to the Pay TV broadcasters and the emergence of free TV is gaining an audience to the expense. As online and internet services gain momentum, they are slowly becoming substitutes since users are watching less TV even during the prime time.
With TV, the threat of market entry is low and decreasing while the barriers of entry remain high. The bargaining power in the production industry is high and as the price increase, these costs are passed directly to TV stations and this has made some TV companies to integrate backwards. As a result, the TV industry has become unattractive and the big players in the industry have introduced digital TV (Dowling, Thielmann & Lechner, 1998).
How It Works
The telecommunication and cable television companies in the USA, Africa and other places are undergoing rapid transformation in the technologies used and in the services they are offering.
These enterprises no longer rely on copper wires alone as their means of transmission they have transformed into using optic fiber cables which carries information on a pulse of right and wireless systems which usually makes use of the electromagnetic spectrum. These optic fibers then are connected to the internet whose software is fast and they complement as well as compete with traditional technologies which were unable to do this.
Benefits
The advantage of television convergence is that it is an economic strategy where several media properties are brought to work together. This strategy works under three elements which are corporate concentration whereby few large companies own more and more media properties.
Then digitization follows whereby the media content produced in a universal computer language easily adapted for use by any medium, and finally the government deregulation that has allowed different media conglomerates to own different kinds of media; For example, one company can own a radio station, a TV station, and newspapers. This strategy allows the company to reduce labor and administrative costs to use the same media content across several media outlets.
The convergence of television stations has offered unprecedented reporting and marketing opportunities but to what extent the partners take advantage of the emerging opportunities remains a big issue. In continents like Africa, the introduction of DSTV which brings together several channels sports, movies, news and of late has invited also local television stations to join the service TV and has enabled more consumers in accessing different channels according to their wish.
The potential benefits from adopting converged communications may not be immediately obvious in an effort to reduce the costs involved. The value of television convergence comes from the ability of converged communications to foster real time collaboration irrespective of location or time zones. The parties involved can easily share and discuss and develop ideas with their counterparts everywhere in the world in a way that mirrors getting round a table (Smith, Turner & Duhe, 2007).
Conclusion
We can conclude that convergence of television stations has come as a major boost to most consumers, since they can access different channels under the same platform. There are benefits which come along with the convergence of television stations and they include the reduction in costs involved, better marketing strategies and brand creation as well as earning of unprecedented revenues.
Reference List
Dowling, M; Thielmann, B; and Lechner, C. (1998). Convergence Innovation and Change of Market Structures between Television and Online Services. Web.
Smith, L. R; Tanner, H. A; and Duhe, F. S. (2007). Convergence Concerns in Local Television: Conflicting Views From the Newsroom: Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media Vol. 51:555–574.