States that contrary to previous reports of "grazing," most viewers only used their remote control devices (RCDs) once or twice every half hour. Claims that the dominant RCD operation was direct channel punching, as opposed to dial turning. Concludes that most RCD activity did not take place during a program, thus voiding industry…

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) provided funding for local public television stations to broadcast political debates prior to the 1998 election; CPB commissioned research to determine how the programs aided viewers in the election process. Viewers of the public television station local debate night program found the program to be of…

In a recent study of the Tampa (Florida) market, TRAC Media Services acquired some interesting information about the market's response to its two public television stations. WEDU is a VHF-signal community station that reaches about 745,000 households in a week, and WUSF is a university-licensed UHF station that reaches about 547,000. Month-long…

The 1998 Roper Youth Report is based on a nationwide cross-section of 1,189 children aged 6 to 17 years. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in the children's homes during April and May, 1998. Children who watch Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) are more likely to read, be active participants and share in family activities than non-viewers. PBS…

Research indicates that children are especially vulnerable to the effects of television viewing. Taking a psychological, social-science perspective, this book explores how television viewing affects children. Chapter 1, "Introduction," (MacBeth) discusses the issues involved, how researchers go about studying media effects, whether television…