Viacom (1952–2006)The original incarnation of Viacom Inc. (derived from "Video & Audio Communications") was an American mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in New York City. It began as CBS Television Film Sales, the broadcast syndication division of the CBS television network in 1952; it was renamed CBS Films in 1958, renamed CBS Enterprises in 1968, renamed Viacom in 1970, and spun off into its own company in 1971. Viacom was a distributor of CBS television series throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and also distributed syndicated television programs.
Reality televisionReality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s with shows such as The Real World, then achieved prominence in the early 2000s with the success of the series Survivor, Idols, and Big Brother, all of which became global franchises.
Public affairs (broadcasting)In broadcasting, public affairs radio or television programs focus on matters of politics and public policy. Among commercial broadcasters, such programs are often only to satisfy Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulatory expectations and are not scheduled in prime time. Public affairs television programs are often broadcast at times when few listeners or viewers are tuned in (or even awake) in the U.S., in time slots known as graveyard slots; such programs can be frequently encountered at times such as 5-6 a.
The CWThe CW Television Network (commonly referred to as just The CW) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television network that is controlled – through The CW Network, LLC – by Nexstar Media Group, with a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the first letters of the names of its two founding co-owners CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. (the latter was owned by Time Warner, later AT&T's WarnerMedia). Nexstar closed its acquisition of a controlling interest in The CW on October 3, 2022, with Paramount Global and Warner Bros.
ComcastComcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings), incorporated and headquartered in Philadelphia, is the largest American multinational telecommunications and media conglomerate. The corporation is the second-largest broadcasting and cable television company in the world by revenue (behind AT&T), and is also the largest pay-TV company, the largest cable TV company, and largest home Internet service provider in the United States. Comcast is additionally the nation's third-largest home telephone service provider.
Soap operaA soap opera, daily soap or soap for short, is typically a long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored by soap manufacturers. The term was preceded by "horse opera", a derogatory term for low-budget Westerns. BBC Radio's The Archers, first broadcast in 1950, is the world's longest-running radio soap opera.
Sunday morning talk showA Sunday morning talk show is a television program with a news/talk/public affairs–hybrid format that is broadcast on Sunday mornings. This type of program originated in the United States, and has since been used in other countries. These programs typically focus on current events that occurred during the previous week, with a main focus on political and sociopolitical topics (including discussions on public policy, national security, the economy and world events such as geopolitical and military conflicts).
BostonBoston (USˈbɔːstən), officially the City of Boston, is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the Northeastern United States. The city boundaries encompass an area of about and a population of 675,647 as of 2020. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to 4,941,632 people as of 2020, ranking as the eleventh-largest MSA in the country.
TelenovelaA telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines tele (for "television") and novela (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include teleserye (Philippines), lakorn (Thailand), téléroman (Canada, specifically Quebec), and sinetron (Indonesia). Commonly described using the American colloquialism Spanish soap opera, many telenovelas share some stylistic and thematic similarities to the soap opera familiar to the English-speaking world.
Commercial broadcastingCommercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model of radio (and later television) during the 1920s, in contrast with the public television model in Europe during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, which prevailed worldwide, except in the United States, Mexico, and Brazil, until the 1980s.
