Beyond the Box: Television and the Internet explores the complex relationship between television and the internet in today’s society, and what this means for viewers today and what the blending of these two will mean into the future.

The Internet and How it Changes Television Viewing

Author Sharon Marie Ross proposes that things are radically changing in terms of television viewing across the country. From texting votes for ‘American Idol’ to online forums and sites dedicated to programs like ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, the internet is changing the very nature of television viewing and how the television industry responds to the public.

Whereas, in the past, a limited selection of programs would have a niche market of fans appealing to networks via letter-writing campaigns, the internet has now brought the interaction of the public, via the internet, into the mainstream.

The Internet & Moving Television Beyond

Ross presents an excellent overview of the online shift of the television viewing audience and how the internet has given a much more dynamic voice to fandom and participation into the nature of television programs via means of tele-participation.

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