In this comprehensive textbook, now updated for its third edition, Jonathan Bignell provides students with a framework for understanding the key concepts and main approaches to Television Studies, including audience research, television history and broadcasting policy, and the analytical study of individual programmes.

Features include:
a glossary of key terms
key terms defined in margins
suggestions for further reading
activities/assignments for use in class

New and updated case studies feature:
'Every Home Needs a Harvey' ad
approaches to news reporting
television scheduling
CSI Crime Scene Investigation
animated cartoon series

Individual chapters address: studying television, television histories, television cultures, television texts and narratives, television genres and formats, television production, television and quality, television realities, television you can't see, television audiences, beyond television.