Continuity in Environments

Abstract

In current television business rhetoric it is often assumed that television channels are `dying' as a consequence of digitalization and convergence. The article argues that such scenarios tend to be based on too restricted notions of what broadcasters' assembling of programmes consists of. To readdress this issue the article proposes the basic concepts of `continuity' and `environments'. It argues that established practices of television channel construction have not just been about building channel-based continuity but also about promoting cross-channel continuity within the context of an overall designed environment. The conceptual argument is supported with results from a comparative analysis of developments in Nordic public service television.