Cable television idealists envisioned choice as democratizing attention sovereignty.

Evidence

The idealists of the 1960s and 1970s envisioned a thoughtful public who knew what they wanted, and would judiciously select programs that precisely matched their preferences. The ordinary viewer, who formerly had his tastes dictated to him, would now be elevated by democratically inspired offerings. The leading visionaries of cable Ralph Lee Smith (author of The Wired Nation) and Fred Friendly both foresaw a new age of true media democracy, when one’s attention was truly his own. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 625

Categorization

• XREF: Pairs with the Wired Nation / media-democracy ideals as a contrast case to the attention-farming outcomes Wu traces in adjacent chapters. — connects to: Cable networks must cater to niche audiences rather than mass ones. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 813; Cable networks rose by targeting demographic fragments instead of mass audiences — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 615

Broader Connections

• Cable networks must cater to niche audiences rather than mass ones. #complicates (0.78) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 813
• Cable networks rose by targeting demographic fragments instead of mass audiences #complicates (0.78) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 615