Television’s dominance forced all later media to define themselves as alternatives to it

Evidence

The ultimate success of prime-time television at attention capture, as measured in Nielsen ratings and the effects of TV advertising, would shape every subsequent contest in the market for attention; all future claimants would have to mold themselves as an alternative to TV, with profound consequences for those in the new technologies, the attention economy, and necessarily for most Americans. For television was now, as it still in many ways remains, attention’s 800-pound gorilla. With the clearest and most engaging access to the public mind, it could exercise the greatest influence and therefore command the lion’s share of advertising revenue. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 471

Categorization

• XREF: Directly anticipates the ‘better than TV’ positioning of YouTube, Netflix, and social media platforms in later chapters — a causal thread worth tracking. — connects to: The computer’s plasticity let it displace television in ways broadcasting never faced — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 638; Streamed television unexpectedly became a haven from digital distraction pandemonium — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1109; Fred Rogers created children’s television out of opposition to what TV was — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 572
• ADDENDUM: Relevant to the grafting/sacrifice essays only thematically; more directly this is the core historical backbone of the whole attention-economy book.

Broader Connections

• The computer’s plasticity let it displace television in ways broadcasting never faced #corroborates (0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 638
• Fred Rogers created children’s television out of opposition to what TV was #exemplifies (0.80) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 572
• Streamed television unexpectedly became a haven from digital distraction pandemonium #exemplifies (0.75) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1109