Trends in International Television Flow

Abstract

International life and politics today are marked by globalization and regionalization. Furthermore, the ideological components of international relations seem to grow in importance. On the basis of empirical data from 1973 and 1983, this article analyzes the amount, nature and trends of the present international flow of television programs as part of these processes. The survey was carried out in more than 50 countries around the world. The trends discovered in 1983 seem to repeat the 1973 patterns of a one-way traffic from a few exporting countries to the rest of the world and the dominance of entertainment. However, important regional developments also seem to have occurred, for example, in Latin America and the Arab countries. In Europe, the regional process of integration has strengthened arguments for improving European programming. The American influence, however, remains strong in Europe too, with some 12% of the total western European output being US programs. The eastern European countries seem to import more western programming than vice versa. The United States imports relatively fewer foreign programs than any other country. Only 1% to 2% of US broadcast time is composed of imported programs, although there are local exceptions. The issue of communication policy and cultural identity seems to remain strong both in the Third World and in such areas as Europe or Canada.