Abstract
Prime-time soap operas of the 1980s arose from an intensification of television production's historically oligopsonistic structure under Reaganomics and deregulation. Whereas regulatory reforms undertaken on behalf of the public interest broadened access to prime-time television for independent producers during the 1970s, Reagan's implementation of tax reforms and deregulatory initiatives concentrated control over prime-time television in the hands of Hollywood's largest producers and syndicators during the 1980s. The one-hour evening soap opera facilitated these companies' domination of prime-time network access and foreign syndication sales by allowing them to use access to a nationwide audience to engage economies of scale in television production.
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