The Routinization of Media Events: Televised Sports in the Era of Mega-TV

Abstract

Media events theory, developed by Katz and Dayan in the 1990s, has become one of the most well-known and cited theories in communications research, well-aligned with television’s central role in social life at the time. However, three decades since, in which events have spilled over to other media spaces thereby reshaping the theory’s underlying concept, sports broadcasts have remained a consistently stable source of media events. Although the original theory addressed media events as a rare phenomenon of a distinct, well-defined nature, the current study describes sports events that globally now constitute a sequence of routine mega media events that effectively function as a key anchor in traditional television programing. In the era of multiple screens, content abundance, and flexible viewing times, media events have become classic linear television’s programing core—instrumental in retaining its viewer base and in exploiting television’s advantage over rival screens and content. As a result, sport has become television’s main resource, thus indicating a need to revise elements of media theory. This study suggests several revision possibilities and what they entail methodologically for researchers.