This diploma thesis deals with the way material artifacts participate in the creation of the retrospective depiction of the past in the second season and the third season of the series Vyprávěj, which takes place in the years 1873 - 1989. In the empirical part of the thesis a semiotic analysis was made. The goal of the thesis was to determine which material artifacts evoke the atmosphere of the past in the series and if these artifacts can be considered the carrier of visual information and semantic levels. We focused on stage properties which can be found in the settings of individual households, workplaces and other places which can be seen in the series and we made an analysis from the viewpoint of their occurrence. At the same time in connection with the chosen material artifacts we focused on their function in the narration and their meaning for depicting the past. The study also deals with the ways the viewers of the series remember the period of time which the series depicts. As a part of the analysis the viewers' opinions recorded on the official Facebook websites of the series Vyprávěj which were related to the stage properties and the memories of the period of normalization were gathered.

This dissertation investigates the dynamics of production surrounding United States Spanish-language television by analyzing the strategies followed by newcomer Azteca America in it attempts to become an attractive television option for Latinos. Given the scarcity of research on the production approach of U.S. Latino media, this study interrogates the site of production of Spanish-language Television--that is, the site in which professional routines and presumably legitimate knowledge about audiences are the basis for the reproduction of particular representations of Latinos in the United States. The incursion of Azteca America into this realm allows me to reflect on the structural and complex relationship between the U.S. Latino and Mexican television industries. Azteca America's process of creating a network identity, along with strategies of production, representations, and distribution reveal longstanding assumptions about television's formulas of success, which are the result of the way in which U.S. Latinos are imagined by the corporation. My analysis is informed by the cultural economy perspective that evaluates corporate practices as relevant cultural objects with economic value; it is also informed by Pierre Bourdieu's theory of logic of practice, which allows me to situate the corporation as a social space as I evaluate its corporate routines as a site of the expression of larger social dynamics. A global approach gives me the theoretical tools to think about the transnational character of the U.S. Latino industry, its audiences, and the crossborder nature of Azteca America's venture. The presence of Azteca America in U.S. broadcasting television reaffirms, on some level, the ways in which Latin Americans claim "authentic" knowledge regarding the programming and representations delivered to Latino audiences. This process is possible because of the fluid identity with attendant flexible meanings that accompanies the hybrid and multilayered identities of the Latina/o population in the U.S. / text

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

In this study I have evaluated the answers from 39 informants regarding their attitudes towards the translations of English-language movies and TV series into Swedish. In addition the informants also answered questions on how they perceive their own proficiency in English. The ages of the informants range from 12 to past retirement age. The informants have different backgrounds in terms of education, but all of them have Swedish as their native language.    This study shows that there is a certain level of discontent, amongst viewers in Sweden, when it comes to the quality, of subtitling and dubbing in audiovisual media. Due to these findings I ultimately argue that the area of audiovisual media is in need of further research and possibly improvements as well.

Cette thèse a pour objectif de faire la lumière sur l'acquisition d'une langue étrangère en autonomie par la télévision. Elle s'inscrit dans deux champs de recherche, celui de la didactique des langues et celui de la psychologie cognitive. Elle s'appuie sur l ' étude de spectateurs tunisiens qui ont acquis l'italien par la simple exposition à la chaîne italienne Rai Uno et sur une expérimentation menée auprès de jeunes enfants. Des tests [CELI1] ont montré que ces spectateurs ont pu acquérir un niveau intermédiaire en italien malgré l'absence d'enseignement et d'interaction. L'analyse qualitative des entretiens a montré que l'exposition à une langue étrangère par la télévision s'accompagne d'un apprentissage implicite de cette langue, que l'acquisition de celle-ci est le résultat d'une exposition prolongée et qu'elle fait développer davantage des compétences de compréhension que des compétences de production. L'expérimentation menée auprès des enfants a confirmé ces résultats. L'ensemble de ces données a également montré la validité des hypothèses de Krashen concernant la primauté de l'acquisition sur l'apprentissage, l'importance des inputs compréhensibles et l'effet du filtre affectif. / This thesis aims to shed light on the fact to acquire a foreign language autonomously by watching television. It comes according to two fields of research that are “the didactic of languages” and the “cognitive psychology”. This thesis is based on a survey of Tunisian spectators who have acquired the Italian language by watching the Italian channel Rai Uno and also experimentation conducted with young children. Indeed, the acquisitions of language by the spectators are real despite the absence of education and interaction. They were evaluated by tests [CELI1] which have shown that these viewers have an intermediate level in Italian language. Qualitative analysis of interviews showed that exposure to a foreign language television is accompanied by an implicit learning of the language. The acquisition of the latter is the result of a long exposure and it is further developing the understanding skills than the production skills. Together, these data also showed the validity of Krashen hypothesis regarding the primacy of the acquisition to the learning, the importance of understandable inputs and the impact of the emotional filter.

(in English): This thesis describes, how the internet and new media change the habits of viewers when watching audiovisual content. In a theoretical part there is briefly described an evolution of television as a medium in its every phase and also are there critically introduced new ways of video consumption. The practical part contains a qualitative sociological research in a form of deep interviews with 23 participants divided into groups by sociodemographic group. The thesis reflects difference in a media praxis between these sociodemographic groups and describes an influence of new media on audiovisual content consumption.

The dissertation focuses on the research of the audience and the perception of athletes with a disability, mainly Paralympians, in the Czech Television (Česká televize), which regularly broadcasts a program about disabled athletes called Paralympic Magazine. The topic also appears in other news programs (ČT24 and ČT sport). The research aims at showing the media image perception of the disabled sports by the television viewers. The theoretical level emphasises mainly the audience and athletes with a disability. The dissertation posed the following research questions: How do television viewers perceive athletes with a disability? Does the audience admire or regret them? What do viewers say about the presentation of disabled sports? Can we identify any differences between the presentation of athletes with and without a disability? Are life stories of athletes with a disability important in the reports? Does the Paralympic sport make sense? The focus group interviews were set to get an answer to the questions above. The audience (50 television viewers) was divided into five groups of ten. The first group consisted of people without a disability who had been watching the Paralympic Magazine and had no disabled person in their family. The second group was composed of people without a disability who did...

This study was designed to examine the relationship between a secular behavior—television control—and a religious one—Family Home Evening. The findings show that there is a relationship, with those having favorable attitudes toward Family Home Evening and those who hold casual FHE's being most inclined to exercise positive control over their children's television viewing.

The growth of direct broadcast satellite television distribution to the home as a viable competitor to cable and terrestrial broadcast has fostered the availability of special interest or niche channels and therefore provided greater choice to the viewer. This study, based on uses and gratifications theory, examined the relationships among ritual and instrumental viewing motivations and satisfactions, viewer religiosity, and viewing attentiveness as they related to the selection of a niche television channel, Brigham Young University Television. The uses and gratification approach provides an appropriate framework for studying "media consumption, the interrelated nature of television user motives, and the relationships among viewing motives and viewing patterns" (Abelman, 1989, p. 57). Data was gathered by way of an online survey of non-random, self-selected BYU Television viewers. Participants answered 67 questions about their motives for choosing to view BYU Television and the gratifications they received from their viewing. The 596 valid responses to the survey were analyzed. The study results are in harmony with previous uses and gratifications studies examining ritual and instrumental viewing patterns. The data found positive relationships between instrumental viewing motives and instrumental viewing satisfactions, as well as instrumental viewing motives and viewing selectivity. There was no support for those hypotheses that dealt with the level of viewing attention as it related to religiosity or instrumental viewing motives. Future topics of study are suggested including the opportunity an expanded media universe provides to increase the depth and breadth of uses and gratification theory, as well as to study the role of niche television services in community building.