The Public Television Audience: the Phantom Elite.

Abstract

Public television (PTV), in both the United States and Canada is m and ated to broadcast programs in the public interest. Funding is provided by tax dollars and grants, rather than advertisers, to assure that PTV's focus is on programming and not audience maximization. As a result, PTV has considerably more cultural, educational and informational programming than commercial television. Yet, critics of PTV often assume that viewers select PTV programs to fulfill their cultural needs, and these viewers are largely elite. Consequently, PTV is accused of widening the cultural gap rather than democratizing culture. The data for this study were collected from a representative sample of 728 television viewers in the Province of Ontario, Canada between late 1979 and early 1980. Interviews were conducted by phone and mail. The expectation that the PTV audience is selective and elite is not supported by the data analysis. The majority of Canadian PTV viewers supplement their already heavy commercial television (CTV) viewing with PTV instead of choosing PTV over CTV. Only a small minority are selective PTV viewers, and they watch less television than the general public. These findings mirror recent descriptions of the U.S. PTV viewer. Elites are defined by demographic and lifestyle characteristics. This definition stems from the public's perceptions of elite rather than theories of class structure, heredity, or claims of nobility. Selective PTV viewing, the criterion measure, is defined as the 'share of time' of those watching a greater proportion of PTV relative to CTV. Differences are found between selective and nonselective PTV viewers. Selective PTV viewers read more and are more likely to participate in cultural events. While these findings support the hypothesized relationship between elite characteristics and selective PTV viewing, other elite characteristics, such as education and occupation, are unrelated to selective PTV viewing. Also both selective and nonselective PTV viewers plan their television viewing in the same way and have an equal amount of time to view television in the evening. Implications of these findings are discussed. A major focus for PTV planners would be to program for the nonselective PTV viewer with the realization that PTV is a supplement, and not an alternative, to CTV. This suggests a program schedule with more mass oriented, diversified, and regularly scheduled programming. Also, PTV promotion might be targeted at a wider demographic audience.