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4 The Inflow of American

Television Fiction on European

Broadcasting Channels

Revisited

Els De Bens and Hedwig
de Smaele

Situating the research

In the 1970s, empirical research on international programme flow consistently
pointed out the dominant position of the American audiovisual industry and
the asymmetric relationship between the USA and the rest of the world
(Nordenstreng and Varis, 1974; Varis, 1984). The often Marxist authors such as
Varis (1974), Schiller (1976), Mattelart and Dorfman (1975), Tunstall (1977), Boyd-
Barrett (1977) and Hamelink (1978) drew attention to the homogenization of
television content as a result of the dominant American programme industry
and stirred the debate on American media imperialism and more broadly on
American cultural imperialism.
In the 1980s, a new wave of empirical studies (Pragnell, 1985; Silj, 1988;
Sepstrup, 1990; Blumler and Hoffman-Riem, 1992; De Bens et al., 1992; Biltereyst,
1995, 1996) confirmed the dominant position of American fiction on European
television. The renewed interest was caused by the launch of many new
commercial channels in the 1980s. The high launch and start-up costs of the new
channels and their initial unprofitability left little for domestic production, so
import became the rule. American fiction was cheaper than European, and
furthermore, ensured high ratings. Hence, the commercialization of the
television landscape stimulated the inflow of American television programmes,
especially fiction.
The authors referred to, analysed the television content and the inflow of
programmes, but not the reception. They did not go into the impact of this
dominant American content on the attitudes and perceptions of the viewers.
Rating analyses provided only hints about tastes and preferences. In all
European countries it was found that viewers showed an outspoken preference
for home-made fiction. Hence, as soon as the new commercial channels had at
their disposal more revenue generated by advertising, they started to invest in

Source: EJC (2001), vol. 16, no. 1: 51–76.