La evolución de las relaciones bilaterales

build a global brand (Horan, 2007). American scholars have proposed three golden ages of American TV based on the proliferation of original and classic dramas (Lule, 2012). The first golden age of American television was the period from the late 1950s to the early 1960s (Kellison et al., 2013; Stephens, 2000). This age featured innovative live TV plays such as Patterns, scripted by Rod Serling, and Marty, scripted by Paddy Chayefsky (Palmer, 2010), and major genres of television programs such as soap operas, medical shows and game shows were developed in this period. Representative shows of this time include The Twilight Zone and I Love Lucy (Palmer, 2010). The second golden age of American television was in the late 1960s and the 1970s (Miller, 2014; Thompson, 1996). It was marked by stories in long form with more complex structure (Miller, 2014). Some of the notable shows of this period include The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Mike Douglas Show and All in the Family. In the 1970s, American TV series filled television schedules across the world (Horan, 2007). The third golden age of American television took place from the 1990s until now, and have revolutionized ‘how and what America watched’ (Thomas, 2013). For the first time, Americans could watch television programs on their own schedules and could binge watch entire seasons (Marcus, 2013; Plunkett & Deans, 2013; Thomas, 2013). The third golden age of American TV was built on a new funding model, led by HBO and taken up by AMC and Showtime (Martin, 2013). These subscription channels are more like independent cinemas that are creative but with a more fixed supply of funding and audiences (Lawson, 2013). In recent years, American online TV distributors have also gone into production with leading groups such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon also producing original TV series and films.

The dominance of American TV series in the global market largely depends on their advanced international distribution networks. Worldwide distributors allow American TV series to reach many overseas audiences, even in remote areas. For instance, HBO and Cinemax are currently available in over 70 countries, and HBO programming is licensed to other television networks in over 150 countries (HBO official website, 2017). These media networks distribute American TV series to

different part of the world, and indirectly win hearts and minds in many countries. Desperate Housewives won its time slot in Germany, England, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands; Lost won its time slot in Russia (Bielby & Harrington, 2008). The soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful is airing in more than 100 countries, and Dallas was a widespread hit throughout Europe and parts of the Middle East (Bielby & Harrington, 2008). Even in such remote parts of the world as Papua New Guinea, both local television channels and Direct TV channels air the latest episodes of American TV series. According to the online program schedule of EMTV, a national television station in Papua New Guinea, American TV series such as Glee, Homeland, Dallas, and Hostages have been on the air for quite some time(EMTV, 2012). Satellite and cable TV can also be seen in cities like Port Moresby, and most of these are American channels, such as HBO, Cinemax, Fox, and SyFy Universal (HiTron, 2012). This is not surprising, because the US is the biggest exporter of television programs and movies in the world, controlling over 70 percent of the market (Horan, 2007).

In other ways, innovations in the television industry have enabled American TV series to compete with local television shows in other countries. American TV series now produce visual effects that were hitherto exclusive features of Hollywood movies. In addition, as more homes started to acquire widescreen and high-definition television with excellent sound systems, the demands of television consumption followed these hardware updates. Innovations in the television industry also contributed to increasing competitiveness with movies for entertainment (McCabe & Akass, 2007). This brought more opportunities in the global market for high quality American TV series, which emphasize visual effects. Horan (2007) states that as long as there are networks and cable stations, innovative and groundbreaking American TV series will continue to dominate the global market.

The popularity of American TV series in China is a typical case of the global distribution of American television content. It is a representative case for studying the impact of American television in global audiences within the online media landscape. Before the first American series came to China in 1980, Chinese television audiences rarely knew what American lives were like. Even though American television series encountered fierce censorship and restrictions on broadcasting, they managed to gain popularity on the Chinese Internet. American TV series started to show Chinese audiences American lifestyles and culture in stark contrast to what Chinese television portrayed (Fish, 2017). However, the distribution of American TV series in China also differs from other countries because of China’s unique media landscape. In countries with loose media censorship, the American series are broadcast both on television and online. However, in

countries with strict media control, such as Cuba, offline distribution networks are built to deliver American TV series (Harris, 2015a,b). But in the Chinese case, the strong censorship of television and relatively weaker restrictions online push the distribution of American TV series to an online environment. This provides researchers with an ideal opportunity to study the impact of American television series on Chinese audiences within the online environment and retest media effect theories in the Chinese context.