Nusselder
described the Freudian idea that technology is a way to realize
fantasy (11). In televised sport, the fantasy is the live game
experience and television is the interface to this fantasy. As
Drucker would say, the layout of the interface will have an important
effect on the reception of the content (9). As such, the game (i.e.
the fantasy) is always the dominant feature. Graphics such as the
scoreboard or statistics will occasionally appear, but only cover an
insignificant portion of the screen, allowing the audience to
continually focus on the events of the game. Throughout the
broadcast, a director controls the interface, deciding what camera
angles to use and when to display certain graphics. The director has
to continually change the interface based on the situation and his
understanding of the audience's expectations. In turn, the
expectations of the audience can also vary due to cultural factors
(Drucker 11). An American broadcast for example is more likely to
feature stats and corporate logos than an NZ broadcast, due to the
popularity of fantasy sport and greater commercial influence in their
sports leagues.
As
we move into the post-broadcast era, a major trend appears to be
personalization. A factor behind this is globalization. Rather than
have broadcasters try to appeal to everyone at once, through
interactive interfaces, users can have more control over their
viewing experience and thus, more control over their realization of
their fantasy. Examples in live-sport include digital viewing
packages such as NFL GamePass or NHL Gamecenter. Non-sporting
examples include Netflix or SkyGo. Like World of Warcraft in
Galloway's chapter (42), they have additional interfaces within the
main interface, featuring buttons that allow users to customize
aspects of the interface such as camera angles, the visibility of
certain graphics and commentary. To some extent, with live sport in
particular, this can be seen as democratizing the broadcast, giving
users certain directorial privileges that would not be available in
the broadcast era (though they are still bound to the content provide
by the broadcaster). Digital packages such as these are becoming
exceedingly popular due to their convenience as well as
customizability, and it will be interesting to see how they affect
old media broadcasts in the long run.
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