US Television Travels Abroad: Global TV and the Formatting Trend

Abstract

From a global perspective, the US, or “Hollywood,” has long dominated the entertainment industry. As early as 1939, an estimated 65 % of films shown worldwide had a US origin and today, Hollywood blockbusters routinely gross just as much or more from international distribution as they do from domestic receipts (Miller et al. 2005). Television, often thought to be the domain of mostly national audiences, is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon as well. A recent development along these lines is that of “formatting;” it has become quite common for the format, or concept, of a popular television program, to be sold overseas and remade for local audiences. It is this formatting trend that is the primary focus of this chapter. Formatting raises several intriguing issues, including the sustained US dominance of the medium, whether formats promote or counter cultural homogenization, and questions about the transferability of the unique sense of place that characterizes certain television series. It is important to first establish the historic hegemony of US television in the global marketplace, as well as to provide a brief history of formats and a description of the top players in this industry, before exploring how these questions might be answered.