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The CrOSSvCultural Effects of U.S.
Programming on Young Cable and Noncable
Television Viewers in Brazil

presented by
Stephanie A. Kahl

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MSU Is An Afﬁrmative Action/Bone! Opportunity Intuition
7 Wane-m

THE CROSS-CULTURAL EFFECTS OF U.S. PROGRAMMING
ON YOUNG CABLE AND N ONCABLE TELEVISION
VIEWERS IN BRAZIL

by

Stephanie A. Kahl

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulﬁllment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS
Department of Telecommunication

1996

ABSTRACT

THE CROSS-CULTURAL EFFECTS OF U.S. PROGRAMMING
ON YOUNG CABLE AND NONCABLE TELEVISION
VIEWERS IN BRAZIL

by

Stephanie A. Kahl

This study examines the differences between young cable and noncable
viewers in Brazil. Eight hypotheses were tested in a questionnaire administered
to 405 6th- and 10th-grade students in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The objective was to
determine the cross-cultural impacts of imported U.S. television programs via
Brazilian subscription television. The variables assessed include the amount of
television viewing, preference for domestic and/or imported programming,
frequency of viewing domestic and imported programs, ﬁ'equency of viewing by
speciﬁc program content, attitudes toward different countries, perceptions of
the portrayal of people and situations on television, perceptions of the reality of
U.S. programs, and perceptions of the reality of American family values and
afﬂuence. While there were several differences between the two subsamples,
the overall ﬁndings indicated that there were no signiﬁcant cross-cultural effects

of U.S. programming on either cable or noncable viewers.

To my mother and father,
who taught me the road less traveled is worthy of the journey.

iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There are several people to whom I owe my warmest regards. Without their support,
this thesis would have remained an unattainable dream.

I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Joseph Straubhaar for showing me the grace and
beauty of Brazil as well as providing guidance throughout the multitude of tribulations.

To Dr. Bradley S. Greenberg, I am extremely grateful for his kindness and generosity,
intelligent advice and innate ability to place things back into perspective.

Many, many thanks to Dr. Thomas Muth for teaching me to think in bubbles and for
his kindness, support and insight.

My appreciation is also extended to Dr. Fred Litto, Zezinha and the staff at Escola do
Futuro for their cooperation in completing this project and showing me their Brazil.

Um grande abraco for Lilia, J icela, Claudia, Raphael e amigos for opening their arms
and doors to the gringa and actually enjoying the Hokey Pokey.

I am indebted to Lynn Rampoldi Hnilo, not only for providing me with incessant advice
but also for her invaluable friendship.

I am also beholden to Kevin Cragg for his mastery with a pen and his ability to make
me laugh during those somewhat dramatic moments of crisis.

To J eanne Gray and Mary Kay Rivard, I am thankful for their support, wonderful
coding capabilities and supportive friendship.

Special thanks to John Sherry for his endurance with SPSS and patience with teaching
a novice.

I am thankful for the ﬁnancial support of the Department of Telecommunication,
College of Communication Arts and Sciences, Dr. Joseph Straubhaar, the Center for
Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the MSU Graduate School. Without their
help, my ﬁeld work would never have been completed.

My warmest appreciation is extended to all of the young students in $50 Paulo who
participated in this study.

Most importantly, I am indebted to my family and friends who had faith in me when
I no longer had the strength. Thank you for believing in me.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................. vii
CHAPTER 1. THE HISTORY OF BRAZILIAN TELEVISION ................ 1
1.1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF BRAZILIAN BROADCASTING ............ 1
1.2 THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT OF BRAZIL'S TELEVISION
INDUSTRY .............................................................................................. 10
1.3 CURRENT TRENDS IN THE BRAZILIAN SUBSCRIPTION
TELEVISION MARKET ......................................................................... 15
Segmentation and Niche Markets ................................................ 16
Increased Importation of Foreign Programming ......................... 19
1.4 MAJOR PLAYERS IN PAY TELEVISION ............................................. 25
GloboSat and GloboNET ............................................................... 27
Abril de Televisao (TVA) ............................................................... 3O
Multicanal ...................................................................................... 34
1.5 SOCIAL AND CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS OF BRAZILIAN
TELEVISION ......................................................................................... 37
CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ....................................... 38
2.1 CULTURAL IMPERIALISM OR INDIGENIZATION? ......................... 39
2.2 WHAT IS CULTURE? .............................................................................. 49
2.3 QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH ON MEDIA EFFECTS ACROSS
CULTURES ............................................................................................. 51
2.4 CULTIVATION ANALYSIS AS A MEDIA EFFECTS THEORY .......... 60
2.5 CROSS-CULTURAL CULTIVATION ANALYSES ................................ 64
2.6 CRITICISM OF THE CULTIVATION THEORY AND ITS
CURRENT ROLE IN MEDIA EFFECTS RESEARCH ........................ 68
2.7 THE THEORETICAL APPROACH USED IN EXAMINING THE
EFFECTS OF BRAZILIAN SUBSCRIPTION TELEVISION .............. 75
2.8 PREDICTIONS IN THE STUDY ............................................................ 79
CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY .............................................................. 87
3.1 SURVEY SAMPLE .................................................................................. 87
3.2 METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES .................................................. 88
3.3 VARIABLES ASSESSED IN THE STUDY ............................................ 89
Independent Variable ................................................................... 89
Dependent Variables ..................................................................... 90
3.4 DATA ANALYSIS .................................................................................... 93

CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS .......................................................................... 94

4.1 SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS .............................................................. 94
Cable Viewers ................................................................................ 94
Noncable Viewers .......................................................................... 95
4.2 FINDINGS ON TELEVISION VIEWING BEHAVIOR AND
FREQUENCY .......................................................................................... .97
Differences in Television Viewing: H1 ........................................ 97
Findings on Programming Preferences among Cable and
N oncable Viewers: H2 and H4 .......................................... 99
Findings on Programming Preferences among Cable
Viewers: H3 ...................................................................... 108
4.3 FINDINGS ON ATI‘ITUDES TOWARD DIFFERENT
COUNTRIES: ......................................................................................... 112
4.4 FINDINGS ON PERCEIVED REALITY OF TV CONTENT,
VIEWERS' BELIEFS AND VALUES ................................................... 114
Perceptions of the Reality of TV Content: H6 and H7 ............. 114
Images of U.S. Family Life and Afﬂuence: H8 ......................... 116
CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION ................................................................... 120
5.1 SUMMARY OF RESULTS ..................................................................... 120
5.2 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ........................................................... 126
5.3 IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ...................................... 129
APPENDDC A: ENGLISH VERSION OF QUESTIONNAIRE ...................... 130
APPENDDI B: PORTUGUESE VERSION OF QUESTIONNAIRE ............. 143
REFERENCES ........................................................................................ . ......... 156

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1: DEMOGRAPHY OF CABLE AND N ONCABLE
VIEWERS ........................................................................................................... 96

TABLE 2: AMOUNT AND TIME OF TV VIEWING BY CABLE AND
NONCABLE VIEWERS (IN HOURS) ............................................................. 98

TABLE 3: PREFERENCES FOR TV PROGRAMS BY CABLE AND
NON CABLE VIEWERS ................................................................................... .101

TABLE 4: FREQUENCY OF TV VIEWING BY CABLE AND
NONCABLE VIEWERS ................................................................................... 102

TABLE 5: PROGRAM CONTENT PREFERENCES FOR BRAZILIAN
SHOWS AMONG CABLE AND NONCABLE VIEWERS .............................. 105

TABLE 6: PROGRAM CONTENT PREFERENCES FOR AMERICAN
SHOWS AMONG CABLE AND NONCABLE VIEWERS .............................. 106

TABLE 7: PROGRAM CONTENT PREFERENCES FOR JAPANESE
SHOWS AMONG CABLE AND NONCABLE VIEWERS .............................. 107

TABLE 8: PROGRAM CONTENT PREFERENCES FOR MEXICAN
SHOWS AMONG CABLE AND NONCABLE VIEWERS .............................. 107

TABLE 9: CABLE VIEWERS' PROGRAM CONTENT PREFERENCES
FOR BRAZILIAN SHOWS ON BROADCAST AND CABLE-ONLY TV
CHANNELS ...................................................................................................... 109

TABLE 10: CABLE VIEWERS' PROGRAM CONTENT PREFERENCES
FOR AMERICAN SHOWS ON BROADCAST AND CABLE-ONLY TV
CHANNELS ...................................................................................................... 110

TABLE 11: CABLE VIEWERS' PROGRAM CONTENT PREFERENCES
FOR JAPANESE SHOWS ON BROADCAST AND CABLE-ONLY TV
CHANNELS ...................................................................................................... 111

TABLE 12: CABLE VIEWERS' PROGRAM CONTENT PREFERENCES
FOR MEXICAN SHOWS ON BROADCAST AND CABLE-ONLY TV
CHANNELS ...................................................................................................... 111

TABLE 13: GENERAL OPINION OF COUNTRIES BY CABLE AND
NON CABLE VIEWERS ................................................................................... .113

TABLE 14: PERCEIVED REALITY OF TELEVISION CONTENT AMONG
CABLE AND NONCABLE VIEWERS ............................................................ 115

TABLE 15: VALUES AND BELIEFS AMONG CABLE AND N ONCABLE
VIEWERS .......................................................................................................... 119

Chapter One
The History of Brazilian Television

The role of television in Brazilian society is more prevalent when compared
to that of broadcasting in the United States or most other industrialized
countries. With 32 million television households, Brazil boasts the ﬁfth largest
television audience in the world and possesses more television sets per capita
than any other Latin American nation (235/1000 inhabitants). Out of a
population of 160 million, the medium reaches 80-90 million viewers daily. Pay
television, in its seventh year of operation in Brazil, is currently composed of
500,000 subscribing households in a market ﬁve times the size of that found in
Argentina. Brazil is considered the largest potential cable market in the world,
and government ofﬁcials, program distributors, cable operators and advertisers
have recently begun to take heed of the potential in this ﬂedgling market.1 In
order to gain an understanding of the importance television plays in the social
and cultural aspects of Brazil, an historical analysis of the country’s television
industry must be studied.

1.1 Historical Overview of Brazilian Broadcasting

The early history of television in Brazil is similar to that of the medium’s role
in the United States. Introduced in 1950 primarily as an elitist toy, the inception
of television came only eight years after its American counterpart debuted in the
United States. The structure of the Brazilian industry was modeled after the

United States’ system in its implementation of private ownership, commercial

 

1 Baker, 1994a, 1994b, 1994c, 1995; Goncalves and Mendonca, 1994; Merrill, 1991;
Paxman, 1995a; Paxman et 31., 1995; Pecegueiro, 1994; Rogers, 1994;ﬂ9ﬂd_qumnni;
Mm 1989-

2

advertising revenue, equipment and programming genres (Mattos, 1982). The
American commercial model was adopted because of pressures on the Brazilian
government, not only from the U.S. broadcasting industry, but also by native
entrepreneurs anxious to capitalize on the potential growth of this new medium.
Although the U.S. did indeed inﬂuence the implementation of commercial
broadcasting in Brazil, the ultimate decision to use the American model was
made strictly at the local level by domestic investors (Schement & Rogers, 1984;
Sinclair, 1994). Technological equipment and programming genres were im-
ported from the United States in the beginning stages as well as the corporate
management style characteristic of the American model. As Straubhaar (1984)
stated, “the ﬁrst and most crucial point of indirect American inﬂuence on
television in Brazil was the adaptation of a commercially oriented system. . .rather
than a public, nonproﬁt television system” (p. 222). Brazilian broadcasting
companies either trained employees in the United States or hired U.S. consult-
ants to provide on-location expertise in developing their system.

According to Mattos' model (1982), the Brazilian broadcasting industry
historically falls into ﬁve phases: elitist, populist, technical development, inter-
national expansion and segmentation. During its ﬁrst decade, television was a
luxury item for the elite social class and limited to broadcasting in two urban
areas—sac Paulo and Rio de J aneiro. TV Tupi, the original broadcast station,
aired its ﬁrst program on September 18, 1950, to an audience which possessed
a total of 200 television sets, mainly owned by government ofﬁcials and associ-
ated civilian leaders (Mattos, 1982). Programming during this elitist stage
(1950-1964) was characterized by low-budget local productions that attempted
to imitate North American variety shows.

It was not until the mid-19608 that television was considered a powerful tool
as a disseminator of information. From 1964 to 1975, the populist-sensationalist

3

phase, television grew into a mass medium in Brazil. The major Brazilian
networks were established, and the development of satellite technology and
videotape recordings during this time frame enabled transmission to reach
virtually all of Brazil. Due to the lack of an internal production industry and the
relatively inexpensive cost of importation, vast amounts of foreign programs,
predominantly from the United States, dominated the medium during this
stage. Concurrently, the authoritarian government of Brazil began utilizing
television as a propagandistic tool in promoting economic development and
national objectives. Mattos (1982) stated, “...one can only speak of a system of
television in Brazil after 1967 , when the country began centralizing its cultural
and economic policies, and television networks were developing a strong eco-
nomic base” (p. 13). Thus, television quickly evolved from an elitist medium to
that of a means of bringing together the masses in Brazil. It expanded into the
most popular vehicle for family entertainment and became the primary compo-
nent in propagating national development.

The government recognized the need for a national broadcasting infrastruc-
ture but did not possess the ﬁnancial means of establishing one. Hence, the role
of foreign capital became an important element in the development of such an
industry. Foreign investments, mainly ﬁ'om U.S. transnational corporations,
provided the necessary means of developing a telecommunications infrastruc-
ture during this second phase. While this was a common practice throughout
the world, the Brazilian government strictly forbade foreign investments in
most domestic industries at that time. TV Globo, run by the Marinho-family
media conglomerate, was ﬁnanced by the Time-Life Corporation in terms of
invested capital, telecommunications technologies, technical instruction and
imported programs (Duarte, 1992). Although foreign ownership was not
allowed, the Brazilian government permitted Time-Life to invest in Globo in

4

order to develop the foundation of a domestic broadcasting industry.

Another major factor in Brazil’s telecommunications development was the
inﬂux of transnational product manufacturers and the advertising agencies
representing them in Brazil (Sinclair, 1994). Since the Brazilian broadcasting
model was created as a commercial enterprise, the industry relied heavily on
advertising revenue. Concurrently, several foreign advertising companies were
developing business opportunities throughout the Latin American region. As a
result, a bulk of the ﬁnancial backbone of the broadcasting infrastructure has
been attributed to the presence of foreign companies. Sinclair (1982) explained
that transnational advertising and communications corporations established
subsidiaries in Latin America in order to capture the advertising revenue from
the multinational manufacturing companies that were also developing regional
subsidiaries during the same period. The majority of these were, and currently
are, American-based corporations which work as parent companies for their
Latin American subsidiaries.

The three main elements that lay the foundation for the current Brazilian
broadcasting industry include the rise of television as the primary reference
point for social interaction, the growth of the middle class and the increased
importation of U.S. cultural products and television programs. The United
States’ inﬂuence on Brazil’s television industry created a hegemonic cultural
diffusion throughout the country. The rise of the middle class and the national
development efforts of the government after 1964 infused the borrowed technical
advancements of the medium, thus perpetuating a foreign cultural ideology. The
television industry “...vitalized the national cultural production by expanding
the internal consumer market for symbolic goods as well as the external market
catering to the consumer needs of other countries on the cultural circuit of

international capitalism" (daSilva, 1986, p. 101). Thus, television had become

one of the most powerful, inﬂuential social and political forces in Brazil.

During the technological development phase between 1975 and 1985, tele-
vision became an integral part of the domestic industry of Brazil. Technical
improvements and innovations, along with a trend in reverting to domestic
production, established the broadcasting industry as a mainstay in the Brazilian
economic force (Mattos, 1985). Although imported programs still accounted for
30% of broadcasts aired in 1983, the consumer demands for domestically-
produced adaptations of American programming increased tremendously (Merrill,
1991). It was during this period that domestic programs ﬁrst gained a foothold
in the country’s consumer market. The powerful role of indigenous program-
ming has been largely attributed to the ability of the broadcasting industry to
maintain a strong production component that remained geolinguistic and
geographically speciﬁc to the Brazilian culture. Although the technology
continued to be imported mainly from the United States, the actual program-
ming adapted American themes and genre to the social and cultural aspects of
Brazil.

The fourth phase, from 1985 to 1990, was characterized mainly by an
increase in the number of networks as well as international expansion. Brazilian
programming, particularly that of the telenovela, became a major player in the
international arena with the rise of consumer demand in the global market.2
This national production center, under the auspices of TV Globo, now exports
programming to more than 100 countries (Duarte, 1992). Although Brazilian
programming maintains a global audience, the industry’s impact is predomi-
nately found in its domestic market and that of its neighbors. Brazilian culture,

speciﬁcally in television, has historically held a strong inﬂuence throughout the

 

2 The telenovela is the most popular domestic program genre in Brazil and several other Latin
American countries. This genre was initially a replication of U.S. soap operas but has adapted
over the years to become an integral component in the Brazilian national and cultural identity.

6

region. This inﬂuence can be found in the exportation of Brazilian programming
to neighboring countries as well as in the imitation of program themes, plots and
genre in other Latin American markets.

Brazil’s domestic industry slowly expanded during the later years of this
phase with the inception of new signal distribution systems. Through the
introduction of such technologies as direct broadcast satellite (DBS), cable, and
multichannel multipoint distribution systems (MMDS), as well as the
government’s licensing of ultra high frequency (UHF) channels, subscription
television was borne in Brazil. The arrival of these systems characterized a
transitional stage from the international expansion era to the segmentation
phase that is the current environment in the Brazilian television industry
(Duarte, 1992; Siqueira, 1994). These technologies had been available for a
relatively long time, yet the government’s role in the telecommunications ﬁeld
did not, until recently, make it politically or economically feasible for the
broadcasting industry to take advantage of these new distribution systems.

As a result of the lack of regulation in the earlier stages of the pay television
industry, the philosophy in reaching the domestic audience via new signal
distribution systems had been to invest in the technology prior to government
approval. Walter Longo, CEO of one of the two largest cable competitors, stated,
“Brazil was very late in pay TV development, not because it was behind
technologically, but because it was already quite advanced in television...We
have learned that it is better to ask for forgiveness than approval” (Longo, 1994,
p. 34). Rather than waiting for the government to determine the state’s role in
the pay television market, the broadcasting industry leaders began paving the
road to a competitive, commercial narrowcasting industry which left little room
for the government. The state’s inability to take a progressive stand on the issue
indirectly led to the development of the current marketplace.

Although the industry appears to be following the U. S. model, it is rather
unconventional in that the traditional inception of pay television “...has been
associated with cable TV, but in Brazil, its origin is more alongside MMDS and
DBS television” (Fadul, 1993, p. 74). The dawn of the multichannel television
industry arrived via direct broadcast satellite in 1986 with GloboSat, while
coaxial cable and MMDS were more recently introduced in 1989 and 1990,
respectively. Two of the largest Brazilian communications corporations, Rede
Globo and Rede Abril de Televisao, began investing in the distribution systems
prior to gaining licenses and government approval in the early 1990s. These two
conglomerates are recognized as the founders of the Brazilian subscription
television industry. Globo, through its subsidiary GloboSat, invested heavily in
direct broadcast satellite, while Abril chose an MMDS system for its subsidiary
TVA (Fadul, 1993). At the time of such investments, the government refused to
allocate licenses or concessions for the development of a cable system.

One major setback for a cable infrastructure has been the lack of ﬁnancial
resources to invest in the hardware: importing the equipment, laying the coaxial
cable and/or optical ﬁber, and the maintenance involved once such a system is
in place. Another problem has been that the largest potential audiences are
found in the metropolitan areas of Brazil, in which the costs in development are
much higher than in a less urbanized environment. Arlo Rogers (1994), Director

of Engineering for Multicanal, argued,

It’s a lot easier to lay [underground] cable and develop the system in [a
region] that’s not an over-populated urban area. But what’s the point? In
one given block of some of Sic Paulo’s wealthier neighborhoods, you have
a larger audience than you would in most other cities all together. You
have higher costs to develop the system, but the trade-off is well worth
it...In the end, you have a market virtually worth millions of dollars...and
everybody wants a piece of that pie. When it’s all done and said, whoever
holds the most pieces [subscribers] wins. '

8

While DBS is not as strictly monitored, the cable industry has been
stagnantly controlled in its growth. Under much pressure by various media
organizations, the government ﬁnally authorized 96 concessions for cable in
1989. In an attempt to create a competitive environment, none of these were
distributed to the major media conglomerates that dominate the print, radio and
television industries. What the government did not take into account was the
lack of capital for investment. With no government subsidies or loans, the small
business entrepreneurs who bought the concessions had no means of developing
the technology.

The result of this initial oversight was twofold. The primary consequence
revolved around ownership of the concessions. With no monetary resources
available for development, the small license holders quickly adapted to the
situation by selling the concessions. Reportedly, these commodities sold for
anywhere from U.S.$500,000 to U.S.$5 million (Hoineff and Besas, 1994). Such
concessions or franchises became a property worth high value and were sold most
often to the media conglomerates that the government initially tried to prevent
from entering the market.

The second issue pertained to how the infrastructure was developed in the
hands of the private sector, mainly the responsibility of the top three competi-
tors. The costs in creating a foundation for the subscription television industry
were extremely high. The marketplace became one in which no speciﬁc means
of distribution outweighed the others (opposite of that found in most industrial-
ized countries, such as the case with the U.S. cable model) (Baker, 1994b; Rogers,
1994). The result has been a slowly-evolving pay TV market in which all
distribution systems continue to play a role but none have yet to show dominance
over the others. Considered by some to still be in its infancy, the industry has
yet to determine at this point which technological route will set the precedent for

9

the distribution marketplace. Of the 102 cable concessions and twelve MMDS
licenses that had been granted under a 1989 amendment, the two major media
conglomerates hold the majority of those. Due to ﬁnancial constraints, only
thirty of these were operating as of March 1994 (Hoineff and Besas, 1994; Globo
NET brochure, 1994). The multichannel television industry as a whole does not
fall under one speciﬁc regulatory framework, but the current federal adminis-
tration has targeted the telecommunications industry as a priority in substan-
tial change and growth.

Baker (1994b) noted that there are three signiﬁcant reasons why pay
television has been slow in developing: (1) until recently, there was no
infrastructure for distribution; (2) there was no real demand for pay television
because the audience did not know what it was; and (3) Globo did not want to
erode its power base. One concern is that this new industry will not continue as
an openly competitive market in which the consumer has several options.
Rather, it will become one in which a select few dominate and dictate the
distribution system that will eventually lead the industry. In turn, the type of
programming made available and the program and advertising content por-
trayed on the pay channels will be controlled as well. This scenario, of a few
conglomerates catering to the needs of the country’s elite, had historically been
the main criticism of broadcasting until pay television began making slow
progress in the early 19903. More speciﬁcally, the potential role of Globo in the
young industry has been a point of contention among industry leaders (Baker,
1994b; Straubhaar, 1994).

Globo, the largest of the seven national broadcasting networks, has main-
tained a 65-7 0% market share throughout most of its history. However, by the
end of 1994, the media conglomerate had lost a hold on ten points of its

traditional share of the Brazilian audience, mainly to its competitors in broad-

10

casting as well as a less signiﬁcant percentage to the programming on the new
channels introduced through the cable industry (Paxman, 1995a). With the
largest potential market in the western hemisphere, Brazil is viewed by
transnational companies as a relatively untapped resource for programming
distribution and the consumption of products and services. Globo has been
criticized of not only maintaining a stronghold on the Brazilian television
audience but also of creating a barrier to entry for potential competitors. If Globo
held a monopoly over the multichannel pay television industry as well as
maintained its dominance in the traditional broadcasting arena, competitors
argued, the entire television spectrum would be dictated by Globo. Criticism
over this potentially hazardous role led many to believe that Globo’s strategy in
entering the pay television market was to actually prevent the ﬂedgling industry
from growing successfully (Baker, 1994b; Straubhaar, 1994).

1.2 The Political Environment of Brazil's Television Industry

Since the adoption of the national Telecommunication Code in 1962 and the
1963 General Telecommunication Regulation, “. . .the role of the government has
stood out as the main custodian of the system” (Fadul, 1993, p. 13). Under the
current governing laws, renewable licenses or concessions are granted for terms
of ﬁfteen years. Government control is empowered under such a system in that
licenses have historically been granted to those who are more favorable to the
respective executive political power. With an outdated Constitution that does
not deﬁne ‘narrowcasting’, under which the aforementioned distribution sys-
tems fall, the government had been hesitant in allocating spectrum space and

concessions when these distribution systems were ﬁrst introduced (Siqueira,

1994).

11

Discussion of the cable industry has been prevalent since the early 19708, but
the government was reluctant to both regulate and develop the infrastructure to
allow for new means of distributing television signals until recently (Baker,
1995; Fadul, 1993). It has been argued that the two motives were political favors:
to protect the TV Globo monopoly and to maintain the role of several government
officials who hold broadcasting licenses throughout Brazil. Approximately 20%
of Brazilian Congress members own either a radio or television station, while
others are owned or run by family members of government ofﬁcials (Fadul,
1993). This protectionist attitude on the part of the government may have been
a key factor in the stagnation of pay television’s development, but the drastic
economic crisis that engulfed the nation throughout the 19808 severely affected
the industry as well. Considered a privileged sector for government investment
throughout the 19608 and 19708, Brazilian telecommunications experienced
several ﬁnancial difﬁculties in the “Lost Decade” of the 19808.

Another signiﬁcant problem was found in the ambiguity of legislation. In
Article 4 of the legislative Telecommunication Code, telecommunication ser-
vices have been deﬁned as “the transmission, emission or reception of symbols,
characters, signals, writing, images, sounds or data of any nature by wire,
radio, electricity, optical facilities or any other electromagnetic process” (cited
in Fadul, 1993, p. 13). Article 6 of this code established the diﬂ‘erentiation
between broadcasting and special services in that broadcasting was “meant for
direct and free reception by the public in general, covering radio and television
broadcasting”, while special services were those “not open to public correspon-
dence and not included in the deﬁnitions of the previous paragraphs” (cited in
Fadul, 1993, p. 14). Industry leaders and prominent members of the Brazilian
academe argued that narrowcasting fell under neither the broadcasting nor the

special services categories of the code.

12

At this time, the political climate revolving around this issue is in a
transitional stage. The political platform of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the
current president of Brazil, is based in modernization of the state. Cardoso’s
focus has been a reduction in the state’s monopolistic role in such industries as
telecommunications and petroleum (Siqueira, 1994). The attitude of the
Cardoso government is one in which modernization is synonymous with
privatization, a trend occurring throughout Latin America. In order to liberalize
the economy, the market must be opened to international investments, stimu-
lation and trade. The current government appears to be progressively moving
towards liberalizing the marketplace by removing the state’s dominant presence
in the various industries.

In the ﬁrst phase of Cardoso’s plans to liberalize the telecommunications
industry, a new cable law was signed on January 6, 1995. However, the
legislation did not pass until the second vote, as the two-thirds majority needed
to pass was not met (Baker, 1995). The cable law went into effect forty-ﬁve
business days after April 18, 1995. There were over 2,000 new applications for
MMDS licenses in ﬁrst six months of 1995, but a “gentlemen’s agreement” was
made between government ofﬁcials and industry leaders to delay the initial
steps of processing the applications until government ofﬁcials determined how
to enforce the new stipulations.

The main purpose of the new law is to regulate how the licenses for MMDS
and cable operators will be allocated. The premise behind it is to open the pay
television market, colloquially referred to as cable, to further competition while
maintaining governmental regulation over the future of the industry. As one
critic noted, the law essentially provides political legitimacy to what has been
taking place since the inception of pay television in Brazil. However, the

legislation also supports political reform in the concessional process and pro-

13

gran content issues addressed in its bylaws. Sergio Motta, the current
Minister of Communications, announced in January 1995 that his department
would no longer condone the granting of radio, television and pay television
concessions as political favors (Paxman, 1995a). In an historically corruption-
plagued political environment, many Brazilians disregard Motta’s statement as
pointless. However, those with ﬁnancial stakes in the industry are beginning to
take heed to the minister’s words as the federal government, under Cardoso’s
goals of modernization and globalization, is currently campaigning to lend
credibility to Brazil’s potential economic force in the international arena.

The congressional committee responsible for overseeing the telecommunica-
tions sector has been reviewing the concessional process in an attempt to curb
political corruption as well as strengthen the government’s control over what
happens with the licenses once they are granted. The new regulations are based
on a point system to hinder the creation of monopolies and oligopolies (i.e.,
alleviating the concern over Globo’s prospective role as dictating the industry)
and to stimulate competition (Baker, 1995). For instance, those who already
hold a license(s), broadcasting or radio station, newspaper or any other media
vehicle lose points. If a bidder agrees to allocate a certain percentage of daily
airtime to domestic programming or speciﬁc channels for educational program-
ming, that bidder gains points. This does not necessarily mean that all bidders
who ﬁt under the former category will be denied a license and all of those in the
latter category will receive one. It simply allows for all applicants to start off at
an equal level and to either gain or lose points according to stipulations set forth
by the committee.

The goal with such a system is to limit cross-ownership and stimulate
competition. It is no longer permissible to either sell or change ownership and/

or stock of a license. This regulation is conducive to licenses already granted and

14

those to be distributed in the future. As of May 1995, neither the speciﬁc
guidelines for the point system nor the number of concessions that are to be
issued had been publicly released. Both the industry and the government’s

attitude toward the subscription television industry has changed in the last year.

The Brazilian government is putting a degree of social consciousness into
the concessional process. At the same time, people are realizing that it’s
a good business to get in to, while in the past they would have sold the
concessions (Baker, 1995).

A second targeted area for reform is that of the role of foreign capital. In 1994,
the government allowed for 49% foreign ownership (including voting rights) in
domestic MMDS operating companies. This move was previously regarded as
unthinkable in Brazilian regulation of the television industry. With the new
cable law, there is a move to alter the differentiation between a foreign and
Brazilian company. In earlier years, foreign ownership was accessible only by
means of hiring a Brazilian lawyer to hold ownership of the concession(s).
However, the new law not only broadens the allowance of 49% ownership to
companies with cable concessions, but it also redeﬁnes a Brazilian company as
one which maintains a central ofﬁce and operates within Brazil. This step in
opening the industry to foreign capital has largely been attributed to pressures
brought on by the three major competitors. As the industry leaders anticipate
reaching one million subscribing households by the end of 1995, the government
has allowed for foreign investments to legally provide the ﬁnancial support in the
needed development of a cable infrastructure (Baker, 1994b; Baker, 1995).

Another signiﬁcant change in the pay television market pertains to regula-
tions regarding program content. The cable law allows for cable operators to
produce their own programming as well as encourages the use of educational and
community programs (Baker, 1995). At this time, the majority of programs
available via pay television are imported, predominantly ﬁ'om the United

15

States. The government appears to be concerned with the potentially detrimen-
tal role of imported programming in the social and cultural aspects of Brazil, yet
has increased the role of foreign capital in the industry’s infrastructure.

The pay television industry has been slow in developing, but the current
political administration appears to be making up for lost time. Internally, the
political mechanism that has been upheld throughout Brazil’s history is gradu-
ally changing. This is evident in that the traditional state-monopolized market-
place is moving progressively to privatization, thus changing a value system
that is deeply rooted in political afﬁliations and liaisons. Concurrently, the
traditional broadcasting system is being challenged by the pay television
industry that, while still in its infancy, is steadily growing and capitalizing on

the country’s consumer base through the segmentation of niche markets.

1.3 Current Trends in the Brazilian Subscription Television Market

The Brazilian broadcasting and multichannel industry now follows the U.S.
model in three speciﬁc areas: distribution, programming and advertising.
There has been increased development of signal distribution technologies, such
as one competitor’s use of a direct—to-home digital compression system that
provides for more channels at a higher transmission quality than many other
systems (Goncalves and Mendonca, 1994). Programmers continue to follow
American fads in their imitation of genre and production styles of U.S. program-
ming, with increased production of talk shows and ‘interactive’ news programs
that enable audience participants to express their views (Michaels, 1994). There
has also been an inﬂux in speciﬁcally targeted advertising campaigns that no
longer attempt to reach the mass populous (Oliveto, 1994). Aside from the above

characteristics, there are two current trends shaping the pay television environ-

16

ment in Brazil. These relate to market segmentation and increased importation
of programming.
Segmentation and Niche Markets

When speaking of the current television industry in Brazil, the focal point is
market segmentation (Duarte, 1992). As media, particularly television, are
moving away from the primary goal of reaching the masses, the objective has
become that of successfully identifying and capturing speciﬁcally targeted niche
markets. Market segmentation ﬁrst became prevalent in the mid-19808, as the
six minor broadcasting networks were forced to ﬁnd alternatives in competing
with TV Globo. Spearheaded by SBT and Manchete (Fadul, 1994), these
networks had to adopt creative strategies in order to capture niche audiences
ignored by Globo.

The premise of market segmentation is to capture and maintain the interests
of a large share of a relatively small market rather than obtaining a minimal
share of the mass market. The strategic technique utilized by the six networks
has been to work around Globo’s programming schedule in providing targeted
programs to niche markets during unconventional time slots (Duarte, 1992).
The most successful example to date has been SBT’s eleven-hour variety show
“Programa Silvio Santos” that runs weekly on Sunday afternoons and evenings.
Sunday is the only day of the week in which Globo does not broadcast its
primetime-dominating telenovelas. Globo’s response to Santos’ show was to
produce and broadcast a spin-oﬂ‘ of the variety show that has not received as
much fanfare as SBT’s program. Although Globo still holds the largest market
share and boasts all ten of the top-rated programs, its competitors have been able
to gain their own audiences as well as a portion of the advertising revenue (“SBT

Chips Away”, 1995).

17

During pay television’s developmental stages, the broadcasting industry was
dominated by TV Globo, the network that succeeded in maintaining the majority
of market shares with only one channel that reached the entire country via
satellite transmission (“SBT Chips Away”, 1995). Once the other networks
began obtaining niches in the marketplace, the viability of a multichannel
environment became more feasible as this marketing strategy proved to be
relatively effective. Brazil’s cable market is considered one of the best in the
world in its potential and, until recently, remained an untapped resource for
distributors, programmers and advertisers. Market segmentation proved the
ﬁnal link in developing such an industry.

Currently, subscription television plays a rather signiﬁcant role in this type
of marketing. Reaching niche markets is the strategy upon which pay television
in Brazil was initially developed (Baker, 1994a). Often referred to as
narrowcasting, pay television relies on reaching narrowly deﬁned audiences and
catering its programming and advertising to such target markets. Longo (1994)
stated, “...pay TV came to Brazil not to create an alternate signal distribution
system as it happened in Argentina or. . .the U.S., but rather to offer an additional
package of segmented premium channels” (p.34). Four major issues have
plagued the pay television industry: the previously discussed costs in developing
an infrastructure; legislation that had barred cable license holders from
producing their own programming; educating Brazilian consumers on what
subscription television is and its differences from the traditional broadcasting
model; and the lack of domestic programming to ﬁll the available channels.

Until the recent legislation that now allows for foreign ownership, the
domestic private sector was responsible for developing the industry‘ 8 infrastruc-
ture. The initial result was that foreign capital was indeed utilized prior to the
government ofﬁcially permitting such investments (Baker, 1995; Rogers, 1994).

18

Another way around the legislation had been to hire technical consultants from
foreign companies, mainly from the U.S. cable industry. This ensured that the
hosting Brazilian company was receiving the expertise needed to build the
foundation of its infrastructure while following the U.S. cable model in manage-
ment and development. The technical hardware and equipment continue to be
imported, often with a 100% import tax. The incurred costs of developing this
industry have been passed along to the consumers. A typical cable package in
Brazil costs approximately U.S.$200-$250 for installation with a U.S.$20—$40
monthly fee. As the subscription television market is currently moving out of its
early adopter phase into the emulator stage, these costs are anticipated to
decrease within the next two to three years (Baker, 1994b).

The industry must educate consumers on what is meant by multichannel
subscription television and the differences between pay television and ‘free’
broadcasting. Currently, the industry is collectively referred to as cable
television. Industry leaders have made a great effort in the last year to refer to
it as subscription or pay television. Although consumers know this multichannel
industry exists, most of them neither understand nor are concerned with the
diﬂ‘erences between the distribution systems available. “The person sitting in
front of the TV doesn’t care how it’s coming into the back of the TV. He is
concerned with what’s on the screen” (Baker, 1995). Within the last year, the
consumer awareness of subscription television has increased tremendously.
Industry leaders are encouraged by the reception in the mass market. “People
are saving up to get it...”, as pay television is moving away from simply being an
elitist status symbol to a phase of mass awareness and popularity (Baker, 1995).

This increase in mass awareness has also contributed to an inﬂux in
advertising revenue. More than U.S.$1.3 billion is spent on television advertis-

ing in Brazil annually. This phenomenon is contributed, for the most part, to the

19

large television audience, the sophistication of domestic broadcasting and
Brazilians’ fascination with the medium. On the average, companies selling
consumer products in Brazil spend over half of their advertising budget on
television (“Brazil’s Dynamic TV Sector Entices Advertisers”, 1992; Paxman,
1995a; Paxman, Ehrmann and di Nubila, 1995). However, the subscription
television companies have seen only a small percentage of such expenditures.

Although cable is a “... great media opportunity for segmentation in advertis-
ing,” the economic problem of the Brazilian class system creates a lack of desire
to segment among advertisers (Oliveto, 1994). Not only has the industry had to
educate the mass audiences of Brazil on what is meant by pay television but has
had to educate the advertising industry on the beneﬁts of segmentation as well.
Within the last two years, the Brazilian marketplace has opened up to more
international products that are primarily targeted towards the elitist consumer
group, known in Brazil as class A. Thus, it has been the representative U.S.
advertising agencies and product managers who have paved the way to market
segmentation in Brazil (Oliveto, 1994). It has frequently been argued that the
pay television industry is merely a new avenue for the distribution of imported
programming and consumer goods to Brazilian audiences. It is this problem of
programming which lends itselfto the second trend in pay television, that of a
reliance on imported programs.

Increased Importation of Foreign Programming

The cable industry began importing foreign programming to ﬁll the time slots
made available with the rise of the multichannel capabilities of the new signal
distribution systems. Until permitted under the auspices of the 1995 cable law,
operators were not allowed to produce their own programming. When the initial
legislation regulating the distribution of MDS and cable concessions was
passed, these licenses were deﬁned as distTV (Distribution of TV Signals)

20

authorizations. “As the name suggests, it [the licensed company] only can
distribute programming produced by other stations” (Fadul, 1993, p. 87). The
major broadcasting networks have always been responsible for the majority of
their programming. Thus, the pay television industry has had to look elsewhere
for programming.

It is unclear whether the consumers want imported programming. Little
audience research has been undertaken to determine whether audience mem-
bers subscribe because of the desire for more channel options or merely as a
status symbol among the elite. Michaels (1994) noted, “Cable...is blatantly
conspicuous consumption. Cable here is a big status and image thing but people
also subscribe for access to the programming.” There has been very little
marketing research done in the Brazilian pay television industry regarding
consumer preferences and viewing behavior patterns. Some industry experts
argue that there will have to be an increase in Brazilian content in programming
for subscription television to coexist with the high-quality programming made
available through traditional broadcasting. “It’s not just a question of being able
to afford it. The question is that of a cultural level or interest in such
programming” (Siqueira, 1994). The Brazilian Public Opinion Polling Institute
(IBOPE: Instituto Brasileiro de Opinao Pﬁblica e Estatistica) has been the
leading marketing research ﬁrm but currently does not study the subscription
television industry.

Regarding market segmentation, only MTV Brasil is currently researching
its niche audience. Datafolha, a ﬁrm that specializes in marketing research for
newspapers, magazines and radio, conducts a monthly quantitative analysis of
MTV’s Sic Paulo target audience. The ﬁrm administers a monthly telephone
survey of questions pertaining to audience demographics and psychographics,
lifestyle trends, programming preferences and perceptions of MTV (Cohen,

21

1994; Venturi, 1995). These measurements are then projected for the rest of
Brazil. MTV also conducts in-house research in an attempt to consistently
monitor its audience. The cable industry currently utilizes the marketing
strategies set forth by MTV. “MTV is a reference for everything today... [it] gives
the audience what they want, which is different than other stations here and in
the U.S.” (Cohen, 1994). Evidently, this is the ﬁrst attempt ever made in Brazil
to study and deﬁne such a speciﬁcally targeted market. Datafolha and IBOPE
have considered expanding their services as market segmentation is projected
to increase with the growth of the pay television market (V enturi, 1995).

The debate regarding subscribers’ preferences for domestic or imported
programming remains to be resolved. Executives in each of the three largest
cable operators acknowledge that the primary reason subscribers want cable has
not been determined (Goncalves and Mendonca, 1994; Pecegueiro, 1994; Rogers,
1994). The major issue is what the future preferences and market demands will
be when, and if, the industry reaches the majority of the population. Currently,
only the two highest economic strata (A and B) have access to cable due to the
high cost and lack of mass appeal to imported cultural products. Industry
leaders must remain positive about the potential market but must also be
realistic in terms of the interest maintained once the initial excitement dies
down. It is evident that there does remain a largely untapped market for
subscription television. Imported programming, mainly from the United States,
will continue to dominate the multichannel environment, while domestic pro-
duction will gradually increase as well. Duarte (1992) cited Browne’s argument
that “the increasing homogeneity ofTV programming schedules” is a result of the
cost-effectiveness in importing programs (p. 168). Since imported programs are
usually cheaper than domestically-produced ones, most of the world’s television

systems produce less than they import.

22

At the same time, there is a fear of an American invasion in both program-
ming and capital invested in the subscription television industry. Due to recent
regulations mandated by the U.S. Federal Communications Commissions (FCC),
several U.S. cable companies are turning to other markets for proﬁts. According
to Goncalves and Mendonca (1994), American telecommunications companies
are losing approximately U.S.$4 billion annually due to increased FCC regula-
tions. The Brazilian government and industry leaders, while concerned with the
lack of domestic capital to develop the cable infrastructure, are leary of yet
another cycle of cultural imperialism in programming and industry dominance
(Goncalves and Mendonca, 1994). This provides one explanation for the conﬂict-
ing stipulations set forth in the new cable law in Brazil, that of restricting
imported programs and concurrently encouraging foreign investments. On the
one hand, the message is that of building a stronger domestic production base,
while, on the other hand, the government is encouraging the presence of foreign
investors. Perhaps government ofﬁcials View the liberal protectionist attitude
as a means of controlling the marketplace while providing it with more resources
for development.

Foreign distributors are currently forming alliances and/or joint ventures
with the various Brazilian cable operators. Most favor licensing with exclusive
rights for either speciﬁc programs or programming from speciﬁc channels
(Goncalves and Mendonca, 1994; Rogers, 1994). While one Brazilian operator
may hold rights of exclusivity to air “Beverly Hills 90210”, for example, a
competitor may have an exclusive license agreement for ESPN. The same
imported programming packages are often available to Brazilian consumers
from more than one operator. As of yet, tiering is not characteristic of the
Brazilian model. The only option is to which cable company a consumer can

subscribe. Tiering will become a leading component of the industry as both

23

competition and subscriber bases increase (Baker, 1995).

Another issue revolving around programming and production is that of the
Brazilian ﬁlm industry. There were approximately 100 Brazilian movies
ﬁnanced in the early 19808 per year, but by 1992, only two to three ﬁlms were
being produced annually (Hoineff, 1995). The Brazilian government had been
the sole body ﬁnancing the ﬁlm industry for over twenty years under the auspices
of EMBRAFILME. The annual EMBRAFILME budget had consistently de-
creased during the 19808, known as Brazil's "Lost Decade", and was ﬁnally out
out of the state’s budget altogether under Collor. The effect was increased
importation in both the ﬁlm and television industry. A 1993 law provided tax
shelters for foreign companies interested in Brazilian co-productions serving the
purpose of increasing private investments in the industry while maintaining
indigenous content. However, only one company has committed to a co-
production to date. The primary reason behind this is that U.S. distributors
receive a tax credit in the United States for the Brazilian remittance tax levied
on imported movies, as is often the case with other foreign suppliers in their
respective home countries (Hoineff, 1995).

Cardoso, Brazil’s current president, has reacted to the situation by providing
a $15 million emergency fund to protect this cultural industry. There are
predictions that as many as forty new Brazilian ﬁlm titles will be available by
the end of this year as governmental support is expected to increase up to U.S.$50
million. The result has been that “...producers are looking to partner with TV
companies and devote greater efforts to international sales” (Hoineff, 1995, p.
64). Such partnerships may have a positive effect on the subscription television
industry in that more domestic programming may be made available for this
multichannel market. While the primary goal of the Brazilian ﬁlm producers is
to increase exportation, the potential for reaching a higher domestic audience

24

via pay television should not be ignored. The perception of quality among movie
attendees in Brazil focuses on highly budgeted, visually appealing movies
synonymous with Hollywood rather than the low-budgeted, more content-
oriented characteristics of the Brazilian ﬁlm industry. The majority of ﬁlms
have always been imported, but the theaters provide what the consumers
request. Moviegoers ﬁll out request forms at the theaters and those ﬁlms most
mentioned are brought in to the respective cinema houses (Michaels, 1994). U.S.
movies received approximately 70% of the top billings in 1994, while 2—3% of the
most popular ﬁlms were imported from other countries (Hoineff, 1994). “There’s
a feeling of rejection by Brazilian audiences for local ﬁlms...The A-class audi-
ences want A ﬁlms and will avoid the usual low-budget Brazilian fare” (Hoineff,
1994, p. 39). The commercial ﬁlm industry caters to this social class, since movie
audiences are mainly composed of class A members.

While the consumer market currently demands imported movies in theaters,
subscription television channels may provide a new outlet for the domestic ﬁlm
industry. Occasionally, a Brazilian movie is showcased on one of the pay movie
channels, but U.S. movies currently dominate this market as well. For instance,
according to TVA’s monthly cable guide for June 1994, there were 514 movies
available to subscribers via ﬁve of TVA’s seven channels throughout the month.
There were no Brazilian movies, 440 U.S. ﬁlms, ﬁfty-six non-American
imported movies, seven U.S. co-productions and seven non-U.S. co-productions
W 1994).

The new cable law encourages increased domestic production and uses this
as an incentive in granting concessions, yet there have been no political solutions
provided for the lack of ﬁnancial means to produce programming. Not only is
production more expensive than importation, but companies with no history in

production would have to compete with a highly structured, successful domestic

25

production base found in the broadcasting industry as well. One possible way to
alleviate the problem is that of taking advantage of the domestic ﬁlm industry.
Movie attendees will continue to want imported ﬁlms, but Brazilian ﬁlmmakers
could potentially reach a greater audience via the multichannel environment.

Imported programming will continue to be an essential component in pay
television. As advancements in technology continue to provide more channels
available to consumers, programming will continue to be in demand to ﬁll the
time slots as well. Since foreign ownership is now permissible and pay television
is reaching the point of mass appeal, each of the major Brazilian cable companies
is aligning with various U.S. programming distributors and communications
conglomerates to ensure that they too will hold a percentage of the rising

subscription television audience.

1.4 Major Players in Pay Television

The Brazilian subscription base, as mentioned previously, has more than
doubled in the last year. According to Baker (1995), at the end of April 1995,
there were between 520,000 and 535,000 subscribers. Of those, about 30,000 to
40,000 overlap in that they receive programming from various operators via an
independent company operating in regions in which the main competitors are
not present. Industry leaders are predicting that there will be one million
subscribing households by the end of 1995 and three million by 1998 (Baker,
1995; Hoineff and Besas, 1994). Business leaders are beginning to acknowledge
the potential of this market and are vying for their share of the audience. There

are two major competitors in the pay television industry, with a third up and
coming contender: Globo NET, TVA and Multicanal. These three recognized the

potential of this market long before most Brazilian business leaders even knew

what was meant by the term subscription television.

26

Of the 2000 current applications for cable licenses, most of them belong to
newcomers in the market. Several critics contend that those companies which
will be granted licenses are eventually going to have to work with one of the three
industry leaders. Of the thirty concessions now in operation, the few smaller
companies act more as branches of one or more of the aforementioned three
dominating contenders. Often, these smaller operators acquire geographical
rights to some programming from one competitor while holding rights to another
contender's programs as well. This trend will most likely continue for the next
few years as these three have acquired the programming rights and technical
expertise needed to sustain the pay television industry.

TV Abril (TVA) was the ﬁrst cable company to heavily invest in a multichan-
nel infrastructure. Globo had been using satellite technology prior to the advent
of pay television but was utilizing the technology for the sole purpose of
nationally transmitting its regular VHF signal . TVA was the ﬁrst to actually
utilize MMDS and open UHF channels to reach a subscription-based audience
(Goncalves and Mendonca, 1994). Globo soon followed with satellite-delivered
pay channels available through its subsidiary GloboSat, and later GloboNet, to
ensure its dominance in the television industry. Multicanal, which works closely
with Rede Globo in some areas while directly competing with the conglomerate
in other regions, was the ﬁrst to invest in the development of both a coaxial cable
and optical ﬁber network. Thus, the ‘cable’ infrastructure of Brazil is a hybrid
market composed of various signal distribution technologies. What remains to
be seen is which means of distribution, if any, will prove to work most effectively.
Baker (1995) stated that operators must be aware of their system’s limitations
and that “any major player has to realize that they will have to work with every
and any distribution technology down here and apply them with good sense.”

Therefore, while the industry as a whole is a hybrid market, each competitors’

27

distribution system is composed of a multitude of distribution technologies in
itself. .
GloboSat and Globo NET

Rede Globo has utilized satellite technology to obtain national coverage for
quite some time, but the conglomerate did not take advantage of this distribu-
tion system as a means for pay television until TVA’s entry into the market in
1991 (Fadul, 1993; Goncalves and Mendonca, 1994). Although Globo had
acquired several of the 102 cable concessions, the company did not begin
operations until they were essentially forced into the new industry. Globo
initially transmitted four pay channels via direct broadcast from the BrasilSat
II communications satellite under the auspices of its subsidiary GloboSat. With
basically no competition in the traditional broadcasting industry, Globo entered
the subscription-based marketplace with conﬁdence in its marketing expertise.

TV Globo has been considered an innovator in broadcasting marketing
strategy with its effective employment of horizontal programming and merchan-
dising (Michaels, 1994). Globo was able to lock in the Brazilian audience during
primetime Monday through Saturday by airing its highly reputed telenovelas
back to back. Concurrently, the broadcasting network had “...mastered the art
of incorporating product advertising into its scripts. .Television programming in

7’

Brazil is composed of a mix of reality and ﬁction... , in that advertising is often
combined in program content (Michaels, 1994). GloboSat was organized in the
same manner as its parent company, borrowing such marketing tactics.

This resulted in various problems for the subsidiary during its ﬁrst two years
of operation. While TVA was slowly growing, GloboSat appeared to be
ﬂoundering. The company brought in an advertising specialist as its new CEO

in 1993, whereupon the company “diagnosed the industry and found a basic

strategic mistake...we had put different activities under the same roof”

28

(Pecegueiro, 1994). The company had followed the model of its umbrella
organization in housing its programming and distribution services together.
The problem was one both TVA and GloboSat experienced, yet TVA had been
able to successfully employ this type of model. As a solution, GloboSat divided
into two separate entities: GloboSat and Globo NET. The former is currently
responsible for programming, while the latter now handles all distribution
activities.

Although this alleviated some of Globo’s problems, another substantial
mistake was found in the technical options the company was utilizing. While
using the DBS system it already had in place, Globo ignored other signal
distribution technologies that were available. “There was an awareness and
demand for the programming, but the problem was consumers couldn’t get the
signal” (Pecegueiro, 1994). Problems inherent in the direct broadcast satellite
system often led either to interference in transmitted signals or did not logisti-
cally lend itself to various geographic regions. Globo NET reviewed the situation
and determined that its best option to distribute programming was with a cable
system. The company “found the opportunity” to distribute via cable in early
1993 and began to investigate the industry in other countries, such as the United
States and Argentina (Pecegueiro, 1994). Currently, its overall distribution
network is composed of DBS, MMDS, coaxial cable and optical ﬁber. The NET
system is jointly owned by Globo, Multicanal and Rede Brasil Sul (RBS), but all
operative commands are maintained by Globo (NET Brasil brochure, 1994).

Along with importing equipment and technical expertise from the United
States, GloboSat relies heavily on the U.S. for its programming. Pecegueiro
(1994) argued, “It is impossible for any nation besides France to put up a barrier
to American programming...in terms of Latin America, we are very American

oriented.” The NET system is currently capable of providing access to twenty-

29

four channels and charges US$32 per month for such services. As of 1994,
GloboSat offered four domestic channels and held exclusive rights to four other
programming channels. Unlike its competitors, GloboSat has access to an
abundance of indigenous programming through its parent company TV Globo.
The four channels that currently provide programming are Telecine, a 24-hour
movie channel; GNT, GloboSat News Television; Multishow, an entertainment
channel providing cartoons, video clips, classic movies and series, and informa-
tive programs on show business; and Top Sport, which provides coverage of
international sports and Brazilian soccer championships.

It holds rights of exclusivity for the Fox Latin American Channel, which is
the ﬁrst multinational channel to offer a 100% Portuguese-language signal in
Latin America; Teleuno, a joint venture between Spelling International and
Mexico’s Multivision that provides a multitude of American and Mexican
sitcoms; NBC-Canal de Noticiais, the 24-hour American news service for Latin
America; and the Jockey Club, a channel covering Brazilian horse races that
allows viewers to place bets over the telephone (NET Brasil brochure, 1994;
Pecegueiro, 1994; Paxman, 1995b). Although GloboSat distinguishes between
domestic and imported channels, both offer various imported programs as well
as domestically-produced ones. NET also provides some TVA programming in
a few geographic regions in which it operates distribution systems.

As of April of 1994, NET claimed to have 90,000 subscribing households
(Baker, 1994c). Current subscription information was unavailable, including
households passed as well as subscribing households. One industry expert noted
that often the statistics are misleading, depending on whom is supplying the
information. While one industry ‘leader’ may state certain numbers, another
may provide a different set of data. Although Pecegueiro stated that the Globo

conglomerate is conducting extensive research in analyzing the niche markets

30

in Brazil, there has been no empirical evidence to support this.

NET’s philosophy is as follows:

...simply to give the largest number of alternatives possible to the
subscriber. 'IVvo things we learned this year: while ‘open’ TV is called
‘broadcasting,’ subscription television can be called ‘narrowcasting,’ seg-
mented, with a more closed focus. It’s like a smorgasbord; there should
be lots of choices, but almost no one eats everything on the table
(Pecegueiro as cited in Baker, 1994c, p. 39).

Neither NET nor GloboSat had speciﬁc marketing information pertaining to its
audience. According to the NET brochure (1994), programming is dictated by
consumer demands. It remains unclear how the company obtains subscriber
and/or potential consumer information. The company has hired various market-
ing consultants but has not provided public access to its research. With the
current trend in joint ventures and alliances in the industry, more and more
marketing research is becoming available to the general public. As NET is
anticipating a venture with Mexico’s Televisa and PanAmSat, the opportunity
to review the company’s in-house reports may be in the near future. Until then,
the speciﬁc markets targeted by NET as well as quantitative support for its
subscription data remain ambiguous.
Abril de Televisio (TVA)

Unlike Globo, the communications conglomerate Rede Abril entered the
industry with no background in television. After several attempts to acquire a
broadcasting license under various administrations, Abril was ﬁnally able to
obtain an MMDS concession in the early 19908, reportedly due to political ties
to Collor. TVA began operating on September 15, 1991, in the Sic Paulo
metropolitan area. Obviously at a disadvantage to Globo, who was not yet in the
pay television market, TVA relied solely on imported hardware and technical
advice upon entering the industry (Fadul, 1993; Siqueira, 1994).

Abril’s original MMDS system, composed of codiﬁed UHF signals transmit-

31

ted to subscribers’ parabolic antennae, consisted of six channels of programming
(Fadul, 1993; Hoineff and Besas, 1994). Currently, TVA now offers subscribers
seven pay channels and holds the license for the open UHF MTV Brasil channel.
MTV started as a closed channel, but it is now offered on both open and closed
systems throughout Brazil. TVA currently holds seven operating MMDS
authorizations throughout Brazil, eleven cable concessions in operation and
ﬁfteen additional concessions that have not yet been developed (TVA brochure,
1994).

Although TVA started in MMDS, it is attributed with paving the way to a
hybrid distribution market in Brazil. The company has deﬁnitely made up for
its novice status upon entering pay television as it has been extremely successful
in identifying which technologies are best suited for particular geographic
regions (Baker, 1995; Pecegueiro, 1994). TVA is also attributed with leading the
industry with technological breakthroughs. The company has recently devel-
oped the only digital direct-to-home system. Utilizing the BrasilSat I communi-
cations satellite, this distributicn system is currently capable of transmitting
twelve digitally-compressed channels to the “...mcre than 1,100,000 existing
parabolic antennas already installed in Brasil” (TVA brochure, 1994, p.2). TVA
has been very aggressive in competing with Globo and Multicanal. Whenever
the other two begin developing their systems in a new neighborhood or district,
TVA immediately enters the newly targeted areas, passing the same houses and
apartment buildings as its two competitors (Baker, 1995).

One important characteristic of the Brazilian pay television industry per-
tains to residence. Apartment high rises typify the urban areas, and often
residents of a particular building vote on which cable system will be utilized
throughout the establishment. Each apartment occupant is still responsible for
his/her individual installation and monthly fees, but this means that the

32

operator who acquires the contract has the beneﬁt of reaching more customers
at lower costs. TVA is currently “...the one to get if you’re going to get cable,”
(Michaels, 1994). Building residents will often wait for TVA to arrive in the area,
if it is not already there, rather than subscribing to another company.

TVA’s success in penetrating the market is largely attributed to the company’s
ability to effectively promote subscription television to Brazilian consumers.
The parent company, Rede Abril, has been in the print media industry for years.
Considered the Brazilian leader in consumer journals and magazines, Abril has
adopted the United States' marketing trends in direct mailing and segmentation
imported via the U.S. advertising agencies that followed product manufacturers
to the Brazilian marketplace (Baker, 1995; Goncalves and Mendonca, 1994).
Hence, TVA had an advantage over its competitors in pay television. The
company did not need to learn the valuable lessons of how to identify and capture
niche markets. Rather, TVA has directed its efforts speciﬁcally to segmented
audiences in Brazil’s class A using the aforementioned marketing strategies.

TVA advertises heavily in its parent company's Veja, the leading Brazilian
magazine comparable to the United States’ Newsweek or Time magazines
(Hoineff and Besas, 1994). Almost immediately after beginning operations, the
company began publishing its own cable magazine. Revista TVA is currently the
fourth largest Brazilian magazine in circulation. It is not only sent to subscribers
but is also available at newsstands and often mailed out to noncable viewers who
subscribe to other Abril publications (Goncalves and Mendonca, 1994). The
eﬂ’ects of this marketing scheme have been phenomenal.

TVA holds the largest subscription audience and has also managed to acquire
the largest portion of advertising revenue in the industry. Since it already
possessed a client base through advertisers in the various magazines, TVA was

successful in convincing several advertisers familiar with the beneﬁts of market

33

segmentation to buy airtime. Advertisers have the option of purchasing ad space
in the monthly cable guide as well. Rede Abril has also been the ﬁrst to oﬂ‘er
cross-media advertising packages with its newspapers, magazines and cable
channels (Goncalves and Mendcnca, 1994). While the Brazilian advertising
industry as a whole only grew 9% between 1993 and 1994, advertising on TVA
had increased approximately 200% in the same period (TVA brochure, 1994).

TVA has also been the industry leader in marketing research. As previously
mentioned, MTV is the only channel that conducts extensive studies of its
audience. However, TVA has been rather successful in recording pertinent
demographics and psychographics of its subscribers. TVA commissioned Gercomp,
an independent research ﬁrm, to study its audience in 1993 (TVA brochure,
1994). Some of the ﬁndings concluded that 60% of its viewers were between the
ages of 15 and 49. Approximately 68% are in the class A strata, while only 8%
of the general population is categorized in this social class. While the average
number of color televisions per household is 3.4, almost 20% of TVA’s audience
has ﬁve or more in their household. Essentially, TVA subscribers are “...the
creme de la creme of the Brasilian consumer population” (TVA brochure, p.4).
TVA claimed to have 170, 000 subscribing households out of a total of 220, 000
as of April 1994. While the ﬁgures are debatable, depending on each competitor's
claims, TVA will most likely sustain its lead in the market as a result of its
aggressive marketing strategies (Baker, 1995).

In reaching this upper echelon of Brazilian society, TVA has relied on almost
100% imported programming from the United States. The company holds
exclusive rights to MTV (which is now available on open channels, as discussed
previously); ESPN, the U.S. sports channel; and the Superstation, a
consolidation of the three major American networks (Goncalves and Mendonca,
1994; TVA brochure, 1994). TVA also oﬂ'ers subscribers access to CNN,

34

Showtime, the Cartoon Network and TNT. Speciﬁc programming from Disney,
E! Entertainment News, Playboy, Lifetime and Rei are also made available to
consumers.

TVA has also experienced its share of problems. Although it possesses the
marketing capabilities lacking in its competitors, the company has often had to
reconstruct portions of its distribution networks and has had several costly
technical maintenance problems (Pecegueiro, 1994). TVA had drastic ﬁnancial
burdens until the end of 1994 but has resolved that problem through various
joint ventures and partnerships. Stock in the company has switched foreign
hands often prior to the government’s permission for foreign ownership. The
European subscription television corporation Irdeto claimed to invest heavily in
TVA in November of 1993, but there has been no subsequent evidence of such
an investment (Perry and O’ Rorke, 1994). It was announced in early 1995 that
a group of Canadian investors, led by Bell Canada, committed to a joint venture
with TVA to provide US$198 million to further build the distribution system
(Baker, 1995).

TVA has also recently partnered with Hughes Communications in its DirecTV
Latin America satellite project (Paxman, 1995a). Although the government is
attempting to curb domestic cross-ownership, with the inﬂux of foreign invest-
ment, the future of the Brazilian telecommunications industry as a whole
remains to be predicted. TVA appears to be the subscription television company
that is creating the market’s trends. The company continues to be closely
watched by both domestic and foreign investors as it paves the way in marketing
and developmental strategies.

Multicanal
The third contender in the pay television industry is Multicanal. Owned by

CMA, a Brazilian mining company, Multicanal is currently the largest cable

35

operator utilizing coaxial cable and optical ﬁber in Brazil (NET brochure, 1994;
Rogers, 1994). This company began operating in 1993, although cable was ﬁrst
utilized for signal distribution in 1991. Cable was primarily used only in the
smaller urban regions of Brazil and was not a part of the infrastructure in Sic
Paulo or Rio de J aneiro until Multicanal began developing its systems (Fadul,
1993). Most of the initial operating companies no longer exist, so Multicanal has
been attributed with actually developing this segment of pay television amidst
the controversy over the history of cable in Brazil.

Multicanal holds eighteen operating cable franchises throughout Brazil and
is continuing to expand. The company owns at least thirty concessions that are
not yet operating and is currently building cable systems in twenty cities (NET
brochure, 1994; Rogers, 1994). The business, still considered small in compari-
son to TVA and Globo NET, is one the fastest growing pay television companies
in Brazil. It also operates a few cable franchises in Argentina under a subsidiary
(Rogers, 1994). Multicanal was the ﬁrst to successfully utilize coaxial cable and
optical ﬁber in its infrastructure, which is the primary reason why its competi-
tors chose to research this distribution technology.

Although the company is fully owned by Brazilian investors, Multicanal also
falls under American inﬂuence. It is currently adopting the U.S. cable model in
its management style, use of hardware, and technical expertise. In an attempt
to interpret the previous law that did not permit foreign ownership, Multicanal
hired American experts to run the company’s operations. According to Rogers
(1994), the U.S. model is the model that will shape the future of the Brazilian pay
TV industry. Under this premise, Multicanal has closely followed the trends in
the U.S. cable industry, such as the utilization of optical ﬁber.

Multicanal had only 2,500 subscribing households as of December of 1993 but

is planning to increase its subscriber base (Baker, 1994a). The company’s

36

strategy is that of developing the distribution network ﬁrst, then concentrating
on capturing the market. Essentially, the company’s philosophy is that “you
have to build it ﬁrst before you can reach your audience” (Rogers, 1994). The
cm'rent system is capable of providing consumers with seventy channels,
twenty-four of which are already ﬁlled with programming (Hoineﬂ’ and Besas,
1994). The company does not currently hold exclusive rights to any imported
channels or programming, but it does provide access to ESPN, CNN, TVE of
Spain and Deutsche Welle of Germany. The company also provides a vast
amount of domestic programming although does not produce any of its own.
Multicanal plans to produce some programming when prices are anticipated to
decrease. It has been estimated that approximately US$16 per subscriber
would have to be invested to produce one program. The company intends to
continue importing programming, particularly from the United States. “America
is the rest of the world’s image of prosperity. The most popular programming
continues to come from the U.S.” (Rogers, 1994). As consumer demands
currently support importation, Multicanal is responding by attempting to
provide the market with what it wants.

Multicanal owns 30% ofGlobo NET, however the company directly competes
with NET in some geographic markets. Apparently, Multicanal is providing
NET with technical advice in the development of the latter’ 8 distribution system.
Multicanal intends to utilize its own cable operations for interactive television.
The system already has the capacity to “...download information from any third
party...so that it can be reviewed at the subscriber’s leisure...including home
banking information, account balances, ﬁnancial market information” (Rogers,
as cited in Baker, 1994a, p. 37). While no partnerships have been announced,
other than Multicanal’s stake in NET, the company's future will most likely

include projects with other business sector leaders.

37

1.5 Social and Cultural Implications of Brazilian Television

Several researchers are concerned over the potential implications of the
subscription television industry in Brazil (Fadul, 1994; Mattos, 1994). Is this one
more step in the North’s dominance over the South? Or is it merely an inevitable
advancement as new technological breakthroughs permit such development? 18
this yet another round in the global debate over the power struggle between First
World nations and Third World countries? Or is this a sign of Brazil’s move to
industrialization and democratic liberalization? The industry will eventually
determine these issues.

What remains unanswered is the possible effects, both positive and negative,
this industry and its characteristics will have on the cultural and social aspects
of Brazilian life as it is known today. With a more in-depth understanding of the
television industry’s past and current stages, the following chapters are
dedicated to the primary purpose of this study: to gauge whether or not the pay
television industry is indeed affecting the Brazilian society and culture. In a
broader scope, it also attempts to determine if this is either indicative of cultural

imperialism or an adaptation of what is often referred to as indigenization.

Chapter Two

Theoretical Framework

A multitude of studies address the effects of television on social behavior,
yet relatively little research has broached the subject of the cultural and social
impact of U.S. programming on other countries. The theme of most research on
the effects of United States’ television on foreign audiences has been a qualita-
tive overview rather than empirical analyses of such effects (Atwood, 1986).
According to Elasmar (1993), from 1962 to 1992, only twenty-eight studies used
quantitative measures in analyzing the impact of the transbcrder ﬂow of
television programs. Of those, most pertained to the impact of American
programming and/or the advertising ofU.S. products on foreign audiences. The
overall lack of research may be a result of the difficulty to carry out quantitative
studies regarding cultural issues. Nonetheless, the issue of culture and the
transbcrder ﬂow of information via various media vehicles has been a predomi-
nant issue in the social science area since the end of World War II.

Although the Westernization of peripheral cultures has been an interna-
tional debate over the past thirty years, there has been more discussion than
research undertaken on whether the U.S. inﬂuence does have negative effects on
indigenous cultures. In the early 197 08, the cultural issue became the primary
target of international attention in forums such as UNESCO. This debate
eventually led to the creation of the New World Information and Communication
Order (NWICO) (Sinclair, 1994). Several countries from the periphery,
including Brazil, are in various stages of becoming semi-industrialized nations
no longer solely dependent on the industrialized core for economic development.
As a result, an incrementalization in paradigms in social science research has

begun to formulate regarding the cultural inﬂuences of mass media.

38

39

2.1 Cultural Imperialism or Indigenization?

The dependency theory “...was originally suggested as an economic model
to explain the underdeveloped process in the Third World” (Oliveira, 1991a).
This developmental paradigm originated in the early 19708 in Latin America
and eventually culminated into two other theoretical frameworks in social
science, that of media imperialism and cultural dependency (Lee, 1980;
Oliveira, 1991a; Rogers and Antola, 1984). Cultural dependence, supplanted in
the economic dependence theory, “...looks primarily at the ideological role of
media as part of the cultural superstructure that results ﬁ‘om the economic
relations of dependency” (Straubhaar, 1991, p. 40). The focus of media
imperialism is the unidirectional ﬂow of power and media from one country into
another. The ideology of Americanization derives from cultural imperialism,
which emphasizes the inﬂuence or infusion of one culture via mass communica-
tion on another culture. Essentially, the theories are based on studies of the one-
way ﬂow of entertainment, news and advertising from the West, mainly the
United States. These have primarily derived from the assumption that the U.S.
government has worked closely with American-based transnational corpora-
tions and communication industries to ensure that U.S. foreign policy addressed
and met the needs of these companies in the international marketplace (Hamelink,
1983; Molineu, 1990; Sinclair, 1994).

Cultural imperialism is rooted in the premise that the United States is the
center of global economic and communicative power. It does not take into
account the active pursuit of commercial television, via the adoption of the U.S.
broadcasting model, by private investors in peripheral countries, such as the
case of Brazil. Neither does the paradigm provide for a contextual analysis of

individual circumstances in economic development. Rather, it lends itself to a

40

generalization of the core-periphery model that portrays this unequal one-way
ﬂow of cultural products and information ﬁom the core to the periphery as a
singular model that encompasses all of the Third World with the same overall
effects.

Tomlinson (1991) argued that an inherent problem with the cultural
imperialism paradigm is that it is a generic concept which attempts to encom-
pass a broad array of similar phenomena. It is too vast and ambiguous of a
concept to be applied and interpreted in any one speciﬁc manner. In an
international symposium regarding the transbcrder ﬂow of television program-
ming, this term was more narrowly deﬁned to that of communications imperi-
alism, which is unrelated to the broader imperialism schema (N ordenstreng and
Varis, 1973). Galtung (1979) identiﬁed ﬁve different types of imperialism:
economic, military, political, communication and cultural. Under this premise,
imperialism can be introduced in any one of the ﬁve then extend to the others.
The latter two often go hand in hand, in that “...cultural imperialism is largely
a product of communication imperialism” (Galtung, 1979, p. 166). According to
Meyer (1988), if such is the case, it would be expected that the recipient
developing countries of Western media are those which also possess a tendency
to adopt Western sociocultural patterns as well.

N ordenstreng and Varis (1973) conducted a quantitative study of ﬁfty
countries in which the international ﬂow of programming was assessed. In their
ﬁndings, the authors concluded that most of the imported programs derived
ﬁ'om the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany. The total amount
of programming (in hours) exported ﬁom the U.S. was 150,000 hours; Great
Britain and France exported 20,000 hours each and Germany 6,000. When
speciﬁcally targeted to the communications sector, the researchers argued that

imperialism was evident. “...Globally speaking, television traffic does ﬂow

41

between nations according to the ‘one-way street’ principle: the streams of heavy
traﬁc ﬂow one way only” (N ordenstreng and Varis,’ 1973, p. 52). The authors
concluded that new technologies in distribution perpetuated this unidirectional
ﬂow of information. Although the study is somewhat outdated, it does lend itself
to the current global situation. As more countries continue to privatize their
telecommunications sectors and further open their domestic markets to im-
ported products, this one-way ﬂow continues to ﬂourish. Imported program-
ming will continue to play a vital role in the success of cable TV in Brazil. Until
the production of domestic programming increases, the pay television industry
must rely on imports, mainly from the United States, in order to survive. With
advanced technologies allowing for more channels to be accessible using less
spectrum space, imports will most likely always be available on one channel or
another.

In a more recent study of the introduction of television in six Brazilian
rural communities conducted by Conrad Kottak (1991), ﬁndings indicated that
television’s impact on cultural values in Brazil is comprised of a process of stages.
Viewers initially are enchanted by the novelty of the medium; they then go
through the “. . .process of selective acceptance and rejection, interpretation, and
reworking of TV messages” (p. 83). The third stage is characterized by an
increase in home viewing as private ownership of television sets rises. The ﬁnal
phase involves the study of the long-term effects of television on viewers.

The cultural variables assessed in Kottak’s study included: trust, fear and
danger, reading and literacy, social isolation and external orientation, liberal
sex-gender views, and the length and amount of television viewing (Kottak,
1991). Among other ﬁndings, the results indicated that as television viewing
increased, community members encountered and gradually accepted nontradi-

tional views. The last stage regarding the long-term effects of exposure to

42

television was not studied in Kottak’s research. The author called for further
research addressing this issue, particularly that cf the effects on the culture and
social behaviors (such as consumerism and program preference) of the Brazilian
people.

The aforementioned phases appear to typify the current situation with
subscription television. The industry is currently moving into its emulation
stage characterized by a rise in mass awareness and popularity. Once the
novelty of pay television dissipates, it will most likely be reworked into the social
system of Brazil. As mentioned previously, the very nature of the Brazilian cable
inﬁ'astructure will continue to support imported programming. Whether this
warrants the label of yet another cycle in cultural imperialism remains to be
determined.

Perhaps what is not taken into account in the cultural imperialism
ideology is the willingness of the indigenous people to adopt and/or adapt to
foreign cultural products. This indigenization process, often referred to as
Americanization or Westernization, is based on the premise that a society adopts
an imported cultural product and incorporates it into the societal norms and
values. While the developing countries must rely on industrialized nations for
various products and services, the imported goods would not succeed in the
indigenous marketplace if consumer interest did not exist. Schiller pointed out
that television is “. . .a characteristic of the social system that prevails. ..” and that,
when discussing importation of programming, this medium reﬂects the social
relationships between and within societies (as cited in N ordenstreng and Varis,
1973).

From the concept ofAmericanization, the geographically-speciﬁc term of
Brazilianization has derived to explain the U.S. inﬂuence on this country. The

coined phrase represents the infusion of American cultural products via televi-

43

sicn programming into the Brazilian culture such that the indigenous people of
this nation have come to view this saturation of the imported culture as a part

of their own (Herold, 1988). In reviewing the process ofBrazilianization, Herold

stated,

(North) American detectives, cowboys, and conniving housewife heroines,
in addition to being imported, have now been ‘Brazilianized beyond
recognition’. That is to say, television programs and programming ideas
in Brazil, once imported form the United States, have now been replaced
by nationally produced ones (p. 41).

This adaptation process of U.S. cultural products has been one of subtlety and
has become rather transparent in Brazilian culture. The inﬂuences of the
United States are not as evident today as they were in the initial stages of
Brazilian television’s history. Brazil is one of a handful of semi-industrialized
nations that has developed and maintained a strong domestic production
industry. This is not to say that the American broadcasting model and its excess
‘cultural baggages’ no longer inﬂuence the Brazilian model. The people of this
nation prefer domestic programs to that of imports as a result of the foreign
model being adapted into their cultural identity. Whether this will continue with
the multichannel environment implicit to subscription television has yet to be
determined.

According to Straubhaar (1991) and Sinclair (1994), when Brazilian
audiences have the opportunity to choose between imported programs and
domestically-produced ones, the majority will choose the indigenous program-
ming because of the cultural relevance of the material. Based on the ideology
behind asymmetrical interdependence, Straubhaar’s premise holds true in
reference to the “...variety of possible relationships in which countries ﬁnd
themselves unequal but possessing variable degrees of power and initiative in
politics, economics and culture” (p. 39). However, with the inﬂux of American

programs available via the new distribution systems, there is an indication that

44

preference for the imported shows and advertised products among cable viewers
may be on the rise.

Sinclair (1994) argued that the cultural imperialism paradigm must be
analyzed from a globalization perspective in that people ﬁ'om different regions
“indigenize” the ﬂow of American information into their geographically-speciﬁc
culture. Rather than creating a homogenous culture that the aforementioned
processes imply, the indigenization of information and the mass media vehicles
used in dissemination has culminated into a “heterogenization” of cultures. One
prime example of this is found in the Brazilian adaptation of soap operas known
as the telenovela.

Informational news programs are the most popular type of programming
in Brazil, but the telenovela remains the most popular entertainment genre in
this South American nation (Fadul, 1993; Rogers and Antola, 1984; Vink, 1988).
Telenovelas are domestically written and produced serial dramas which focus
on the working middle class with the thematic plot revolving around upward
mobility in social class. This genre has maintained its popularity as a direct
result of its “reﬂection” of the Brazilian culture and the portrayal of the middle
class, but the effects of its North American predecessor have subtly remained
within the telenovelas in the genre's very nature (Coehlo, 1988).

Western cultural aspects from the United States have made their way into
mainstream Brazilian culture by means of the evolution of such programming as
the telenovela , variety shows and news programs. These genres have been
adapted to the point where such cultural icons are now considered by the regions’
people as a part of the native culture (Coehlo, 1988; Herold, 1988; Vink, 1988).
Essentially, the Brazilian population has indigenized these foreign cultural
products to the extent that these goods and services possess characteristics
synonymous with Brazilian culture. Such products include not only the actual

45

television model but the cultural baggage that the U.S. model brought with it
(i.e., the ideology of mass consumption, American products for this primary
purpose, social and interpersonal behaviorisms).

Hamelink (1983) argued that cultural autonomy is imperative to the
development and survival of every society. In deﬁning the culture of a society,
the author stated that environmental adaptation is an essential characteristic
of any type of human society. In order to adapt, human beings create a series
of indirect and direct relationships with their respective environment. The
indirect relationships comprise the cultural system of the given society. Under
this premise, the inﬂuence of foreign media on domestic cultures has played a
major role in the indirect relations of Brazilian culture. Telenovelas and other
types of Latin American programming are considered cultural goods “. . .produced
by an industry operating inside the ﬁeld of the production, distribution and
consumption of cultural goods” (Vink, 1988, p. 43). The replication of North
American cultural products in Brazil in the last four decades has been primarily
made possible through the dissemination of information via television. As a
result of the imported ideology of capitalism, contend several researchers, a new
social pattern has culminated into a transformed environment in Brazil: a larger
distinction between the “haves” (elites or upper classes) and the “have-nots” (the
lower classes).

daSilva (1986) stated that television “...transformed into the country’s
hegemonic means of cultural diffusion... [and] vitalized the national cultural
production by expanding the internal consumer market catering to the consumer
needs of other countries on the cultural circuit of international capitalism” (p.
101). The Brazilian culture has been affected by foreign interests since its days
as a Portuguese colony. However, prior to the mass broadcasting of television,

the cultural and social identity characteristic of the Brazilian people for four

46

centuries had never been so heavily inﬂuenced by external forces.

This appears to be a pervasive trait found in several Latin American
countries. In a study pertaining to the television industry in Mexico, Sinclair
(1982) noted that this medium was utilized “...as a ‘consumer delivery enter-
prise’...” in which the Mexican mass audiences were delivered to the American
advertisers for consumption of American cultural products (p. 4). He also noted
that a sample analysis of Mexican television programs showed that the majority
of advertisers were transnationals from the United States, such as Procter &
Gamble, General Foods, Ford and General Motors. Many of these companies
chose to advertise during prime time hours in which Mexican telenovelas were
aired.

Television has become the primary tool for advertising foreign cultural
products, including non-American goods and services, in peripheral countries as
well. Brazil is no exception to this application (Alisky, 1981). Contrary to
Sinclair’s evaluation of the cultural imperialism paradigm, Schiller (1991)
argued that cultural imperialism continues to function in developing countries.
The difference today is that the power has moved from the media into the hands
of the transnational corporations (TN Cs) which are present in these countries.
The author noted, “A total cultural package-ﬁlm, TV, music, sports, theme
parks, shopping malls, etc.—is delivered worldwide by a small number of multi-
billion-dollar combines” (Schiller, 1991, p. 13). The mass media, primarily
television, is used to advertise such imported cultural goods to the indigenous
people. The ﬂow of information from industrialized countries to developing
nations via the technologies and presence of TNCs has maintained cultural
imperialism from the core to the periphery.

With subscription television, the majority of advertisers are currently

transnational companies importing products and services into the Brazilian

47

marketplace (Michaels, 1994). This may be changing as more and more
Brazilian advertisers are realizing the potential of market segmentation and
narrowcasting. However, even some Brazilian product advertisers are attempt-
ing to create an imported “Hollywood” image. For instance, Hollywood ciga-
rettes, produced and sold only in Brazil, utilizes a “Route 66” campaign with a
scenario that looks American with a dubbed jingle sung in English (Oliveto,
1994). This brand was the second highest selling in the world, behind Marlboro,
yet is sold only in Brazil. Oliveto (1994) stated that, according to research that
his advertising agency has conducted, television viewers, particularly young
people, have a certain image of life in the United States and try to emulate such
a lifestyle.

Several studies have indicated a direct link between exposure to western
television and consumerism in developing countries. In Sinclair’s research on
taste transfer, he found that there was a correlation between the advertising of
foreign products and consumerism among the different social classes of Mexico.
The most signiﬁcant of his ﬁndings was that “junk foods”, primarily of U.S.
origin, “...being relatively low-priced, widely distributed and heavily advertised,
have the most rapid penetration of the low-income market” (Sinclair, 1982, p.
10). The increase of consumption of foreign products was “...putting at least 19
million already undernourished Mexicans in danger of what has become known
as ‘commerciogenic malnutrition” (1982, p. 11). These unhealthy foods were
found to be displacing traditional diet supplements. Sinclair argued that the
heavy inﬂux of advertising for “junk foods” played a major role in such dietary
displacement.

According to Oliveira (1991 a/b), mass media growth and dependency are
integral components in Brazil. Brazilian television relies most heavily on

advertising from transnational corporations for revenue and dedicates 25% of its

48

airtime to the advertising of cultural goods and the Brazilian government. The
products advertised to the masses via television are affordable by only the 15%
of the Brazilian population which make up the elite and upper-middle class. In
a 1986 study of the correlation between consumption and television viewing,
Oliveira (1991a/b) found that television was not the medium most closely
associated with consumerism in Brazil. The media used most widely by the
upper classes—newspapers, magazines and FM radio—were linked closest to
consumption. However, Oliveira argued that individuals of lower socioeconomic
status (SES) do not consume advertised products because they cannot afford the
items. The desire for consumption is fostered through excessive exposure to
television advertising, thus leading to frustration and dissatisfaction among the
low SES audience members (Oliveira, 1991b).

With approximately 60 million of its 140 million citizens living near
starvation levels, Brazil is home of communications systems which do not

address the needs of the mass population. Beltran and Cardona argued:

...the messages conveyed by the mass media are directed toward the
wealthy minority with the means for elite consumption. Thus the media
do not consider the ethnic, cultural, social, and mass-oriented informa-
tional needs of Brazil or of most of Latin America ( cited in Oliveira, 1991b,
p.211l

The transfer of cultural values and beliefs from the United States to Brazilian
culture appear to possess few commonalities with the daily realities of this
nation’s people (Oliveira, 1991b). The result is not only dissatisfaction among
those who cannot afford the cultural products and lifestyles associated with
them but a widening gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots” as well. The
disparity between the elitist and the masses is based on what Oliveira contends
is a desire for materialistic goods and the ability, or lack thereof, to purchase

such items.

49

This leads to the point of cultural relevance. The term culture brings forth
many different interpretations and carries varying connotations. In analyzing

the American inﬂuence on social behavior in Brazil, the meaning of culture must

be addressed.

2.2 What is Culture?

According to Cai (1994), culture is “a group of inhabitants of a geographi-
cal region under a single government with a primary language”. daSilva (1986)
deﬁned culture as “...the set of values and beliefs through which members of a
social formation explain their experience, express their artistic creativity, and
motivate society as a whole to act” (p. 90). While the former places emphasis on
the people who make up a culture, the latter focuses on the shared systems and
actions of a group of people. While there is a multitude of deﬁnitions for culture,
the operational deﬁnition for this research is based upon the aforementioned: a
culture is composed of a group of inhabitants living in a geographic area under
a single government with a primary language. The inhabitants, or in-group,
possess shared systems which may be transmitted across generations by means
of verbal and nonverbal communication. The members of a given culture are
perceived by outsiders to maintain a common identity and/or solidarity upheld
by these shared systems. The shared systems may include world views,
processes of cognition, behavioral patterns, social structures, media inﬂuences
and motivational resources (Cai, 1994).

As the world is moving towards an intricately linked global network of
communication, the mere deﬁnition of culture may swiftly be changing. Stock
(1993) stated that traditional lifestyles and cultural identities are disintegrating

around the world as more individuals become exposed to cultural diversity. The

50

author argued that television, ﬁlm and radio are the three primary components
leading to a global common culture. Rosengren (1981) stipulated that the central
focus of any culture is that of value. Communication plays an essential role in
how values are learned and shared within a culture. From interpersonal
communication to mass media, the dissemination of information is vital in
understanding the relationship between a culture and its society.

The imposition of one culture’s values system on another is a primary
concern in the rhetoric on the cross-cultural ﬂow of media. Smythe reported that
cultivation is the purpose of a social system, while television’s function is the
propagation of perceptions of social reality. “...the TV ‘world’ reﬂects...[and]
changes the ‘real’ world...the cultural products of all kinds in the ‘real’ world are
equally to be understood as propaganda for the social system which produces
them” (cited in Nordenstreng and Varis, 1973, p. 50). It has been argued that the
TV world of imported programming alters the perceived reality of receiving
audiences.

The cultural imperialism theory postulates that cultural invasion leads to
a change in the symbolic meanings of a society along three dimensions (Lee,
1980; Wells, 1972). The symbolic meanings are structures of “taste, values,
preferences, views about the society, human relations, and life” (Lee, 1980, p.
104). The ﬁrst change, based on studies conducted by Lerner, is that of rising
frustrations. Exposure to information about the ‘outside world’ via media
vehicles, particularly television, creates rising aspirations. Consumers become
frustrated when these expectations and aspirations are unmet. According to
Lee, research data on the social effects of mass media do not support this theory.
The second stipulated change is the creation of a “conspicuous consumption”
culture. Imported television programming brings with it consumer products

that (1) are economically unsuitable to developing countries; (2) damage various

51

domestic industries; and (3) “create a ‘conspicuous consumption’ pattern” (Lee,
1980, p. 104-105). Brazil is already considered by many to be a culture of
conspicuous consumption, in that it is often referred to as a country of economic
disparity. The majority of products advertised on pay channels are either
currently imported or are originally from other countries but now manufactured
in Brazil. Under such terms, subscription television will most likely cause
further disparity between those who have access and those who do not (Longo,
1994; Michaels, 1994; Oliveira, 1991 a/b).

The ﬁnal change that Lee (1980) suggested is that of an alteration in the
structure of indigenous values. Under this premise, it is argued that the content
of the imported programs often does not portray a realistic view of life in the
representative country. The effect is that these misperceptions are “absorbed in
the recipient cultures” in which the portrayed beliefs, consumer goods and tastes
become symbols of status among viewers (p. 106). This infers that the more
exposure to imported cultural products, the more receiving audiences will come
to identify with the values system of the imported culture. In his study of
imported programs throughout Central America, Beltran (1978a) argued that
such “neo-colonialism” is a process of social inﬂuence through which one country
imposes on other nations its values, beliefs, behavioral patterns and overall
lifestyle. However, the majority of research that supports this implication is
based on political and/or economical analyses rather than empirical surveys

focusing on the social and psychological effects on foreign viewers.

2.3 Quantitative Research on Media Eﬂ‘ects Across Cultures

Tsai (1970) conducted one of the ﬁrst empirical cross-cultural studies that

addressed social and/or psychological impacts of foreign television programming

52

on an indigenous audience. The study was composed of an analysis of the effects
of U.S. programs on children in Changwa and Taipei, Taiwan (formerly known
as Formosa). Although the author did not establish a theoretical framework
ﬁ'om which the research derived, four of Kluckhohn’s ﬁve variations of value
orientation were used to index the fimdamental attitudes toward the American
and Formosan cultures. The orientations of man and nature, relation, time and
activity were utilized in determining if those children viewing U.S. programs on
Taiwan TV possessed a more pro-American attitude than the students not
exposed to the imported TV shows. There was evidence that viewers held
“different taste patterns and speciﬁc attitudes” than their nonviewing counter-
parts but maintained a consistent identiﬁcation with the Formosan “fundamen-
tal outlook” on life (Tsai, 1970, p. 37, 39). However, the author concluded that
there were no signiﬁcant differences between the two groups in terms of value
orientations regarding their traditional culture as well as the American culture
represented in the imported programs.

Following Tsai’s initial study, two research projects concurrently ana-
lyzed the ﬂow of U.S. programming over the Canadian border. Neither project
speciﬁed a media effects theory upon which their research was based. Coldevin
(1976) assessed the differences between TV viewers and nonviewers in two
Eskimo communities. The measured variables included knowledge about
national and international issues, employment aspirations and information
sources. The ﬁndings showed either limited or no signiﬁcant diﬂ'erences
between the two groups, with the exception ofsocio-economic aspirations among
the children of TV viewers and the level of information pertaining to interna-
tional issues. Essentially, Coldevin indicated that further research would have
to address the cross-cultural effects of American programming. Sparkes (1977)
conducted a study that looked at Canadians’ exposure to U.S. programs as well

53

as American viewers’ access to Canadian shows. The researcher concluded that
there were no attitudinal differences between heavy and light viewers on either
side of the border. Sparkes also noted an insigniﬁcant impact stemming from
agenda setting of the respective imported news programs.

In 1977, Payne and Peake attempted to analyze the effects of American
programming on youth in Iceland under the auspices of the cultural imperialism
paradigm. The researchers focused on the knowledge of U.S. political informa-
tion and perceptions of the United States. The study also assessed three
attitudinal variables regarding sadness, anger and fear. Findings indicated
“minimal evidence that watching U.S. TV is associated with favorable attitudes
toward the U.S.” (p. 527). There was no signiﬁcant support for the hypothesized
positive relationship between the aforementioned attitudes and the viewing of
American imports.

In another research project which provided no theoretical context, Payne
(1978) studied the impact of Canadian TV shows on American viewers in rural
Minnesota. The sample of 414 adults and 280 students was subdivided according
to exposure to either Canadian programs only, strictly American programs or a
combination of the two. While measures indicated a notable difference in
cognitive assessments between the three groups, attitudinal effects varied. The
results also displayed evidence that the student and adult audience of American
television held a more favorable attitude toward Canada than those viewers only
exposed to Canadian television. Aside from Payne and Peake’s research on
Icelandic and American audiences, three other studies attempted to measure
the cross-cultural effects of U.S. programming.

Werner (1981) conducted a cross-sectional survey of Scandinavian chil-
dren regarding their most inﬂuential information sources. The author noted

that television was named the primary source for information among those

54

students who displayed a preference for living in the United States. However,
the implications of a relationship between attitudes toward the U.S. and
television viewing was not addressed.

More recently, Veii ( 1988) and Zhao (1989) tested the imperialism theory
in studies on Namibian and Chinese viewers, respectively. Both authors
measured exposure to foreign programs, particularly imports from the United
States. Veii (1988) concluded that this medium is merely one of several vehicles
in promoting a more favorable attitude toward the U.S. Zhao (1989) more
narrowly deﬁned imperialism in terms of the effects of foreign media. His
research on the inﬂuence of imported programming on the values of Chinese
women indicated a strong correlation between exposure to foreign news and
entertainment shows and the adoption of nontraditional values. Zhao contended
that if foreign media effects were found in the value system of China, stronger
effects would be found in countries possessing less restricted media systems.

While these studies provide useful information on cross-cultural media
research, few broach the subject of the psychological effects of foreign program-
ming. Often, such effects were either assumed or not substantially addressed
in speciﬁc terms (i.e., cognitive, behavioral or belief-centered effects). Since
cultural imperialism stemmed from the economic dependency model, research-
ers have also conducted empirical cross-cultural analyses based upon this
broader scope. Skinner (1984) utilized the dependency framework for his study
of foreign TV shows in Trinidad and Tobago. The author based his ﬁndings on
Galtung’s model of dependency and underdevelcpment. The conclusions sup-
ported “...the position that U.S. television viewing is positively related to U.S.
values, appeal, dependency and appreciation” (Skinner, 1984, p. 174).
However, such dependency was found to be indirect in its effects on the

participants’ values.

55

Oliveira (1986) tested the dependency theory regarding the ﬂow of
imported programming via satellite in Belize. In his assessment of the effects of
U.S. and Merdcan programs on Belizean audiences, Oliveira found that higher
exposure to U.S. television was positively associated with the consumption of
U.S. products while negatively linked to the consumption of Central American
consumer products. Oliveira (1986) also found the opposite relationship with
exposure to Mexican television. The viewing of such programming did not
perpetuate the consumption of imported Mexican products.

Granzberg (1982) conducted a longitudinal study testing the moderniza-
tion theory in which he attempted to gauge the psychological impact of television
on the receiving Algonquin audience in Canada. Similar to Kottak’s study of the
introduction of television in a rural Brazilian community (as previously dis-
cussed), Granzberg researched the implications of television viewing in a rural
Canadian Algonquin Indian community to determine both the short- and long-
term effects of this medium. The project compared individuals’ stress levels,
feelings of aggression and victimization, in- and out-group identity, self-
conceptualization and feelings regarding personal relationships. The researcher
measured participants’ responses according to the length in time of their
orientation with television. Among other ﬁndings, Granzberg concluded that
“the evidence suggests strongly that there was increasing out-group identity”
after the introduction of television and that participants’ stress increased when
integration within the community was low (p. 341).

This theory was only moderately supported in its stipulation that the
advent of television creates a modernization effect within a receiving commu-
nity. Granzberg noted that modernization occurred only in certain aspects of
development while the arrival of television appeared to have the opposite effect
on other variables measured. The logic behind this theoretical model is that of

56

a “bullet” effect of modernity. “Through the introduction of modernizing
institutions [such as schools and mass media], one could develop modern
personalities in countries of the Third World, individuals who for their part were
to be in a position adequately to play professional roles in modern institutions”
(Kunczik, 1984, p. 46). The premise behind this is that modernizing institutions
would yield modern personalities and create other institutions of modernity,
such as factories. This mode of development, in turn, would increase economic
growth and political stability. Rooted in economics, the modernization para-
digm emphasized the introduction of mass media to disseminate the West-
centered [or North] beliefs to further stimulate economic growth. The end result
would then be the indoctrination of democracy (Kunczik, 1984).

Another school of research regarding media effects is that of socialization
(Beattie, 1967; Barnett and McPhail, 1980; Chaffee, Ward and Tipton, 1970).
Socialization has been deﬁned as the means of “acquiring social norms that
produce socially acceptable behavior which permits interaction with others”
(Barnett and McPhail, 1980, p. 220). In accordance with other social institutions
such as the family, education and peer-oriented inﬂuences, mass media have
been shown to play a fundamental role in the socialization process (Chaffee,
Ward and Tipton, 1970). Testing this theoretical model, Barnett and McPhail
(1980) examined the effects of American programming on Canadian national
identity. The researchers measured participants’ attitudes and perceptions of
culture utilizing a metric multidimensional scale. Canadian viewers’ attitudes
toward the U.S., Canada, national identity and exposure to Canadian and U.S.
programs were investigated along this scaling method. The participants were
categorized in terms of distance from the United States’ border, exposure to
Canadian TV shows and access to U.S. programming. As socialization often

analyzes the concept of self, the authors operationally deﬁned self in terms of

57

national identity with the United States, Canada and concepts of each country
as portrayed through television. The most signiﬁcant ﬁnding was that there was
a negative relationship between heavy viewing of American television and
Canadian identity.

Two other important approaches used in the study of media effects are
modeling and social learning. Modeling refers to the process in which viewers,
particularly children, attempt to emulate their favorite television characters
(Cullingford, 1984; Fruch and McGhee, 197 5; Maccoby and Wilson, 1957).
According to Greer et al. (1982), there are only two models or approaches that
effectively assess television’s impact on audiences: modeling and arousal. While
the former implies behavioral changes in the viewers, the latter infers that
viewers’ behavior is merely aroused by model characters and not necessarily
altered. Cullingford (1984) contended that the modeling theory assumed that
children do indeed model their behavior on what they see portrayed on the
screen. The author argued that “...it is much easier to analyze the content of
television than the nature of children’s responses...their reactions are far more
complex than a matter of simple modeling or even identiﬁcation with the
characters...” (p. 38). Although this theory has been utilized in studying the
effects of television, it has not been used in any cross-cultural research. In order
to do so, a concrete understanding of the social aspects and behavioral norms
would be needed for both the imported culture and that of the receiving audience.

Another theory often addressed is social learning. This model postulates
that individuals learn behavioral patterns, values, beliefs and stereotypes
through observation (Bandura, 1977). One cross-cultural study analyzed the
relationship between imported American programming and the perceived social
stereotypes of Americans (Tan, Li and Simpson, 1986). The researchers admin-
istered surveys to 788 Chinese respondents in Taiwan and 150 college students

58

in Mexico. The authors stated, “...it is not unreasonable to expect that the
pictures in our heads of racial and national groups can be inﬂuenced signiﬁcantly
by the pictures we get of them in television” (p. 810). The study measured the
use of TV and exposure to U.S. programs in determining if there was a correlation
between viewing and the perpetuation of American stereotypes. Findings
indicated that there was modest evidence that the relationship exists, but the
results also demonstrated that “Dallas” and “Dynasty,” two programs which
held international popularity at the time of the study, “may be cultivating an
image of Americans among foreign viewers” (p. 814). This study pertained only
to social stereotypes being learned via imported programming.

While socialization pertains to learned behaviors and norms, encultura-
tion posits that the “acquisition and reinforcement of values” is the fundamental
base of any given culture (Gross and Morgan, 1985, p. 232). The theory of
enculturation has provided a somewhat different explanation for the social
effects of imported programming. Enculturation is deﬁned as a process in which
a culture is modiﬁed or altered as a result of either direct or indirect contact with
another culture (Tan, Tan and Tan, 1987). Gross and Morgan (1985) stipulated
that television acts as the primary creator of “synthetic cultural images, the
stories it tells to people most of the time may have implications for the deeper,
invisible, rarely questioned assumptions... [that] help inform the meaning of
what we think, say, and do” (p. 223). Thus, television is an integral component
of the enculturation process.

Coldevin (1979) utilized the enculturation theory in his study of satellite
television and the replacement of culture among Canadian Eskimos. The term
used throughout his research was acculturation, which has since then been
interchangeably referred to as enculturation (Elasmar, 1993). Coldevin’s project

examined exposure to foreign programming among Eskimo adults and students

59

to determine whether such exposure had an effect on language, employment and
travel preferences as well as dominant information sources and knowledge levels
of international and national issues. Coldevin found signiﬁcant differences
between the group of students who were heavy viewers of the U.S. and English-
language Canadian programs and the group of students and adults who reported
relatively little exposure. In assessing these three groups, Coldevin concluded
that the heavy exposure to television plays a fundamental role in viewers’ rate
of acculturation.

Tan, Tan and Tan (1987) reported similar ﬁndings in their study of access
to American television programs in the Philippines. The authors more speciﬁ-
cally measured the value systems of high school systems to gauge the potential
cross-cultural effects of television. The researchers surveyed 225 Filipino high
school students to determine if higher exposure to these imported shows was
related to the displacement of traditional values held amongst the general
Filipino papulation. Results indicated that there was minimal evidence that
heavy viewers found the nontraditional values emphasized in U.S. program-
ming to be more important while the indigenous values of salvation and wisdom
were found to be unimportant among this subset of viewers.

These two studies have displayed some indication that the cultures under
investigation demonstrated signs of being acculturated by the presence of
foreign programming, in that both indicated erosion of the indigenous value
systems of the receiving cultures. Various researchers have argued that
imported U.S. programs play a catalystic role in the adoption of foreign lifestyles,
behavioral patterns and values. However, Kang and Morgan (1988) reported
mixed results in their study regarding the impact of the American Forces Korean
Network on Korean viewers. AFKN TV, which aired only U.S. imports in

English (with no subtitles or dubbing involved), was created primarily for

60

American service employees stationed in Korea. The station was also viewed by
Koreans living in the region. The authors stated that the station’s programs
provided “a relatively ‘pure’ and unrestricted source of non-Korean images and
messages” (p. 433). The ﬁndings were that female viewers held a more liberal
perspective that did not function as a part of the Korean value system, while
male viewers were more prone to uphold traditional views. One interesting
conclusion was that “For males, greater AFKN viewing goes with (and may
heighten) an intensely protective attitude toward Korean culture” (Kang and
Morgan, 1988, p. 437). The authors showed support for an alteration in
traditional values and beliefs among heavy female viewers, but also stated that
the ﬁndings “vividly suggest that ‘hypodermic’ models of cultural imperialism
are inadequate” at measuring the impact of the transbcrder ﬂow of television (p.
438).

The majority of the research reviewed thus far has shown little support for
the argument of imported television programming’ 8 effects on receiving audi-
ences. Most of these studies demonstrate either a minimal or moderate impact
on indigenous populations. There is neither a cohesive conclusion on the
potential cross-cultural effects nor any consistency in the theoretical frame-
works used. Kang and Morgan (1988) maintained that American television’s
effects are not consistent from one culture to the next. They argued that other
contributing factors make it impossible to generalize uniform impacts of U.S.

television across diverse cultures.

2.4 Cultivation Analysis as a Media Effects Theory

The theoretical approach utilized by Kang and Morgan (1988) was that of
cultivation analysis. This type of assessment has been the most widely used

61

measure in cross-cultural impacts of television. Stemming from a national
concern over the potential correlation between televised violence and viewers’
perceptions of real violence, the cultivation hypothesis was introduced as an
explanation for the role of television in viewers’ social construction of meaning
(Signorielli, 1985). George Gerbner’s Cultural Indicators Group developed this
measure of media effects in 1967. The project was originally sponsored by the
National Commission on the Cause and Prevention of Violence and partially
funded by the Surgeon General’s Scientiﬁc Advisory Committee. These re-

searchers postulated:

Socially constructed ‘reality’ gives a coherent picture of what exists, what
is important, how things are related, and what is right. The constant
cultivation of such ‘realities’ is the task of rituals and mythologies. They
legitimize actions along lines which are conventionally acceptable and
functional. Television is the mainstream of that cultural process (Gerb-
ner, Gross, Signorielli, Morgan, and J ackson-Beeck, 1979, p. 179-180).

Traditional media effects research has mainly been based upon the measure of
exposure to speciﬁc programming and/or advertising by immediately comparing
exposed viewers with others with no exposure. Cultivation analysis pertains to
total immersion in the TV “world” as opposed to selective viewing. It is based on
the assumption that viewers are passive participants and non-selective in their
viewing habits (Gerbner et al., 1976; Hawkins and Pingree, 1990).

The initial use of the cultivation model was to study violence as portrayed
on television and its effects on the social reality of viewers. Gerbner’s group
conducted a long-term content analysis ofU.S. television programs in which the
study of violence was the predominant issue. The research began in 1967 and
continued with annual violence proﬁles throughout the 19808 (Gerbner et al.,
1976, 1977, 1978, 197 9, 1986). The researchers proposed that television not only
inﬂuences viewers’ values and beliefs, but, often times, also constructs the social

reality of heavy viewers. The premise of the model stipulates that television has

62

taken the place of other social institutions, such as religion, education and the
nuclear family, in constructing social meaning, particularly among children.
The theory, in its original formation, was based upon two assumptions:
(1) uner other media, commercial television “presents an organically
composed total world of interrelated stories produced to the same market
speciﬁcations”; and (2) TV audiences are non-selective in their viewing habits
and watch according to the clock rather than by the program (Gerbner et al.,
197 9, p. 180). The Cultural Indicators group used the analogy of religion
regarding the ritualism involved in television viewing but argued that television,
unlike its spiritual counterpart, appears to be attended to more regularly.
Historically, religious and educational institutions have functioned primarily as
demonstrating “how society works by dramatizing its norms and values” (Gerb-
ner et al., 1976, p. 173). Gerbner (1982) contended that television has become the
“new religion” of contemporary society in which members are born into such a
system without questioning its symbolic environment. Several other common
frameworks contest this ideology (i.e., uses and gratiﬁcations) because the
model assumes nonpassivity rather than selectivity in audience members.
The framework for this model is comprised of three integral components.
The ﬁrst prong is composed of an institutional process analysis. This component
acts as an investigative tool in the formation of policies that guide the ﬂow of
messages via various media vehicles (Gerbner et al., 1986). Although it is
important to analyze such policies, the Cultural Indicators project has focused
mainly on the second and third prongs. The second phase, message system
analysis, is made up of content analyses of both primetime and weekend-
daytime programs. This aspect serves the purpose of identifying patterns of
character proﬁles and actions to determine if such details could potentially be

viewed as symbolizing other social meanings.

63

The third component is cultivation analysis, in which the “conception of
social reality television viewing tends to cultivate in different groups of viewers”
(Signorielli, 1985, p. 241). The presumption is that heavy viewers will adopt
aspects of the social reality portrayed on television into their social construct of
behavior, values and norms. This approach attempts to isolate symbolic
structures and patterns in television programming rather than interpreting
individual programs or productions. Since the three-pronged technique was
originally prescribed to the study of violence on television, the Cultural
Indicators group created violence indices to measure and compare the levels of
violence found in various programming genres. They then developed surveys
based on these ﬁndings to assess the effects of TV content on participating
viewers.

The general ﬁndings from this longitudinal project indicate that televi-
sion serves to “maintain, stabilize, and reinforce” conventional beliefs, values
and behaviors (Gerbner et al., 1979, p. 180). The annual studies consistently
showed a pattern in the cultivation of fear of violence among viewers. While the
initial study in 1967 showed that the rate of portrayed violent acts was 4.8 per
program, this average had increased to 5.7 in the 1979 season. The average
percentage of programs containing violence was 79.9 between 1967 and 1978,
with the dramatic program genre dominating this inclination (Gerbner et al.,
1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980).

In this project, the extent of cultivation among demographically matched
light and heavy viewers was measured by analyzing the viewers’ response
patterns to questions determined by the aforementioned indices. These cultiva-
tion differentials, or margins of difference, were then assessed to determine if
heavy viewers had incorporated the biases and images portrayed on television

into their social construct of reality (Gerbner et al., 1979, 1986). The Cultural

64

Indicators group noted that the ﬁndings consistently revealed associations
between patterns of television program content and the perceptions of social
reality held by heavy viewers (Gerbner et al., 197 9). The researchers concluded
that there was a positive relationship between heavy viewing and conceptions of
social reality. According to two cultivation researchers, this long-term analysis
has demonstrated that television “has become our nation’s (and increasingly the
world’s) most common and constant learning environment” in which the medium
acts as “the wholesale distributor of images and forms the mainstream of our
popular culture” (Morgan and Signorielli, 1990, p. 13). Unlike other institutional
vehicles, television is capable of streamlining and amplifying common cultural

norms with every member of contemporary society.

2.5 Cross-Cultural Cultivation Analyses

The original application of the cultivation theory, as mentioned previ-
ously, was to assess the effects of television’s portrayal of violence on viewers.
The analysis has also been used extensively regarding other topics as well, such
as audience conceptions of age-role stereotypes, educational achievement, fam-
ily portrayals and issues, health, politics, religion, and sex roles (Hawkins and
Pingree, 1982). In terms ofcross-cultural and/or international studies, Gerbner
(1980) indicated that there may be differences from one cultural setting to the
next as well as across subcultures. Thus, several cross-cultural studies have
adapted and utilized this framework regarding imported television’s potential
impact on foreign audiences. One such study was conducted by Wober (197 8) in
his research on British TV viewers’ fear of crime. Based on a “security scale”
consisting of several items factored together, Wober concluded that there was

no concrete relationship of causality between television viewing and respon-

65

dents’ perceptions of interpersonal mistrust and crime victimization. The study
showed no proof of a paranoiac effect of television on British viewers.

Doob and MacDonald (197 9) also attempted to utilize Gerbner’s cultiva-
tion analysis in their study of Canadians’ perceptions of violence. The research-
ers surveyed viewers living in four regions of Toronto, Canada: an urban and
suburban district characterized by high crime rates and an inner-city neighbor-
hood and suburb which both maintained low rates of local crime. Once the
authors controlled for local crime in the different environments, television
viewing demonstrated no effect on respondents’ perception of vulnerability to
crime, with the exception of viewers inhabiting the districts characterized by
high crime rates. The research also indicated that high rates of local crime often
directly led respondents to remain indoors more often than those dwelling in low-
crime areas. This, in effect, led to increased television viewing among those who
stayed indoors (Doob and MacDonald, 1979).

Pingree and Hawkins (1981) adapted the Cultural Indicators analysis to
assess students in Australia. In this study, a questionnaire was administered
to 1280 students in Perth, Australia. The questions pertained to the respon-
dents’ attitudes toward television and their perceptions of reality. A four-day TV
diary was then collected from the majority of the sample. The authors utilized
a variation of the Cultural Indicators Mean World Index to determine the youths’
“television bias” in their perception ofviolence in society and the world as a mean
place. The indices separated the participants’ beliefs regarding the United
States and Australia. The ﬁndings demonstrated that viewing U.S. programs
did not relate to a television bias in beliefs regarding the U.S. but did correlate
more strongly with beliefs about Australia. The researchers suggested that the
eﬁ'ects of television were found to be more relevant when analyzed by program

content rather than non-selective exposure to television. They argued that TV’s

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effects “on conceptions of social reality extend beyond the culture that creates the
programming,” in that mean world beliefs were found to be cultivated by the
viewing of crime/adventure U.S. programs only (Pingree and Hawkins, 1981, p.
104-105). This suggests that content is more relevant to the cultivation issue
than length of viewing time and/or exposure.

Gabriel Weimann (1984) conducted another study using the cultivation
framework. In his survey of 461 secondary and undergraduate Israeli students,
the researcher compared the perceptions of heavy and light viewers regarding
the relationship between imported U.S. program content and images ofAmeri-
can reality. The questionnaire assessed the diﬂ'erences between participants’
average estimates and real statistical measures along different aspects of
American life. These included occupational structure, personal and family
income, personal wealth, housing, and personal consumption. Essentially,
Weimann concluded that heavy viewers of U.S. programs tended to “paint a
rosier picture of life in the U.S.” than their light-viewing counterparts (p. 185).
This held constant when controlling for other potential variables (i.e., travel
experience, age and gender).

Tan and Suarchavarat (1988) found that the frequency of viewing U.S.
programs among university students in Bangkok, Thailand, was positively
related to the perceived social stereotypes of Americans. The researchers also
identiﬁed a correlation between heavy viewing and the desire to travel to the
United States, when demographic characteristics were controlled. Choi (1989)
tested the cultivation hypothesis in a study about Korean viewers ofAFKN-TV.
The variables measured pertained to perceptions of world meanness, crime
victimization and vulnerability, sexual permissiveness, drug abuse problems
and affluence in the United States as well as perceived negative portrayals of

Korean culture. Choi argued that television did affect viewers’ construct of social

67

reality, but perceptions of self-images were primarily “contingent upon numer-
ous situational factors other than AFKN-TV viewing itself’ (p. 172). This
conclusion was supported when the author controlled for gender, age, exposure
to U.S. cultural products other than imported programming, and knowledge
about the U.S. gained from either personal travel to the U.S. or travel experi-
ences of ﬁiends and family members.

Wu (1989) also found signiﬁcance in controlling for other variables in the
assessment of U.S. TV viewing among Taiwanese respondents. The author
concluded that imported American programming appeared to represent only
“liberal messages for females and students of higher parental education” (p.
242). Viewing of American television did not appear to be associated with
perceptions of aging, crime victimization or a mean world index.

Ahn’s study (1990) of the relationship between U.S. television viewing
among Korean adolescents and perceptions of American reality utilized cultiva-
tion analysis as well. The results of this research also indicated the inﬂuential
role of other variables on viewers’ perceptions of social reality. The study
measured the impact of U.S. television on respondents’ perceptions of violence,
affluence, the use of advanced technologies, family life and images of minorities
in the United States. Ahn evaluated these variables according to participants’
non-mediated and mediated American experiences. The author also analyzed
the total amount of viewing American programs as well as content-speciﬁc
adventure, detective and family programs. The variables controlled for were
age, gender and region of residence. The author found that heavy viewers held
a perception of “harmonious American family interaction” in general viewing but
not along content speciﬁcity aspects (p. 68). Overall, the researcher concluded
that U.S. television viewing had a minimal to moderate effect on respondents’

perceptions of social reality in the United States. Ahn also argued that further

68

research must investigate the role of imported programming on indigenous
cultures as advanced signal distribution systems will only provide for an inﬂux
in such importation.

Geiger conducted a survey of 605 adults in Venezuela in order to deter-
mine the cultivation effects of imported U.S. television on receiving audiences in
1988 (Elasmar, 1993). The researcher measured responses to factors that
addressed participants’ orientation toward Venezuelan and U.S. values. The
factors included traditional values of the indigenous culture, social stratiﬁca-
tion, social inequality and family orientation. Using a revision of the cultivation
analysis in terms of viewers’ construct of social reality, Geiger indicated that
only the ﬁrst factor -traditional values- demonstrated a relationship between
U.S. TV viewing and a preference for American values. This infers that heavy
viewing of such imports appears to be displacing traditional Venezuelan values
among heavy viewers of U.S. programs. The author noted, “It may be fruitful
to think of mass media effects between cultures as a process of acculturation,
where the mass media function to transfer symbols and meanings between
cultures” (cited in Elasmar, 1993, p. 176). Hence, television acts as the
disseminator of imported cultural icons, including values, beliefs, behaviors

and attitudes among indigenous recipients.

2.6 Criticism of the Cultivation Theory and Its Current Role
in Media Effects Research

The cultivation theory, although used in a multitude of domestic and
cross-cultural research, has often been criticized for its underlying assumption
that television is the primary agent in constructing the social reality of viewers.

The Cultural Indicators group has interpreted correlational evidence as proof of

69

a causal relationship between heavy TV viewing and constructs of social reality
(Gross and Morgan, 1985; Hirsch, 1980, 1981; Hughes, 1980; Morgan, 1983;
Potter, 1991a/b; Wober, 1978). In various studies that addressed this causal
interpretation, several demographic characteristics that have been shown to
inﬂuence attitudinal behavior and the amount of TV viewing were simulta-
neously controlled. Some ﬁndings demonstrated a curvilinear pattern in the
association of viewing and perceptions of crime, while others indicated a
reversed relationship that showed no support for the cultivation hypothesis
(Hirsch, 1980, 1981; Hughes, 1980; Weaver and Wakshlag, 1986).

While studies discussed in the previous section attempted to replicate or
revise the cultivation analysis with other samples, some critics reassessed the
data set forth by Gerbner’ 8 Cultural Indicators group. Hughes (1980) reanalyzed
research conducted by Gerbner et al. in 197 5 and 1977 for the National Opinion
Research Center (N ORC). Hughes argued that Gerbner’s group failed to control
for different variables that could have potentially affected both television
viewing and the measured dependent variables. In his reevaluation, the author
controlled for several variables to determine their effect on the related indepen-
dent and dependent variables assessed by Gerbner et a1. These included the
mean number of hours of television watched daily by gender, age, income,
education, race, hours worked, population of viewers’ city of residence, church
attendance, and involvement in voluntary associations. Hughes utilized
multiple classiﬁcation analysis to adjust the effect(s) of each variable for all other
listed variables. In doing so, the author concluded that most of the individual
variables showed a strong relationship with television viewing before controlling
variables were applied.

Hughes found that only one out of the ﬁve relationships indicated by

Gerbner et a1. remained consistent after controls were introduced. While three

70

continued to show signiﬁcant differences, two of the three did not maintain the
pattern postulated under cultivation analysis. For instance, the variable
Gerbner et al. used in supporting the hypothesis regarding the relationship
between TV viewing and the perception of environmental menace “reversed
direction after controls, and while...not statistically signiﬁcant, it suggests that
those who watch television heavily are less likely to be aﬁ'aid of walking alone
at night in their neighborhoods” (Hughes, 1980, p. 295). Hughes also argued that
Gerbner’s group ignored additional items of analysis. Aside from controlling for
socioeconomic variables, the researchers failed to indicate relationships be-
tween the 1975 and 1977 NORC data. The annual research is important in
indicating viewers’ perceptions, but, according to Hughes, such analysis
becomes irrelevant if not compared across time. Another problem lies in the
NORC survey’ 8 questions using “television answers” and “real-world responses”.
Gerbner et a1. deﬁned the two sets of responses clearly for some items according
to television content and crime statistics provided by the FBI. However. On
other survey items, the researchers did not clearly delineate what the “television
answers” should have been.

Hirsch (1980) found relatively little support of the cultivation hypothesis
in his reanalysis of the N ORC data as well. This researcher attempted to review
the original data by adding two other viewing groups to the light and heavy
viewing categories established by Gerbner et al.: extreme viewers and nonview-
ers. The major ﬁnding was that, once divided into these four categories, the
hypothesis was not supported along eighteen surveyed items. Hirsch indicated
that nonviewers were “consistently more fearful, alienated and favorable to
suicide” than light viewers” (p. 405). Extreme viewers were less prone to be
perturbed and/or perceive the real world as threatening than their heavy

viewing counterparts. The reevaluation also showed that the bivariate relation-

71

ships reported by Gerbner et al. were “negligible at best” when simultaneously
controlled for education, gender, age and employment (p. 408). The researcher
concluded that television viewing, when analyzed as an independent and
separate effect, was nonexistent in the NORC data. Therefore, the cultivation
hypothesis has merely set the stage for expanding research frameworks rather
than developing a new media effects paradigm (Hirsch, 1980).

Nonetheless, cultivation analysis continues to be used and reﬁned by
other researchers. Gerbner et a1 (1986) reformed their original cultivation thesis
to include resonance and mainstreaming as explanations for various differences
among viewers. Resonance pertains to the possibility of a population’s subsample
to hold salient views of reality as those depicted on television. Mainstreaming
deals with the “homogenization of divergent views and a convergence of dispar-
ate viewers” (Gerbner et al., 1986, p. 31). According to this concept, heavy
viewers in any given demographic group will hold common views, while light
viewers of the same group will maintain a divergent set of views. The main-
stream effect postulates that common perspectives are cultivated by television
in its very nature of organization, its competitive environment to capture
audience shares and the consistency of its portrayed images and messages.

Awareness of problems within the theoretical framework has led to
revisions and further explications by Gerbner et al., but the predictive power of
the cultivation hypothesis continues to be criticized (Hawkins and Pingree,
1982; Hirsch, 1981; Tamborini and Choi, 1990; Weaver and Wakshlag, 1986).
According to Weaver and Wakshlag (1986), the range of evidence compiled by
cultivation research has thus far indicated that the relationship between the
amount of television viewing and respondents’ fear of crime remains to be
contingent upon other variables, if not completely spurious. The authors

contended that researchers must recognize that television’s inﬂuence on social

72

perceptions “occurs within a complex process, along with a ‘great variety of
environmental forces and institutions’” (p. 143). Resonance and mainstreaming
do provide justiﬁcation for differences among and between viewing samples.
Some critics argue that cultivation analysis merely provides correlational
evidence rather than indicates a causal relationship between TV viewing and the
construction of television-biased perceptions of social reality. There has
also been substantial evidence indicating that viewers distinguish between
three experiential modalities or sources of information relevant to the perception
of personal vulnerability to crime. These include direct, personal non-mediated
experiences; interpersonal, non-mediated experiences of others (family and
friends) conveyed in a factual manner; and mediated-only experiences conveyed
through the mass media as either factual or ﬁctional information (Hawkins and
Pingree, 1982; Potter, 1991a/b; Weaver and Wakshlag, 1986). Based on this
division of experiences, it appears that the formation and reinforcement of social
perceptions is contingent upon the highest order modality available. If lacking
direct experience, the social perceiver is often more susceptible to information
obtained indirectly at the interpersonal or mediated level. For instance, direct
experience appears to heighten the estimates of and concerns for future personal
victimization and vulnerability. Such experience, in turn, affects the percep-
tions of credibility and/or reality of further obtained information. In the absence
of direct experience, interpersonally conveyed experience elevates “individuals’
perceptions of both their own and others’ vulnerability to negative events,
whereas individuals without such experiences (is. , dependent upon mass media
depictions alone) rate themselves as less vulnerable” (Weaver and Wakshlag,
1986, p. 144). As a result, the impact of mediated experiences on the construction

of social reality is inﬂuenced by experiences in the other two modalities.

73

Hawkins and Pingree (1981b, 1982) stressed the importance of analyzing
the differences in cultivation effects rather than viewing the relationship
between TV viewing and social reality construction in its consistency of
direction. The authors suggested that there are ﬁve processes that may be
involved in the construction of social reality based on television content. The ﬁrst
is that individual information-processing capabilities and various cognitive
constraints could potentially affect the cultivation process among respondents.
Included are such probable factors as age, gender, socioeconomic status, and
levels of academic achievement. The cultivation effect of television may also be
either facilitated or inhibited by the degree to which viewers pay attention to TV
programs as well as the perceived credibility of program content. Hawkins and
Pingree (1981b) suggested that “critical consumer” processes of awareness and
active participation in TV viewing may affect the degree to which television
cultivates social reality. “While young children cannot focus on central informa-
tion, perhaps many adults can but do not focus, and thus are more open to
television inﬂuence on their social reality when they do not focus” (p. 335). This
second process, regarding the level of “activity” or involvement in television
viewing, has been supported by various studies that demonstrated a positive
relationship between content reality and the construction of social reality.

The third factor is that direct and interpersonal experiences have been
shown to affect the degree of cultivation among viewers. “For any given
television message, some minimum degree of conﬁrmation form real-world
experience, other sources, or even preexisting beliefs about social reality may
be necessary to validate the television content” (Hawkins and Pingree, 1981b, p.
355). Concurrently, conﬂicting messages from other sources of dependence may
disconﬁrm the cultivation effect of TV viewing as such sources act as ﬁlters for

television’s depicted images. A fourth process pertains to social-structural

74

inﬂuences. The degree of viewers’ social interaction, in terms of the social groups
surrounding individuals, may act as a ﬁltering agent of television’s inﬂuence on
the construction of social reality.

The ﬁnal process involves content speciﬁcity. Gerbner et al. (197 9) stated
that two underlying assumptions of the Cultural Indicators research were the
non-selective characteristic of television viewers and their ritualistic attendance
to the medium. Hawkins and Pingree (1981b, 1982) argued that viewers vary in
their selection of programs based on content type. Such content differences may
inﬂuence the cultivation effect across types of content. Therefore, the authors
contended that content-speciﬁc TVviewing was shown to indicate a signiﬁcantly
higher degree of cultivation than habitual viewing in their research on TV’s
effects on Australian youth (Hawkins and Pingree, 1981a). “The implication of
isolating different cultivation relationships for different types of television
content is that the symbolic messages...vary from content type and are not
uniform across commercial television” (Hawkins and Pingree, 1981a, p. 299).
Delineation of viewing by program type was found to be more beneﬁcial in
assessing television’s cultivation effects as well. Critics have noted that the
cultivation inquiry must accommodate for audience selectivity of programs and
the diversity of available program types (Hawkins and Pingree, 198 1a/b; Shapiro
and Lang, 1991; Tamborini and Choi, 1990). According to Shapiro and Lang
(1991), research on the role of television in social reality constructions has
mainly focused on the potential “contamination” effects of TV information and
the size of the resulting inﬂuences. The psychological mechanisms that viewers
use to process TV images and incorporate such information into their worldview
have not been substantially addressed in cultivation research. Despite these
criticisms, the framework does lend itself to analyses regarding the cross-

cultural effects of imported program consumption among indigenous viewers.

75

Pingree and Hawkins (1981) noted that the cultivation framework is one
of the most signiﬁcant approaches used in studying the effects of television on
any given culture. The authors summarized the importance of cross-cultural

cultivation research as follows:

...information learned from the mass media is incorporated into individu-
als’ conceptions of social reality and presumably guides further learning
and behavior. If a careful analysis ﬁnds a relationship between television
viewing and these conceptions, then we can begin to make a case for
television’s contribution to our shared values and assumption (p. 97).

In this realm, the cultivation process has been divided into two categories, that
of ﬁrst-order cognitive and second-order attitudinal inﬂuences of TV viewing.
The ﬁrst-order cultivation of conceptions and beliefs, in turn, affect the second-
order cultivation of behaviors, value orientations and/or attitudes of viewers
(Hawkins and Pingree, 1982, 1990; Gerbner, Morgan and Signorielli, 1982;
Potter 1991a). Tamborini and Choi (1990) contended that it is also imperative
to study the ﬁrst- and second-order impacts of foreign programming according
to respondents’ perceptions of both the host and imported cultures. This is
important in determining the role of foreign television in shaping viewers’ beliefs
about their own culture as well as that of others portrayed on the imported
programs. The elasticity of the cultivation inquiry, when adapting to the
aforementioned reﬁnements, may further enable researchers to gauge the

degree to which imported television cultivates perceptions of social reality.

2.7 The Theoretical Approach Used in Examining the Effects of

Brazilian Subscription Television

The role of television in Brazil has been under investigation since the late
19608, but very little empirical research has been undertaken in the medium’s
potential effects on viewers (Browne, 1968; Coehlo, 1988; Fadul, 1993; Herold,

76

1988; Kottak, 1986; Mattos, 1982; Oliveira 1991a/b; Straubhaar, 1984, 1991;
Vink, 1988). Greenberg et a1. (1992) conducted an analysis of young Brazilians’
orientation to mass media as one component of an international research project
spanning four continents. The researchers administered a survey to sixth- and
tenth-grade students in the metropolitan Sic Paulo area. The sixteen variables
addressed were as follows: personal access to ten media, family access to twelve
media, media usage in different dayparts, parental mediation of media usage,
purchases of different media, dependence on news sources, credibility of news
media, content preferences in various media, family rules regarding media
usage, media usage as rewards and punishment, gratiﬁcations with diﬂ‘erent
media, perceived reality of television content, advertising consumption, usage
of a videocassette recorder, computer usage and demography.

Among several other ﬁndings, Greenberg et a]. noted that 76% of male
respondents and 78% of female participants reported that they had personal
access to television, with 30% of males and 17% of females indicating access to
cable. The average amount of daily TV viewing was four hours, while younger
respondents reported higher television time than older participants. Of the four
different media measured along three dayparts, television was the medium used
most often. Television was also the medium most often involving parental
mediation. The respondents not only maintained the greatest degree of belief
in television news as well as depended on this medium as the primary news
source, but their overall belief in advertising also favored television over other
media advertising.

Perceived reality of television content was divided into three categories:
characters, behaviors and locales. Sixth-graders perceived more realism in
every character type and locale and behavioral items than their tenth-grade

counterparts. There were very few signiﬁcant differences by gender, therefore

77

grade proved to be a more efﬁcient variable “locator variable of perceived reality
differences” (Greenberg et al., 1992, p. 38). In terms of content preferences, the
most favored on television were comedies, rock music shows, telenovelas, TV
movies and action adventure programs. The most frequently viewed program
types included variety shows, sports, game shows, television news and
Brazilian music shows. Responses pertaining to gratiﬁcation from media usage
were delineated by escape, relaxation, learning, excitement, habit and
company. Essentially, television was deemed the most appropriate satisﬁer of
the media, averaging ﬁve of the sixteen gratiﬁcations assessed.

The brief synopsis of the Greenberg et a1. research indicates that televi-
sion is one of the more heavily utilized media among young people in Brazil.
Fadul (1993) also reported that children compose the largest viewing audience
throughout Brazil. Television in Brazil has been noted by several members of the
broadcasting industry and academe as being extremely different than most
broadcasting models in its use of factual content in ﬁctional programs (Fadul,
1993, 1994; Herold, 1988; Leslie, 1992; Mattos, 1982, 1994; Michaels, 1994;
Siqueira, 1994; Straubhaar, 1994). As noted in the discussion of TV Globo in the
previous chapter, Brazilian program content is often a combination of ﬁction and
reality. One blatant example of this was found on one of the more popular
telenovelas during the 1994 World Cup soccer championship. One of the
characters won a World Cup promotional lottery that was actually taking place
throughout Brazil at the time of the program’s airing. Several viewers contacted
the responsible network to determine if the “character” had actually won
(Michaels, 1994). This distortion of what is real and what is ﬁction may lead
viewers to different perceptions of reality than their counterparts in other
nations, particularly among children. This may, in turn, affect the ways in

which Brazilian audiences view foreign cultures introduced through television.

78

The recent introduction of such distribution technologies as direct broad-
cast satellite, cable, MMDS and the use of open and pay UHF channels in Brazil
have enabled the U.S. television industry new means of access to the Brazilian
population. It has been acknowledged that television is extremely important to
children, yet cable television has just recently begun to be researched. “Cable
presents a different television environment for children than the heavily studied
broadcasting environment” (Baldwin and McVoy, 1988, p. 170). One study that
compared cable and noncable children in Plymouth, Michigan, found that cable
children spent the same amount of time watching the regular broadcast chan-
nels as the noncable viewers, but the cable children also watched the accessible
cable channels as well. Thus, the cable viewers indicated a higher total TV
viewing time than noncable children (Greenberg et al., 1985).

As mentioned previously, the introduction of these new technologies has
led to increased availability of foreign shows to at least some Brazilians. Several
pertinent questions arise regarding the impact of the transbcrder ﬂow of
American programming on Brazilian audiences via cable. Does access to cable
correlate with a preference for American programming? Does this vary accord-
ing to different program content types? Does watching pay television versus
regular television lead to more pro-American attitudes? Does it lead to different
perceptions of reality? Essentially, what are the current trends in Brazilian
audience viewership since the inception of cable television?

This study attempts to answer these questions. The goal of the original
cultivation analysis was “to determine whether differences in the attitudes,
beliefs, and actions of light and heavy viewers reﬂect differences in their viewing
patterns and habits” (Morgan and Signorielli, 1990, p. 17). The primary purpose
of this study is to examine such differences between young Brazilian cable and

noncable viewers to determine the potential impact of imported programming

79

via subscription television on the culture of Brazil. This project is that of a ﬁrst
step in gauging whether new means of signal distribution correlate with a
preference for American programming among Brazilian audience members. It
attempts to bridge the gap between the cultural imperialism paradigm and the
hypothesized cultivation effect of television.

Hur (1982) contended that the union of these two realms of research are
important, in that “ﬁndings available in systems analysis and processes and
effects analysis are fundamentally related, despite the differences of research
focus and research technique in past international mass communication re-
search” (p. 549). At the macroscopic level, this study utilizes the structural
analysis characteristic of media imperialism studies while focusing on the
various effects analyses postulated under revisions of cultivation research.
Based upon the aforementioned theoretical frameworks and their respective
supporting research, predictions were made about the impact of U.S. program-

ming via cable on Brazilian recipients.

2.8 Predictions in the Study

As mentioned previously, this is the ﬁrst attempt to study the potential
effects of American programming via new signal distribution systems in Brazil.
Due to a lack of resources, a content analysis of the available cable programming
in Brazil was not undertaken. It has been acknowledged that approximately
85% to 95% of the programs are imported from the United States (Baker, 1994b,
1995; Goncalves and Mendonca, 1994; Pecegueiro, 1994; Rogers, 1994; Straubhaar,
1994). All program genres accessible in the United States are available by means
of one or the other cable systems in Brazil. This study attempts to determine if

there are indeed signiﬁcant differences between cable and noncable viewers,

80

and, if so, where such differential patterns lie.

The research attempts to determine if viewers prefer American program-
ming over domestically-produced TV shows when given the choice. This is based
on the argument brought about by both media imperialism and cultural proxim-
ity research. The study also investigates the effects of U.S. program viewing on
social reality construction in terms of viewers’ orientation to various situations,
behaviors, people and values. This stems from the theory of cultivation analysis
but derives mainly from revised versions of the original cultivation thesis. The
focus of this research is on the effects of cable accessibility and the programming
made available through this multichannel environment. Rather than utilizing
the above frameworks to distinguish between heavy and light viewers of open
television broadcasting, the following hypotheses are based on access to cable
television.

The ﬁrst prediction is rooted in the aforementioned study on cable
television conducted by Greenberg et al. (1985). As the researchers reported, the
young cable viewers in their study watched more television in terms of total
viewing time. Cable respondents were less often told not to watch certain
programs by mediating parents. These viewers also reported fewer parental
viewing restrictions and/or guidance than their noncable counterparts (Greenberg
et al., 1985). According to Piirto (1995), children in cable households watch ﬁve
hours of cable programming compared to only three hours of noncable program-
ming per week.

One researcher reported that youth who grow up in cable households tend
to view this service as a basic necessity in life, and most often, become habitual
“lifetime” cable viewers (Gissen, cited in Piirto, 1995). This is based on the
premise that they not only watch more television but rely on the medium as their

primary source for news and entertainment. According to Williams et a1. (1985),

81

cable viewers watch more television primarily because of the wider selection of
program choices and the ability to control or manipulate the viewing process in
terms of the ﬂexibility of programming. Derived from these ﬁndings and the
assumption that cable viewers watch more television because they have more
choices in programming, the data will be analyzed to determine if Brazilian
cable viewers watch more television than noncable respondents.
Hypothesis One:
Cable viewers will indicate heavier television viewing than their noncable

counterparts.

The second prediction stems from the research on the transbcrder ﬂow of
television programming. Under the auspices of cultural imperialism, it has been
stipulated that viewers will watch imported programs, when provided with such
an option (Lee, 1980; Nordenstreng and Varis, 1973; Sinclair, 1994). Contrary
to this argument, Straubhaar (1991) contended that viewers will choose
domestic programming over imported shows as a result of the cultural relevance
of the content. Since there is little empirical evidence supporting either side of
this debate, the issue remains to be resolved. However, with the high cost of pay
television in Brazil, it has been assumed that subscribers want the imported
programs. Otherwise, the industry would not be able to survive in a country that
maintains such a strong domestic production base (Baker, 1995).

Brazilian industry researchers have reported that cable viewers prefer
American programming (Baker, 1994b; Michaels, 1994; Pecegueiro, 1994; Rog-
ers, 1994). Since the Brazilian cable model is commercially based and currently
depends primarily on subscription revenue, consumer demands dictate pro-
grams made available over the various cable channels. It is under this

assumption from which the following hypothesis was derived.

82

Hypothesis Two:
Cable viewers will demonstrate an overall preference for U.S. programs rather

than domestically-produced television shows.

The third prediction also is rooted in the rationale stipulated above for the
second hypothesis. Since the majority of programs aired on open broadcasting
channels are mainly domestic shows, it can be argued that cable viewers will
watch more imported programs on closed subscription channels than open
broadcasting channels. This is not to say that cable viewers will indicate a lack
of imported television viewing via open channels. Rather, these respondents
will merely exhibit heavier viewing of imported materials on the multichannel
cable system than on the domestic networks. According to Greenberg et a1.
(1985) and Piirto (1995), cable viewers demonstrate heavier viewing of the cable

channels than open broadcasting channels.

Hypothesis Three:
Cable viewers will demonstrate heavier viewing of imported programs available

on cable channels than on open broadcasting channels.

The following hypotheses are based on adaptations of the cultural differ-
entials postulated by Gerbner et al. (197 6, 197 9, 1986). According to Hawkins
and Pingree (1982), measures across program content speciﬁcity are better
predictors than the habitual viewing of television measured by a composite of
television viewing time. As discussed in the previous sections of this chapter,
several studies have utilized this tool in examining the cultivation effects of
television. This study attempts to interpret a useful device in one realm of media

effects research and employ it in a second arena of television’s impact on viewers.

 

83

While Hawkins and Pingree (1982) intended for this type of measure to be used
in determining cultural differentials, the current research project will use the
measure in analyzing what cable viewers are watching. Since an overview of the
speciﬁc U.S. programs available to cable viewers was not accessible, an
hypothesis was not developed regarding the relationship between program
speciﬁcity and the cultivation of social reality. However, this tool will be further
explored regarding its potential predictive power once it is determined what
cable viewers are watching. In the adoption of this device as a measure of
preferences in programming by means of country origin, the data will be
investigated to see if viewers indicate heavier viewing across speciﬁc content
categories rather than by total length of viewing time. The goal is to examine the
delineation of speciﬁc program types as a determinant in participants’ predilec-

tion for imports.

Hypothesis Four:
Cable viewers will demonstrate heavier viewing patterns of U.S. programs in

speciﬁc program content categories than noncable viewers.

TV viewers’ attitudes toward foreign countries have also been addressed
in media effects research (Payne and Caron, 1982; Snyder, Roser and Chaffee,
1991; Sparkes, 197 7 ). In their study on the inﬂuence of American mass media
on Quebecois adults, Payne and Caron (1982) concluded that viewers of U.S.
programming held more positive attitudes toward the U.S. and American
culture than viewers of Canadian television. Beattie (1967) found that exposure
to U.S. television indicated a more negative attitude toward national viewpoints
among Canadian college students. Based on these ﬁndings and the results of

other studies, respondents’ attitudes toward other countries was also assessed

84

in this study. Since cable viewers are exposed to more imported programs, thus
are more frequently exposed to television characters from different countries,
the stipulation that cable viewers maintain a more positive attitude toward

other countries than noncable viewers logically ensues.

Hypothesis Five:
Cable viewers will exhibit more positive attitudes toward other countries than

noncable viewers.

Based on various cultivation studies, evidence has indicated a positive
relationship between heavy TV viewing and belief in the social reality conveyed
on television. According to Greenberg et a1. (1992), the Brazilian youth who
participated in their study showed relatively little belief in the reality of
television content, particularly with “weaker realism assessments” regarding
the reality of locales and behaviors portrayed on television (p. 38). However, the
study did not distinguish between cable and noncable viewers, as that was not
the purpose of the research. Other studies demonstrated that heavy viewers of
foreign shows have indicated beliefs in either the overall reality of television, the
perceived reality of the host culture or the reality of television’s depiction of the
imported culture (Coldevin, 197 9; Pingree and Hawkins, 1981; Tan, Li and
Simpson, 1986; Tan and Suarchavarat, 1988; Tsai, 1967). With increased
exposure to imported programming via cable, it could be argued that heavier
viewers of foreign shows will be more likely than their noncable counterparts to
behave in the perceptions of social reality portrayed on television, particularly
that of imported programs.

Two predictions were made about the judgment of the reality of television

programs. Since various studies have indicated that cable viewers watch more

 

85

television than noncable viewers, the following predictions were based on this
distinction between heavy (cable) and light (noncable) viewers (Greenberg et al.,
1988; Greenberg et al., 1985; Williams et al., 1985). The ﬁrst one is based on the
contention that cable viewers will demonstrate a stronger belief in the overall
perceived reality of the images portrayed on television. The second stems from
the argument that heavy viewers of foreign programs will demonstrate a
stronger belief in the perceived reality of that imported culture as portrayed on
television (Barnett and McPhail, 1980; Beattie, 1967; Kang and Morgan, 1988;
Oliveira, 1986; Payne and Caron, 1982).

Hypothesis Six:
Cable viewers will exhibit a stronger belief in the perceived reality of television

content than noncable viewers.

Hypothesis Seven:
Cable viewers will exhibit a stronger belief in the perceived reality of American

shows than noncable viewers.

While the original cultivation analyses undertaken by the Cultural
Indicators group pertained mainly to perceptions of violence, several of the
aforementioned studies utilized the cultivation framework in assessing non-
crime related perceptions of viewers. In his study of students in Israel, Weimann
(1984) indicated a positive correlation between American television viewing and
perceptions of affluence in the United States. Ahn (1990) reported a positive
relationship between Korean adolescents’ exposure to U.S. programs and per-
ceptions of personal-level affluence. Based on these inquiries and the conceptual

limitations of the original cultivation formulation, the perceptions of American

86

affluence and family life were selected for investigation in this research. Under
the precept that increased exposure to imported programs leads to more positive
perceptions of the imported culture, this prediction stipulates that cable viewers
will demonstrate such positive perceptions as a result of their exposure to U.S.

programs via subscription television.

Hypothesis Eight:
Cable viewers will exhibit more positive images about American family life and

afﬂuence than noncable viewers.

 

Chapter Three
Methodology

3.1 Survey Sample

The original sample for this study consisted of 436 sixth- and tenth-grade
students residing in the metropolitan area ofSio Paulo, Brazil. This sample was
chosen for three main reasons: accessibility, viewership and the potential
impact of television on social reality construction. The targeted group was more
convenient to reach than a random selection of participants from the general
population, in terms of both time constraints and language barriers. Secondly,
as mentioned previously, youth are the primary viewers of cable television. Most
importantly, this age ﬂame is crucial in the construction of social realities.
Unlike adults, youth are more vulnerable to extraneous inﬂuences, since they
have not yet fully developed a concrete social reality from which their world view
is constructed (Gerbner et al., 1986; Hawkins and Pingree, 1981 a/b; Meyer and
Hexamer, 1985). Sic Paulo was chosen because cable is presently only available
in the major urban areas in Brazil, with the Sic Paulo region holding the largest
subscribing population. In order to obtain a substantial sample, this area was
chosen for the initial investigation of cable television’s impact.

Four schools were selected as representing the socioeconomic stratiﬁca-
tion of cable and noncable viewers. Since cable subscribing households are
comprised of mainly class A and B viewers (high SES), one private middle and
one private high school were chosen to represent those students more likely to
have access to cable television. One public middle and one public high school
were selected to represent the lower SES sample. The access to and participation
of these schools was established under the direction of Dr. Fred Litto, University

87

88

of Sic Paulo, School of the Future. A parental permission letter was provided
if necessary. Student participation was determined by Dr. Litto and the
respective school’s administrators, due to cultural differences in the Brazilian
administrative process. Individuals’ participation in the study was voluntary
and anonymous. This was stated on the questionnaire as well as explained prior
to the administration of the surveys. Questionnaire administration was super-
vised by Professor Maria Jose’ Maia, University of Sic Paulo, School of the
Future. Respondents were given approximately forty minutes to complete the

surveys during regular class sessions in May 1995.

3.2 Methodological Procedures

The methodology chosen for this research was that of a self-administered
survey. This method was selected due to the language barriers of the researcher
as well as being the most viable option in securing honest, anonymous responses
from the sample. A twelve-page questionnaire was utilized to test the hypoth-
eses (see Appendices A and B). The questions were primarily derived from the
survey used by Greenberg et a1. (1992) in the researchers’ Brazilian component
of an international study of young people’s orientation to mass media. After the
ﬁrst draft was completed under the guidance of Dr. Joseph Straubhaar, it was
directly translated into Portuguese at Michigan State University. Revisions
were made based on recommendations of Brazilian graduate and doctoral
students at MSU. The questionnaire was then assessed by Dr. Litto and
Professor Maia in Brazil to determine cultural relevance and appropriateness of
the language level. Further revisions were made upon their recommendations.

Five doctoral students and university employees of the School of the
Future, University of Sic Paulo, helped in the administration of the surveys at

 

89

the four schools. The volunteers were trained on how to introduce the question-
naire and how to respond to participants’ questions and behavior during the
administration to ensure identical procedures were followed at each of the
schools. Students were told they were participating in a study on what they liked
to view on “regular” and “cable” television and how they felt about what they
watched. The meaning behind the collective use of “cable” for the various signal
distribution systems available was explained to the participants to make sure
they understood the difference between open broadcasting and cable television.
They were then asked to read the voluntary compliance statement on the front
of the questionnaire and told that participation was optional and anonymous. If
they had any questions, they were to ask for help from the supervisor or the
teacher, without talking to their classmates, to ensure honesty in each

participant’s individual responses.

3.3 Variables Assessed in the Study

Independent Variable

The independent variable of relevance in this study was access to cable
television. Respondents were ﬁrst asked to indicate if they had access to
television, in general. This was measured by asking respondents to circle how
many television sets they had in their home. The responses were indicated on
a seven-point scale (0, 1, 2 ,3 ,4 ,5, more). Participants were then asked how many
channels they had access to at home. Responses were indicated on a four-point
scale (1-10, 11-15, 15-20, 21 or more). In determining access to cable television,
participants were asked if they had cable TV via wire (yes or no), and, if so, how
many television sets were connected to the cable (on a seven-point scale: 0, 1, 2,

3 , 4, 5, more). They were also asked if their home or building received satellite

90

TV (yes or no). The students were then asked if they had any of the following
cable systems in their home or apartment: TVA, GloboSat, Multicanal and
GloboNet. Responses were indicated by circling “yes” or “no” for each system.
Based on participants’ responses to the above questions, they were then divided
into two categories for assessment: cable and noncable viewers.
Dependent Variables

The primary dependent variables investigated were: (1) amount of
television viewing; (2) preference for domestic or imported programming; (3)
frequency of viewing domestic and imported programs; (4) frequency of viewing
domestic and imported programs based on program speciﬁcity; (5) dependency
on television news; (6) advertising consumption; (7) attitudes toward different
countries; (8) perceptions of the portrayal of people and behaviors on television;
(9) perceptions of the reality of American programs; and (10) perceptions of the
reality of American family values and affluence.

Ammnmuelexrmmaemnmrtemsl. This was measured by asking
respondents how much television (in hours) they watched across three dayparts
the previous day. Responses were indicated on a seven-point scale (0, .5, 1, 1.5,
2, 2.5, 3 or more). These were then coded according to daypart, and as a total
amount of television viewing time.

This was

 

measured by asking respondents two questions: “When given the choice, which
shows on regular TV do you prefer to watch?” and “When given the choice, which
shows on cable TV do you prefer to watch?”. Respondents were then asked to
circle one of ﬁve choices: Brazilian, American, Mexican, Japanese, Other. The

answers were coded according to which response was circled for each question.

Three

 

sets of questions were used to determine the frequency of program viewing. The

91

ﬁrst measured how often respondents watched regular and cable television (2
items). The second set, consisting of four items, asked participants how often
they watched Brazilian, Japanese, Mexican and U.S. programs on cable. The
ﬁnal set, also composed of four questions, asked the students to indicate how
often they watched Brazilian, Japanese, Mexican and U.S. programs on
“regular” TV. Each response was measured on a four-point scale (never=1,
sometimes=2, often=3, very often=4) and coded accordingly.

--_ an n, ' J’ .o for 9, . w a-" u to .: :u.‘ Thiswas
measured by asking respondents to circle how often they watched certain types
of programs, according to country origin, on cable TV and on regular TV
(never=1, sometimes=2, often=3, very often=4). The following genres were
assessed for Brazilian programming (26 items, 13 each for regular and cable TV):
detective/crime, adventures/action/hero, westerns, rock music/videos, variety,
comedy, sports, game shows, talk shows, telenovelas, news/public affairs,
movies, and cartoons. The categories for American shows on cable and regular
TV (26 items) were the same as those for Brazilian programs. For Japanese
shows, the categories were as follows (8 items): adventure/hero, movies,
cartoons, and children’s shows. For Mexican programs, the categories included
(8 items): telenovelas, movies, cartoons, and children’s shows. Cable viewers
were asked to respond to all of the questions, while noncable viewers were asked
to answer just those pertaining to shows on “regular” television or open broad-
casting channels.

WWW This was assessed accord-
ing to a set of questions which asked participants to provide their general opinion
of six countries— the United States, France, Mexico, Brazil, England and
J apan—according to a ﬁve-point scale (very bad=1, neutral=3, very good=5).

D ' ‘ e e ..
' '9 .9». 0' 9x.‘ ii . h".'i-99> -2 ',._.‘.Q ['l"‘

92

items), The perceived reality of such portrayals in TV content was measured by
two types of questions. The ﬁrst set was about behaviors and situations on
television. Respondents were asked how much they agreed or disagreed with the
following statements: romance, marriage, and problems on TV were like their
counterparts in real life. The second set of questions pertained to the portrayal
of people on television. Participants were asked how much they agreed or
disagreed with the following people-oriented statements: parents, men, women,
Americans, Brazilians, Mexicans, and policemen are like their real-life counter-
parts. These were then coded according to responses on a ﬁve-point scale
(strongly agree=1, neutral=3, strongly disagree=5).

Two value judgments were also measured in this section. These two
statements included “women and men should have equal pay at work” and
Violence can sometimes be the solution to a problem”. Based on the same ﬁve-
point agree/disagree scale, these were then assessed for differences between
noncable and cable viewers.

.‘ ‘Po0!;0_ ,9‘ '-1 ‘ 'v.-'l' i!!'l€.090'41-!!_‘ [007 N0
questions were used to assess this variable regarding the perceptions of Brazil-
ian and American programs. Participants were asked if they agreed or disagreed
with the following statements: “Brazilian shows are more like real life than
American shows” and “American shows are more violent than Brazilian shows.”
Responses were indicated on a ﬁve-point agree/disagree scale and coded accord-
ing to more positive perceptions of either American or Brazilian TV shows.

" +0 09:0 .9: ‘ ea ‘ I tore an an 2. .'_:=..no aii .‘n ‘
(41mins), Family values and affluence were measured according to a different
set of questions. Respondents were again asked if they agreed or disagreed with
the following statements: “American women have better jobs than Brazilian

women;” “Brazilian men have better jobs than American men;” “American

 

93

families have more money than Brazilian families;” and “Brazilian families do
more things together than American families.” These questions were all
measured along a ﬁve-point scale (strongly agree=1, neutral=3, strongly
disagree=5) then recoded and indexed according to respondents’ more positive

perceptions of either the U.S. or Brazil.

3.4 Data Analysis

One-tailed t-tests were utilized for statistically examining the differences
between cable and noncable viewers. The alpha level for all variables assessed
was set at .05 to test the signiﬁcance of those differences. Regarding reliability,
two issues are at hand. The ﬁrst pertains to the degree to which the instrument
involved is an accurate means of testing the hypotheses. For this study, the
majority of the questions utilized were adapted from a questionnaire previously
used in Greenberg et al.'s study (1992). The instrument for this study was not
pre-tested for errors due to time and ﬁnancial constraints. However, the survey
utilized in the Greenberg et al. study was pre-tested in the United States and
administered in Brazil to a sample similar to that which was used in this
research. The questionnaire was also critiqued by several researchers at MSU
as well as the University of Sic Paulo for cultural relevance and accuracy. The
second issue is that of accuracy in coding participants' responses to the ques-
tions. Three coders initially entered the data according to a codebook provided
by the researcher. This ﬁle was then reviewed by the researcher. Corrections
were recoded accordingly. The ﬁnal step in this process was carried out by a third
party, whom reviewed 43 questionnaires (approximately ten percent of total

surveys collected) for accuracy.

Chapter Four
Findings

4.1 Sample Characteristics

Thirty-ﬁve surveys were withdrawn from the study due to incompletion
of at least ten percent of the questions. Of the remaining (N=405), 1 13 were cable
viewers and 292 were noncable viewers. Following are composites of the two
subsamples.

Cable Viewers

This subsample (N =113) was composed of 39 sixth-grade males, 22 tenth-
grade males, 23 sixth-grade females and 29 tenth-grade females. All of the
respondents reported that they were ﬂuent in Portuguese. Fifty-six percent
reported that they spoke and understood English well, with 19% indicating such
skills with Spanish and 12% reporting the same for another language not
speciﬁed. The majority of these students indicated that they were from two-
parent families with one to two siblings. Approximately 89% of these respon-
dents demonstrated that they lived with both their mothers and fathers in either
an apartment or house owned by their parents. Seventy percent reported that
their fathers held a university degree, while 65% indicated that their mothers
graduated from college as well. The majority of participants’ fathers were
employed, composed of 79% full-time and 19% part-time. While most reported
that their mothers worked as well, only 23% indicated full-time employment and
40% part-time.

Regarding access to television, every participant reported that their
families owned at least one color television set, with the average of four sets per
household. Cable viewers indicated that one or more TV sets were cable

accessible in their homes. The average number of television channels available

94

95

was 21 or more. Sixty-four percent reported that their families subscribed to
TVA. GloboSat and/or NET held 41% of this audience, and 37% indicated access
to Multicanal. Several of the participants indicated access to more than one of
the above cable companies.

Noncable Viewers

The noncable subsample (N=292) consisted of 54 sixth-grade males, 72
tenth-grade males, 68 sixth-grade females and 98 tenth-grade females. All but
one reported ﬂuency in Portuguese. Twenty-three percent indicated that they
understood and spoke English well, while 5.5% reported similar skills in
Spanish and 5.5% for an unspeciﬁed language. Eighty-six percent reported two-
parent households, with 77% having one or more siblings. Seventy-eight percent
reported that their families lived in either an apartment or house owned by their
parents. Thirty-six percent of the noncable participants indicated that their
mothers had obtained university degrees, and 47% reported the same for their
fathers. The majority of participants’ fathers were employed, with 7 6% working
full-time and 17% part-time. Forty-six percent indicated that their mothers
worked full-time and 19% part-time.

All but one noncable viewer demonstrated access to color television,
although that respondent did indicate access to black and white television. The
average number of color TV sets per household was two, with the amount of
channels accessible reported as one to ten. The demographic characteristics of

the two groups are shown in table one.

96

Table l: Demography of Cable and Noncable Viewers

(in percentages)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Demographic Cable Noncable
Characteristics Viewers Viewers
Education: Private school 87 40
Public school 13 60
6th grade males 34 19
10th grade males 20 25
6th grade females 20 23
10th grade females 26 33
Speak English well 56 23
Speak Spanish well 19 5.5
Speak other language well 12 5.5
Parents: Two-parent household 93 85
Father:
College graduate 70 47
Full-time employment 79 76
Part-time employment 19 17
Mother:
College graduate 65 36
Full-time employment 23 46
Part-time employment 40 19
Economic Status: Live in apartment 23 33
Live in house 77 62
Own 81 78
Rent 19 22
2-3 bedrooms 56 75
4 or more bedrooms 42 19
1-2 bathrooms 33 67
3 or more bathrooms 66 32
0 vehicles 4 15
1 vehicle 19 38
2 or more vehicles 77 47
Access to television Average # of TV sets 4 2
(not in percentages): Average # of TV channels 21 or more 1-10

 

 

 

 

 

97

4.2 Findings on Television Viewing Behavior and Frequency

Differences in Television Viewing: H1

One-tailed t-tests were utilized to determine the differences in the two
subsamples’ reported viewing time (in hours) in three dayparts. A total viewing
time was then compiled for the two groups and compared for differences. The
results are displayed in table one. Essentially, noncable viewers indicated more
frequent viewing of television in two of the three dayparts as well as overall time
spent watching television. The only signiﬁcant difference (p<.05) between the
two groups was indicated in the morning prior to the beginning of the school day,
in which noncable viewers reported more time spent watching television.

In the ﬁrst daypart, cable viewers reported less than one hour of viewing
time, while noncable viewers demonstrated between forty-ﬁve minutes to one
hour of watching TV. The after-school block, whence cable viewers’ watched
approximately one and one-half hours of television and noncable respondents
viewed for about one hour and twenty minutes, was the only daypart in which
the former indicated longer viewing time than the latter. Noncable viewers
reported one hour ofviewing after dinner, and cable participants indicated about
ﬁfty minutes in the same category. Overall, cable respondents watched about
three hours of television throughout the day. Noncable viewers watched
approximately four hours during the day. Divided into the three separate
dayparts as well as in overall viewing time, cable respondents indicated that
they were watching television less frequently than their noncable counterparts.
Therefore, the results were not found to be signiﬁcant enough to support the
expectation that cable viewers would demonstrate heavier television than
noncable viewers. One possible limitation of this was that the respondents were

asked to report viewing time for the previous day only. Perhaps the differences

98

Table 2: Amount and Time of TV Viewing
by Cable and Noncable Viewers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daypart Cable N oncable t
In the morning, before school .5381 .8699 0-2.00
Aiter school, before supper 3.3584 3.0301 1.47
After supper, until bedtime 3.0248 3.1901 -.76
Total 6.9212 7.0901 -.37

 

0p< .05

 

99

between the two groups would have been more signiﬁcant and/or reversed if
ﬁndings indicated habitual or weekend viewing behavior.

Findings on Programming Preferences among Cable and Noncable
Viewers: H2 and H4

As shown in table three, when given the choice between domestically-
produced programs or imported shows, both subsamples reported a preference
for Brazilian programming on broadcast-only channels. Cable viewers did
indicate a stronger preference for American programming on cable-only chan-
nels. Overall, noncable viewers’ preferences were as follows: Brazilian,
American, Japanese, Other and Mexican. Cable viewers order of preference
entailed American, Brazilian, Other, Japanese and Mexican on cable-only
channels. On broadcast-only channels, cable viewers indicated the following
preferences: Brazilian, American, Other, Japanese and Mexican. While it may
appear that both groups preferred American TV over other imported shows, this
was not analyzed as that was not the focus of this project.

It was postulated that cable respondents would demonstrate a stronger
preference for U.S. programming over Brazilian television than noncable view-
ers, when provided with such an option. While cable viewers reported more
frequent viewing of Brazilian programs on broadcast-only television, this could
very likely be indicative of the type of programming available on broadcast
television. Since these viewers have access to more channels, thus more options
from which to choose, it appears that they prefer American programs via
subscription television. While not found to be signiﬁcant at the .05 level, the
indications may be of a slowly growing interest in American programming when

more choices are provided.

100

Table four denotes the subsamples’ television viewing habits in terms of
how often they watched the imported and Brazilian programs. Noncable
viewers’ responses to broadcast-only questions were compared to that of the
cable respondents along the categories of cable-only, open broadcast and all
available channels. Both groups reported heavier viewing of Brazilian programs
than imports from the other three countries on broadcast-only channels. While
not signiﬁcantly different, cable viewers indicated that they watched television
less frequently than their noncable counterparts when analyzed as a composite
of all available channels. These ﬁndings were in accordance with the results
found in comparing the subsamples’ responses to how often they watched
television (H1). When asked how often they watched cable television and
“regular” TV, noncable participants indicated overall higher viewing patterns
than cable respondents. This may be the result of increased accessibility to other
media and/or entertainment forms on the part of the cable respondents.

When comparing the differences between cable-only viewing and noncables’
responses (broadcast only), the cable group indicated a lower frequency of
viewing Brazilian, Japanese and Mexican programs. However, only the
difference between the groups’ responses to viewing domestic programs was
sufficient enough to indicate signiﬁcance. When comparing the cumulative
viewing patterns of cable viewers to that of noncable participants, the latter
exhibited heavier viewing of Brazilian and Japanese programming. Cable
viewers demonstrated a higher frequency of viewing American TV shows on
cable-only and broadcast-only channels as well as the cumulative average of the
two channel groupings. They also indicated that they watch less Brazilian
programming on cable-only channels and as a cumulative average of all avail-
able channels. This difference is important when noting that cable respondents

indicated a signiﬁcantly lower frequency of overall television viewing.

 

101

Table 3: Preferences for TV Programs
by Cable and Noncable Viewers
(l=watch; 2=do not watch)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Programs by Country Cable Viewers Noncable Viewers

Origin: Broadcast TlCable-Only Broadcast tl : t2

Brazilian 1.2832 l 1.7611 1.3801 01831-342
American 1.5310 l 1.1593 1.4966 .62 lo-3.74
Mexican 1.9323 l 1.9823 1.9486 1.52i 1.52
Japanese 1.9823 1 1.9646 1.8973 02.87l 2.15
Other 1.9646 : 1.9558 1.9144 01.67} 1.33
op<.05

NOTE: All t-values are represented by t], t,, t,, et cetera on each table, in
which the ﬁrst cable viewers' category compared to the noncable viewers'
broadcast responses is represented by t1 and so on. For instance, in Table 2,
t1 is the value for cable viewers' broadcast mean compared to noncable
viewers' broadcast mean. T, symbolizes the t-value for the comparison of
means for cable viewers' cable-only category and noncable viewers' broadcast

category.

 

102

Table 4: Frequency of TV Viewing
by Cable and Noncable Viewers
(1=never; 2=sometimes; 3=often; 4=very often)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Programs by Cable Viewers 5561:2213

Country

Origin: I Broadcast I Cable-Only Broadcast I t2 I t3
Brazilian 3.0398 I 2.6283 I 3.4513 3.0589 -.21I 1.27 I'4.11
American 2.4243 I 2.4027 I 2.4460 2.3281 1.06I .78 L12
Japanese 1.3230 I 1.3274 I 1.3186 1.4493 Io-1.73I--1.64
Mexican 1.9850 I 1.8726 I 2.0973 1.9151 .70I -.42 I'1.68
Overall Viewing 2.8894 I 3.3938 I 3.3938 3.2973 I--5.04I 1.06
'p<.05

NOTE: In Table 4, "ALL" category represents combined viewing of cable and open
broadcast channels for the cable subsample.

NOTE: All t-values are represented by t], 1;, ts, et cetera on each table, in
which the ﬁrst cable viewers' category compared to the noncable viewers'
broadcast responses is represented by t1 and so on. For instance, in Table 2,
t1 is the value for cable viewers' broadcast mean compared to noncable
viewers' broadcast mean. T, symbolizes the t-value for the comparison of
means for cable viewers' cable-only category and noncable viewers' broadcast

category.

 

103

When divided into speciﬁc content categories, ﬁndings partially sup-
ported the prediction set forth in hypothesis four (H4). Tables ﬁve through eight
delineate the differences between the two groups’ responses to questions per-
taining to program content speciﬁcity. Noncable viewers’ responses were
compared to those of cable participants along three categories: cable-only
responses, open broadcast reportings and the mean of the sum of cable and
broadcast viewing frequencies. In regards to Brazilian programming, cable
viewers demonstrated signiﬁcantly heavier viewing of sports programs on open
broadcast channels (p<.05). While cable viewers did not indicate that they
watched signiﬁcantly more American programming than noncable participants
in an overall assessment, they did demonstrate less viewing of the main
Brazilian genres. The most frequently viewed Brazilian programs include
telenovelas, varieties, game shows, news and talk shows (Straubhaar, 1995).
As noted on table ﬁve, in each of these popular content categories, cable
respondents viewed less than noncable participants (p<.05). The cable viewers
may not have increased their overall time spent watching television, yet less of
their viewing time is dedicated to the primetime Brazilian programs in compari-
son to noncable viewers. When comparing the two groups by means of cable-only
viewing and open broadcast, six differences between the subsamples are
evident: detective/crime, adventures/action/hero, westerns, rock/music videos,
sports and movies. Within this realm, cable viewers signiﬁcantly watched more
Brazilian sports and movies than noncable respondents (p<.05).

In comparing cable and noncable viewers’ frequencies in which they
watched American programs on open broadcast channels, cable viewers re-
ported more frequent viewing than their noncable counterparts along all but the
detective/crime genre. They demonstrated signiﬁcantly stronger viewing habits

in the categories of sports, talk shows, telenovelas (soap operas), news/public

 

104

affairs and movies (p<.05). When comparing cable viewers’ cable-only responses
to that of noncable viewers’ responses to how often they watch American TV on
open broadcast, cable participants displayed heavier viewing patterns in nine
of the thirteen genre categories. These included adventures/action/hero, west-
erns, rock/music videos, variety, comedy, sports, news/public affairs, movies
and cartoons. Those which showed signiﬁcantly different viewing patterns were
the sports, movies and cartoons categories (p<.05).

Although there were differences found intermittently between the two
subsamples along various genres of programming, the results were not substan-
tial to support the expectation that cable viewers would demonstrate heavier
viewing patterns in speciﬁc program content categories. A potential problem
with these results may lie in confusion over what is meant by the labels deﬁning
each genre. For instance, very few U.S. game shows, variety programs and soap
operas are aired over open broadcast channels (Straubhaar, 1995). Some
participants may have erroneously reassigned different values to the descriptive
labels utilized for each category (i.e., a U.S. children’s program may have been
perceived as a variety show).

Tables seven and eight show the ﬁndings for the responses to Japanese
and Mexican programming. For the most part, the two subsamples indicated
overall that they never watched imported programs from either of the respective
countries. The only genre in which noncable respondents reported viewing

“sometimes” was that of Japanese children’s shows (i.e., “Power Rangers”).

 

105

 

 

Table 5: Program Content Preferences for Brazilian Shows

among Cable and Noncable Viewers
(1=never watch...4=watch very often)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Program Genre Cable Viewers Noncable
All IBroadcast ICable-Only Viewers t1 | t2 l t,
Detective/crime 2.1465 I 2.1788I 2.1142 2.0969 .60I .95 I .20
Adventures/action/hero 2.6447 I 2.5761 I 2.7133 2.5955 .52 I -.20 I 1.20
.

Westerns 1.3031 I 1.2522 1.3540 1.2966 .11I -.78 I .94
Rock music/videos 2.6854I 2.5858| 2.7850 2.6678 18I -.80 I 1 17
Variety 2.9018 I 2.9982I 2.8053 3.0705 o-1. 84I .77 Io-2.81
Comedy 2.9150 I 2.9540I 2.8761 2.9452 -.30 I .09 I -.66
Sports 3.0478 I 3.0637I 3.0319 2.8240 -2.11I o2.21I -1.91
Game shows 2.3739 I I.26513I 2.0965 2.7171 --3. 69I .67 Io-6.37
Talk shows 2.0332 I 2.2257 I 1.8407 2.2849 --3.01I -.68 F513
Telenovelas 2.2575 I 2.9982 I 1.5168 3.0014 --7.20I -.03 Io-13.7
News/public affairs 2.3115 I2.6425 I 1.9805 2.6623 ~405I -.22 I--7.49
Movies 3.1858 I 3.1099 I 3.2726 2.9658 o2.25 I 1.32 I-3.05
Cartoons 2.4615 I 2.4938I 2.4292 2.6151 -1.41I-1.08I--1.66
0p<.05

NOTE: In Table 5,

"ALL" category represents combined viewing of cable and open
broadcast channels for the cable subsample.

NOTE: All t-values are represented by t], I5, 11,, et cetera on each table, in
which the first cable viewers' category compared to the noncable viewers'
broadcast responses is represented by tl and so on. For instance, in Table 2,
t is the value for cable viewers' broadcast mean compared to noncable
viewers' broadcast mean. T, symbolizes the t-value for the comparison of
means for cable viewers' cable-only category and noncable viewers' broadcast

category.

 

106

Table 6: Program Content Preferences for American Shows
among Cable and Noncable Viewers

(1=never watch...4=watch very often)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Program Genre Cable Viewers Noncable
All IBroadcast I Cable-Only Viewers t1 I t | t3

Detective/crime 2.1500 I 2.1814 I 2.1186 2.2483 -.98 I -.66 I -1.18
Adventures/action/hero 2.6420 I 2.6239I 2.6602 2.5873 .55 I .36 I .45
Westerns 1.3522 I 1.3381I 1.3664 1.3356 .25 I .04 I .57
Rock music/videos 2.6960 I 2.6770I 2.7150 2.6493 .42 I .25I .35
Variety 2.5788 I 2.5699I 2.5876 2.4815 98 I 88 I .86
Comedy 2.7527 I 2.8097I 2.6956 2.6684 .61 I113 I .72
Sports 2.7150 I 2.7257I 2.7044 2.1637 -4. 78 I o4. 79I-4.51
Game shows 1. 9389 I 2. .0442I 1.8336 1.9945 .55 I .47 I -.94
Talk shows 1.9398I1.2991 I 1.8885 1.7997 -1. 70 I -2. 26I 1.43
Telenovelas 1.7146 I 2.7017 I 1.4115 1.7541 -.35 I-2.14I--2.28
News/public affairs 2.0199 I2.1018 I 1.9381 1.9168 1.08 I -1.85I .50
Movies 3.2934I3.2434I 3.3434 3.0829 -2. 29 I -1.68I-2. 97
Cartoons 2.4783I 2.4558I 2.5009 2.3134 1. 52I 1.27 I-1.69
0p<.05

NOTE: In Table 6, "ALL" category represents combined viewing of cable and open
broadcast channels for the cable subsample.

NOTE: All t-values are represented by t,, t,, t,, et cetera on each table, in
which the first cable viewers' category compared to the noncable viewers'
broadcast responses is represented by 1:1 and so on. For instance, in Table 2,
1:1 is the value for cable viewers' broadcast mean compared to noncable
viewers' broadcast mean. T, symbolizes the t-value for the comparison of
means for cable viewers' cable-only category and noncable viewers' broadcast

category.

 

107

Table7: Program Content Preferences for Japanese Shows

among Cable and Noncable Viewers
(1=never watch...4=watch very often)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Program Genre Cable Viewers Noncable

All IBroadcast ICable-Only Viewers tl I t2 I t,
Adventures/hero 1.3407I 1.4088I 1.2726 1.4555 -1.42I -.56 I--1.65
Movies 1.3009I1.3115I 1.2903 1.4301 --1.83I--1.63I--1.69
Cartoons 1.3531 I 1.3788I 1.3274 1.6767 --3.42I--3.04I--2.91
Children's shows 1.1611I1.1611I1.1611 1.1949 -.6OI -.60I -.60
0p<.05

Table 8: Program Content Preferences for Mexican Shows

among Cable and Noncable Viewers
(1=never watch...4=watch very often)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Program Genre Cable Viewers N oncable

All IBroadcast ICable-Only Viewers tl I t2 I t,
Telenovelas 1.2150I1.3009I 1.1292 1.3630 0-2.23I -.89 I0-2.67
Movies 1.3115I1.3097I 1.3133 1.3151 -.06I -.08 I -.25
Cartoons 1.2982 I 1.2920I 1.3044 1.3240 -.37I -.46I -.40
Children's shows 1.4150I1.4903I 1.3398 1.4301 -.19I .73I -.56
0p<.05

NOTE: In Tables 7 and 8, "ALL" category represents combined viewing of cable and
open broadcast channels for the cable subsample.

NOTE: All t-values are represented by t], g, t,, et cetera on each table, in
which the first cable viewers' category compared to the noncable viewers'
broadcast responses is represented by t1 and so on. For instance, in Table 2,
tI is the value for cable viewers' broadcast mean compared to noncable
viewers' broadcast mean. T, symbolizes the t-value for the comparison of
means for cable viewers' cable-only category and noncable viewers' broadcast

category.

 

 

108

Findings on Programming Preferences among Cable Viewers: H3

Tables nine through twelve present the differences in viewing patterns
among cable viewers between open broadcast and cable-only channels along
content-speciﬁc programs ﬁom the four countries studied. Under the category
of Brazilian programming, cable viewers demonstrated heavier viewing of
adventures/action/hero, rock music/videos and movies on cable channels. Of
those three, these respondents showed positive, signiﬁcant differences in their
viewing patterns of Brazilian movies between cable and broadcast channels
(p<.05). In terms of their viewing patterns of U.S. television shows, this
subsample indicated that they watched more on cable channels in six genre
categories: adventures/rock/music videos, variety, movies and cartoons. While
the respective values are insufﬁcient to reject the null hypothesis, the differ-
ences reported do indicate increased viewing along speciﬁc content categories.
Interestingly, the differences found to be signiﬁcant at the .05 level are those
which indicate less frequent viewing on cable channels. Contrary to what was
expected, the negative values associated with the remaining seven suggest that
cable viewers may watch more American programming on open broadcast
channels than on the subscription channels. In fact, when compared to how
often these viewers’ reported that they watched Brazilian programs on cable,
nine of the thirteen genre categories exhibit more frequent viewing of Brazilian
over American programs.

Regarding Japanese and Mexican programming, cable viewers’ reported
that, as a whole, they rarely watch programs associated with either of the two
nations, if at all. Of those who indicated watching Japanese programs
“sometimes”, they reported heavier viewing on open broadcast channels than
cable in each genre category (excepting children’s shows, which had the same

results). Such was also the case for Mexican programs in the categories of

 

109

Table 9: Cable Viewers' Program Content Preferences
for Brazilian Shows on Broadcast and Cable-Only TV Channels
(1=never watch...4=watch very often)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Program Genre Cable-Only Broadcast t

Detective/crime 2. 1 142 2. 1788 -.77
Adventures/action/hero 2-7 133 25761 1.60
Westerns 1.3540 1.2522 9 2.24
Rock music/videos 2-7850 2.5858 9 2.33
Variety 2.8053 2.9982 9 -2.64
Comedy 2.876 1 2.9540 -.85
sports 3.0319 3.0637 -.43
Game shows 2.0965 2.6513 9 ~5.7 3
Talk shows 1.8407 2.2257 9-5.02
Telenovelas 1.5168 2.9982 9 -12.97
News/public affairs 1.9805 2.6425 --7.26
Movies 3.2726 3.0991 9 2.23
Cartoons 2.4292 2.4938 -.74

 

 

 

 

°p<.05

 

110

Table 10: Cable Viewers' Program Content Preferences
for American Shows on Broadcast and Cable-Only TV Channels

(1=never watch...4=watch very often)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Program Genre Cable-Only Broadcast t

Detective/crime 2.1186 2.1814 -.98
Adventures/action/hero 2.6602 2.6239 .41
Westerns 1.3664 1.3381 .63
Rock musicfvideos 2.7150 2.6770 .52
Variety 2.5876 2.5699 .27
Comedy 2.6956 2.8097 -1.39
Sports 2.7704 2.7257 -.28
Game shows 1.8336 2.0442 0-2.35
Talk shows 1.8885 1.9912 -1.31
Telenovelas 1.4115 2.0177 “-6.19
News/public affairs 1.9381 2.1018 ”2.40
Movies 3.3434 3.2434 1.34
Cartoons 2.5009 2.4558 .55

 

0p<.05

 

111

Table 11: Cable Viewers' Program Content Preferences
for Japanese Shows on Broadcast and Cable-Only TV Channels
(1=never watch...4=watch very often)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Program Genre Cable-Only Broadcast t

Adventure/hero 1.27 26 1.4088 0-2.22

Movies 1.2903 1.3115 -.42

Cartoons 1.3274 1.3788 -.70

Children's Shows 1.1611 1.1611 .00
9p<.05

Table 12: Cable Viewers' Program Content Preferences
for Mexican Shows on Broadcast and Cable-Only TV Channels
(1=never watch...4=watch very often)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Program Genre Cable-Only Broadcast t

Telenovelas 1.1292 1.3009 0-366
Movies 1.3133 1.3097 .07
Cartoons 1.3044 1.2920 .32
Children's Shows 1.3398 1.4903 0-2.39

 

0p<.05

 

 

112

telenovelas and children’s shows.

The same problem as described in the preceding section may have also
affected respondents’ answers to the selections presented in tables eight through
eleven. Participants may have been confused over what was meant by some of
the categories, thus responding incorrectly to the questions regarding these
topics.

4.3 Findings on Attitudes Toward Different Countries: H5

The results for the set of questions pertaining to respondents’ opinions of
various countries indicated partial support for H5. While cable viewers demon-
strated more positive attitudes toward the United States and England, their
attitudes toward France, Mexico and Japan were lower than the noncable
respondents. Table thirteen presents these results. The two which were found
to maintain positive, signiﬁcant t-values were the cable subsamples’ opinions of
the U.S. and England (p<.05). While noncable viewers maintained low thresh-
olds of positive or “good” attitudes toward these two countries, the cable

participants held higher opinions for both nations.

 

113

Tablel3: General Opinion of Countries

by Cable and Noncable Viewers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(1=very bad....5=very good)

Country: Cable Noncable t

United States 4.1965 3.9312 -3.11
France 3.8673 3.9106 -.47
Mexico 2.4531 2.6699 -2.17
Brazil 3.6372 3.6394 -.02
England 4.1327 3.8688 -2.82
Japan 3.4204 3.5705 -1.11

 

0p<.05

 

114

4.4 Findings on Perceived Reality of TV Content, Viewers’ Beliefs and
Values

Perceptions of the Reality of TV Content: H6 and H7

This variable was assessed by evaluating the differences between cable
and noncable viewers’ responses to statements regarding the portrayal of
various people in different roles on television as well as depicted behaviors and
situations. Table fourteen presents the differences between the subsamples. On
all four statements in the “people/roles” category, cable viewers perceived the
televised depictions as being more realistic than responses indicated by noncable
participants. Based on a ﬁve-point scale (disagree/agree), both groups reported
to agree with each of the statements. The cable respondents were more likely to
agree with the statements than their noncable counterparts. The noncable
group indicated a stronger afﬁrmation that Americans on television are like
Americans in real life. Contrary to that difference, cable viewers indicated a
higher degree of belief in the depiction of Mexicans on television (p<.05). Cable
viewers agreed that romance and marriage on television were realistic but
remained neutral on the statement pertaining to television violence. Noncable
viewers maintained a stronger accordance with the realistic portrayal of televi-
sion romance than cable participants. While the expectations anticipated under
the auspices of H6 were not signiﬁcantly supported, the positive values
represented for all but three of the questions should not be ignored. Although
slight in differences, these values may be indicative of a trend still in its early
stages.

Regarding the perceptions of realism inAmerican programming, noncable
respondents were more likely to remain neutral regarding the realism of

American programs in comparison to Brazilian shows, whereas the cable group

 

Table 14: Perceived Reality of Television Content

115

among Cable and Noncable Viewers
(1=strongly disagree...5=strongly agree)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...on TV are like real life: Cable Noncable t
Police 4.1788 4.0486 1.29
Women 3.6584 3.6387 .18
Men 3.8664 3.7171 1.31
Parents 4.0460 3.9589 .84
Americans 3.6876 3.8171 -1.19
Mexicans 3.7681 3.5921 01.84
Romance 3.8761 3.9589 -.78
Marriage 3.9735 3.8664 1.00
Problems 3.6257 3.4572 1.46
Violence 3.2265 3.0664 1.33
American shows are more realistic

than Brazilian shows 2.9062 3.1815 0-2.41
American shows are more violent

than Brazilian shows 2.8212 2.7192 .96

 

 

 

 

0p<.05

 

 

116

was in between disagreement and neutrality (p>.05). Findings pertaining to the
perceived reality of U.S. programs did not support H7. While the statement
involving the depiction of violence on American TV compared to that of Brazilian
programs was positive, the mean difference between the groups was not
marginal. Both subsamples indicated slight disagreement to minimal neutrality
in responding to this statement. The second issue addressed in the perceived
reality of U.S. programming compared to that of Brazilian shows maintained a
negative, signiﬁcant difference between the two groups. While the value for one
statement failed to reject the null hypothesis, the other demonstrated a negative
difference. Hence, ﬁndings were insufﬁcient in conﬁrming the expectations
established under H7 .

While the noncable viewers indicated less frequent viewing of American
programs, they demonstrated a higher degree of belief in the reality of American
shows. On the contrary, the cable viewers who have access to more American
programming indicated a lesser degree of belief in the images of life in the United
States as portrayed on television. One possible explanation could be that those
who typify the Brazilian cable strata may have had extraneous exposure to
American culture, products and lifestyle values through personal travel, shared
experiences of others' who have travelled to the United States, and through
other media vehicles. While the issue of other means of exposure to American
culture was beyond the scope of this project, it lends itselfto such an explanation.

Images of U.S. Family Life and Affluence: H8

As shown in table ﬁfteen, the results indicated little agreement with pro-
American attitudes and values for the variables addressed under hypothesis
eight. While both cable and noncable students disagreed with the statement that
American families have more money than Brazilian families, cable viewers

maintained a higher mean. The opposite was found for perceptions of American

 

117

familial activities. Noncable viewers were more likely to respond neutrally than
cable viewers, while the difference remained insigniﬁcantly negative.

Cable viewers responded signiﬁcantly differently than noncable partici-
pants regarding the statement that American women held better jobs than
Brazilian women. However, both bordered between disagreeing with the
statement and indicating neutrality. Noncable viewers demonstrated a higher
value for the statement pertaining to employment of American men versus
Brazilian men, although the two groups’ representative means were lower than
the employment statement pertaining to women. One plausible explanation for
the different perspectives on men and women in the respective countries is that
of a reﬂection of cultural differences and current goings-on in Brazilian social
movements (i.e., women's liberation). Out of the six value statements, the only
one for which the two groups indicated agreement pertained to equality of pay
for men and women. With media attention on trends in the work environment,
such as an increase in women in the Brazilian workforce and the inequities
between men and women's employment opportunities, this may have skewed
the cable respondents' answers. Since the social group represented is considered
more affluent than the social classes represented by the noncable viewers, the
former may have been exposed to other media vehicles' reportings of these
trends. Another potential explanation is that of cultural differences in the
traditional roles of men and women in Brazilian society. While women may be
perceived as holding the role of family caretaker, men perhaps are viewed as the
providers for Brazilian families, more so than this perception in the United
States.

Both groups disagreed with the statement that violence can sometimes be
the solution to a problem. Cable and noncable responses were juxtaposed

between disagreement and neutrality for that statement as well. Essentially,

 

118

the diﬁ'erences between the two groups were not signiﬁcant in supporting the
postulation that cable viewers would exhibit more positive images about Ameri-
can family life and afﬂuence.

Chapter Five

Discussion

Under the auspices of the debate over the unidirectional transborder ﬂow
of television, the objective of the present study was to analyze the cross-cultural
impacts of U.S. television programming on Brazilian cable audiences. The
primary purpose was to determine if there were signiﬁcant differences between
young Brazilian cable and noncable viewers. The focus was that of analyzing
such differences along the dimensions of the cultivation hypothesis and cultural
imperialism in an attempt to bridge the gap between two arenas of mass
communication theory. The research heretofore attempted to gauge if the
increased importation of U.S. programming in the Brazilian cable industry was
indeed affecting the recipients through exposure to external cultural products,
as contended by advocates of the imperialism school of thought (Nordenstreng
and Varis, 1973; Lee, 1980). The research also attempted to adapt certain
variables of the cultivation hypothesis set forth by Gerbner et al. (1979) and
Hawkins and Pingree (1981a) in order to assess such cross-cultural effects.
Following is a synopsis of expected outcomes and obtained results as well as
limitations within the scope of the project.

5.1 Summary of Results

Based on secondary research pertaining to the history of Brazilian
television and the two media theories discussed above, certain predictions were
made regarding the outcome of the data analysis presented in the preceding
chapter.

The ﬁrst hypothesis, in which it was predicted that cable viewers would

120

 

121

report heavier television viewing than noncable participants, was not sufﬁ-
ciently supported. Of the three dayparts evaluated, cable respondents demon-
strated heavier viewing in only one category, as mentioned previously (p>.05).
The total viewing time of both groups indicated that noncable viewers watched
television more ﬁequently than their cable counterparts. Essentially, this
measure failed to reject the null hypothesis for three of the four items tabulated.
One potential intervening variable not assessed in this study was that of access
to other media. As noted earlier in this text, cable households are more likely
to be composed of the higher income-based strata of Brazil. Since print media are
extremely expensive in Brazil, such vehicles are often only affordable to those
with higher socioeconomic status. Therefore, cable viewers may utilize other
media, such as newspapers, books and magazines, as sources for entertain-
ment. This may result in less television viewing when compared to those who
would have fewer opportunities of accessing these vehicles (Fadul, 1994; Straub-
haar, 1994).

The measure of total viewing time is regularly used throughout studies
utilizing both the macroscopic cultural imperialism theory and that of the
cultivation hypothesis, yet it has been argued that this measure merely
indicates correlations rather than causal relationships between watching tele-
vision and social behavior, perceptions of reality as well as other variables.
According to some critics, measures of viewing by program content are more
indicative of viewing behavioral patterns rather than an aggregate of television
viewing (Ahn, 1990; Hawkins and Pingree, 1981a/b; Tamborini and Choi,
1990). In order to determine which was a more powerful predictability measure,
content speciﬁcity was also utilized in the scope of this research.

As indicated in tables ﬁve through eight in the previous chapter, the
results partially supported the hypotheses regarding these variables. Findings

 

 

 

 

122

were inconsistent with those reported for the ﬁrst prediction, in that cable
viewers demonstrated heavier television viewing along this dimension than
when broken down into time increments. Whether content speciﬁcity acts as a
better indicator of television viewing frequency than aggregate vieng time was
not completely determined. When analyzed according to individual content
categories, cable viewers reported heavier viewing for most American program-
ming and less viewing of Brazilian programs than their noncable peers. The
differences between these two groups remained to be insigniﬁcant along most
dimensions. While cable viewers did not demonstrate a signiﬁcantly higher
reporting of American program viewing, they did indicate a signiﬁcantly lower
frequency of viewing Brazilian programs. In a country considered to have one
of the strongest domestic production bases and highest national TV ratings, this
reported decrease in Brazilian program viewing among cable participants may
be an indication of an adverse effect of American programming availability.
With more programming from which to choose, cable viewers may be watching
multiple programs at one time. This, in turn, may have affected their
indications of viewing speciﬁc content categories. While they may not be
watching a program in its entirety, they may be switching back and forth
between a variety of programs.

Findings also indicated some support for the expectations that cable
viewers would demonstrate a preference for U.S. programs when given the
choice between such imports and domestically-produced television shows. Both
cable and noncable participants indicated stronger preferences for Brazilian
programming on broadcast-only channels when asked which type they preferred
by country origin. Cable viewers indicated a signiﬁcantly stronger preference for
American shows on cable channels than noncable respondents reported for

broadcast-only channels.

123

Regarding the postulation that Brazilian cable viewers would demon-
strate increased viewing of imported programs on cable—only than open broad-
cast channels, ﬁndings indicated that cable viewers are watching more imports
on subscription stations than via broadcasting television. Results for this
assessment were also varied in supporting this prediction. While cable respon-
dents indicated differences in watching some content-speciﬁc programs on cable
and open broadcast, the majority of these were either insigniﬁcant or demon-
strated a negative difference. This may have been the result of the problems
stated in the previous discussion in chapter four, yet may also be indicative of
the lack of consumer awareness of cable television in Brazil (Baker, 1995). Some
respondents may not have been able to distinguish between what they watched
on “regular” TV compared to their viewing patterns for cable channels. There
was an indication of heavier viewing of American programming among cable
viewers. When broken down into frequency of viewing programs by country
origination, cable participants demonstrated a higher frequency of American
shows on broadcast-only, cable-only and a composite of both types of channels
than noncable respondents. Cable viewers indicated less TV viewing overall and
less time spent watching Brazilian shows when comparing all available chan-
nels. Essentially, cable viewers have demonstrated that, while they watch less
TV than noncable participants, they watch more American programming and
fewer Brazilian programs.

When evaluated by preferences for programming, the cable participants
demonstrated a stronger preference for American programs than Brazilian
shows on cable-only channels. Coupled with their indication of less frequent
viewing of Brazilian programs than their noncable counterparts on broadcast
channels, this factor may be an indication of a slowly growing interest and/or

preference for American programming. Since the cable market is in its early

 

124

adoptive marketing phase, further investigation of such preferences should be
assessed once cable becomes an integral product of Brazilian society in its mass
consumption cycle.

The expectation that cable respondents would demonstrate more positive
attitudes toward different countries than noncable participants was only par-
tially supported. Cable viewers maintained more positive attitudes toward the
United States and England but failed to display such attitudes toward the other
three countries assessed. Since American cultural products are often perceived
as higher quality than the domestic counterparts and there is a strong desire for
assimilation to perceived American lifestyles, cable viewers may hold a higher
opinion of the U.S. when compared to their perception of other countries (Fadul,
1994; Oliveto, 1994). Imported products are somewhat of a status symbol in
Brazilian society. With American products composing the majority of imports in
most Brazilian product markets, cable viewers' perceptions of the U.S. may be
of a more positive opinion than their views of other countries (Oliveto, 1994).
They may feel more ambivalent toward other nations due to a lower knowledge
base of those countries and the respective cultures.

The three hypotheses pertaining to participants’ perceptions of the reality of
television content also failed to be completely supported. While cable viewers
indicated stronger degrees of belief in the reality of TV content for the majority
of variables assessed, they exhibited more negative images of American family
life and affluence than their noncable peers. They also indicated a lesser degree
of belief in the perceived reality of U.S. programs than the noncable respondents.
Such ﬁndings could possibly be caused by access to other information sources.
Cable viewers may be exposed to information about the U.S. through tertiary
sources such as imported and domestic books, magazines, newspapers and

educational materials. They are also more likely to have gained exposure

 

125

through such secondary sources as relatives or friends who have visited the
United States or, perhaps, through personal travel abroad (Ahn, 1990). This
exposure, when compared to mediatedeonly experiences, may have affected
cable participants' belief in the perceptions of U.S. lifestyles and respective TV
portrayals. While discussed in more detail in the previous chapter, it should be
stressed that, although the differences in perceived reality were found to be
insigniﬁcant, they may be indicative of a trend that is slowly taking root. Since
cable television is just beginning to be fully understood by consumers as well as
reaching mass popularity, the slight degrees of difference may widen signiﬁ-
cantly as more television audience members begin to tune into cable channels.

Overall, there were relatively few differences of signiﬁcance found
between the two subsamples. While each hypothesis showed some degree of
support, however minuscule, none of them succeeded in being fully substanti-
ated. Rather, most differences reported between cable and noncable viewers
were found to be insigniﬁcant, if not negative in direction. This is not to say that
the ﬁndings are any less important. Rather, the differences may be attributed
to other variables, such as educational level, gender, age, socioeconomic status,
or traveling experiences as opposed to mediated-only experiences. Another
contributing factor may be the lack of consumer awareness of the differences
between cable and open broadcast channels. On the other hand, since every
prediction was rejected, it could be argued that the cultural imperialism theory
“as well as the revised cultivation hypothesis also failed to hold bearing in this
particular case. Since the majority of cross-cultural studies similar to this one
have also indicated minimal effects, it could be rationalized that the present
study also falls under this category, thus rejecting to support the aforemen-
tioned theories upon which the research was based. However, the current study

was intended as an initial investigation into the realm of the potential cross-

 

126

cultural effects of television. To generalize in such a way is not within the scope
of this project. Further investigation is needed as more and more Brazilian

television viewers are exposed to subscription television.

5.2 Limitations of the Study

At the macroscopic level, one limitation may be found in the theoretical
basis of the study. As mentioned previously, cultural imperialism attempts to
incorporate a multitude of similar phenomena into one general concept (Tomlin-
son, 1991). It does not take into consideration contextual analyses of indepen-
dent events or situations. While it has been quantitatively demonstrated that
there is a unidirectional ﬂow of mass media, very little empirical evidence
supports the assertion that such imported cultural products affect members of
the receiving culture. The present study was a rudimentary attempt to
contextually analyze one aspect of the transborder ﬂow of a mass media vehicle.
While there are ﬂaws in the original imperialism school of thought, when
modiﬁed contextually, it can be argued that there is slight evidence to support
the imperialism paradigm. However, it may be too soon to predict whether
viewers will choose the imported products or those of domestic cultural rel-
evance. The novelty of cable in Brazil is evident. Whether this medium will
ﬂourish remains to be determined.

The cultivation hypothesis, while utilized heavily for intercultural mass
media studies, may not lend itselfto analyses of the transborder flow of media.
The majority of studies which have utilized cross-cultural cultivation analysis
indicated relatively few signiﬁcant ﬁndings (Ahn, 1990; Pingree and Hawkins,
1981; Weimann, 1984). Other variables, such as non-mediated American

experiences, socioeconomic status and educational background, may play a

 

127

larger role than accounted for under the cultivation hypothesis. While television
may act as a disseminator of imported cultural icons, other variables may
determine whether such icons will be adopted by viewers. The underlying
assumption of cultivation is that television is the primary component in the
construction of the social reality of viewers. It does not take into account the
aforementioned demographic and psychographic variables. Individual differ-
ences are also unaccounted for under the auspices of cultivation. As Hawkins
and Pingree (1982) contended, individuals experience varying cultivation
effects, such as information-processing capabilities and cognitive restraints.

An inherent limitation of the study itself may have been its broadness in
scope. As an initial step in gauging differences between cable and noncable
viewers, the variables examined may have been too generalized to speciﬁcally
target differences between the two subsamples.

Another possible limitation may have been in the design of the instrument
used. Although analyzed for cultural relevance, there may have been questions
that may not have been compatible to the cultural or age level of the participants.
There may have been some confusion about various questions and the way in
which these were addressed. The product cycle of cable television may be a
limitation as well. Since subscription television is still considered a relatively
new concept in Brazil, cable respondents may not have been cognizant of the
differences between “regular” and cable television.

Validity constitutes yet another limitation. There was no control for such
extraneous variables as age and gender, therefore internal validity may be
limited in its applicability. Since the primary purpose of the study was to analyze
differences between cable and noncable viewers, other variables were not
evaluated at this time to determine the degree to which they may have affected

the differences. The topic of differences between Brazilian cable and noncable

 

 

128

viewers should continue to be addressed, yet intervening variables such as
exposure to other media vehicles, educational differences, mediated-only and
personal experiences, uses and gratiﬁcations differences and socioeconomic
factors should be evaluated to determine possible effects on the two groups.
Regarding external validity issues, there are several differences between adults
and youth, not only in their levels of cognizance but also in their television
viewing patterns and behaviors. Therefore, the ﬁndings ﬁ‘om this research can
only be generalized to youth in Brazil and, more speciﬁcally, may be limited to
youth inhabiting urban areas within the country. While the demographics of the
two groups were delineated in chapter four, one potential problem was that of
a lack of cases from the lower socioeconomic strata. The facilitators attempted
to distribute the questionnaires between those of higher and lower economic
status. However, due to resource availability, the public schools used for the
study were composed of a population of moderate economic background (Maia,
1995). Further studies should attempt to encompass young cable viewers from
various regions throughout Brazil and of varying socioeconomic status to
determine if there are geographicand/or economic differences impacting TV
viewing patterns.

A ﬁnal limitation pertains to the data analysis. As mentioned previously,
the analysis was limited to basic differences between cable and noncable
viewers. While originally intended, higher-order statistics were not utilized for
two major reasons. The ﬁrst is the minimal degree to which differences between
the two subsamples were found to be signiﬁcant. The second involves the limited
number of cable participants in the study. The reliability of creating a con-
structed sample in which the cable and noncable groups would be equally

composed severely limited the number of cases applicable for such uses.

 

129

5.3 Implications for the Future

While this investigation indicated relatively few signiﬁcant differences
between cable and noncable viewers in Brazil, the ﬁndings remain relevant.
There were indications of increased viewing of imported American programs
among cable viewers. These participants also demonstrated less overall viewing
of television as well as less frequent viewing of Brazilian shows than their
noncable counterparts. These ﬁndings may be indicative of a shift in television
viewing patterns. With increased exposure to imported programming and
advertised products, Brazilian society may be in a transitive period. While it
may be too early to predict, interest in foreign cultural icons may be on the rise
in Brazil.

Subscription television is still a ﬂedgling market in Brazil. As the country
continues to open its markets further to imported products and services,
including television programs, the cross-cultural effects of such icons cannot be
dismissed. Cultural integrity and relevance remain to be issues of international
debate as the globalization of today’s media plays a vital role in shaping
tomorrow’s world. The importance of studying the effects of the transborder ﬂow
of television and other media needs to be further addressed in understanding
how that world will be created. As Brazil appears to be in a pivotal phase of
societal, economic and political development, the role of television in this stage
must not go unheeded. It is this medium, compounded with other social and
economic factors, that may further open Brazil's doors to the rest of the world,
while shutting the windows on the country's own cultural history. What the end

result of this cycle in Brazil's development will be has yet to be determined.

Appendix A: English Version of Questionnaire

Questionnaire on Television
Viewing Habits

What Do You Like To Watch?

Filling this questionnaire out is optional.

Your participation will provide useful information about how people your
age use various types of media (radio, television, etc.). Your cooperation is
greatly appreciated. All information is conﬁdential and kept anonymous, so
you can be perfectly honest when answering questions.

You indicate your voluntary agreement to participate in this study by
completing and returning this questionnaire.

If you have any questions, please ask either your teacher or the person
administering the questionnaire for guidance.

130

131

PLEASE CIRCLE YOUR ANSWER TO EACH OF THE FOL-
LOWING QUESTIONS.

At your home, how many of these are there:
1. Color television sets 0 1 2 3 4 5 MORE
2. Black and white TV sets 0 1 2 3 4 5 MORE
3. How many TV channels can you get in your home? 1-10 11-15 15-20 210R MORE
4. Do you have cable TV by wire in your home? YES NO

(IF ”YES" TO #4, ANSWER #5. ) 5. How many TV sets are connected to the cable?
0 l 2 3 4 5 MORE

6. Does your home or building receive satellite TV? YES N 0

At your home or apartment, do you have any of the following: (CIRCLE ALL THAT YOU HAVE)

7. TVA YES NO
8. GloboSat YES NO
9. Multicanal YES NO
10. MTV YES NO
11. GloboNet YES NO

Think back to yesterday. How much time did you watch TV (in hours)?
12. In the morning, before school

0 1/2 1 11’2 2 21’2 3 OR MORE
13. After school, but before supper

0 1/2 1 11’2 2 2"2 3 OR MORE
14. After supper, until you went to sleep

0 1/2 1 11’2 2 2"2 3ORMORE

 

 

IF YOU WATCH CABLE TV, PLEASE ANSWER QUESTIONS
#15-19. IFYOU DO NOT WATCH CABLE TV, PLEASE SKIP
QUESTIONS #15-19AND GO STRAIGHT TO QUESTION #20.

15. How often do you watch shows on cable, UHF, or satellite?
NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN

16. How often do you watch Brazilian shows on cable TV?
NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN

132

17. How often do you watch American shows (likeMelrose Place) on cable TV?

NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
18. How often do you watch Japanese shows (like Godzilla) on cable TV?

NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
19. How often do you watch Merdcan shows (like Chaves) on cable TV?

NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
20. How often do you watch shows on regular TV?

NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
21. How often do you watch Brazilian shows on regular TV?

NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN

22. How often do you watch American shows (likeMelrose Place) on regular TV?

NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
23. How often do you watch Japanese shows (like Godzilla) on regular TV?

NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
24. How often do you watch Mexican shows (like Chaves) on regular TV?

NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN

How often do you watch the following types of Brazilian shows?

Detective/crime
1. On regular TV NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
2. On cable TV NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
Adventures/action/hero
3. On regular TV NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
4. On cable TV NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
Westerns
5. On regular TV NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
6. On cable TV NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
Rock music/videos
7. On regular TV NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
8. On cable TV NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
Variety
9. On regular TV NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN
10. On cable TV NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN VERY OFTEN

Comedy
11. On regular TV

12. On cable TV

Sports
13. On regular TV

14. On cable TV

Game shows (Faustﬁo, for example)

15. On regular TV
16. On cable TV

Talk shows
17 . On regular TV

18. On cable TV

Telenovelas
19. On regular TV

20. On cable TV

News/public affairs
21. On regular TV

22. On cable TV

Movies
23. On regular TV

24. On cable TV

Cartoons
25. On regular TV

26. On cable TV

NEVER
NEVER

NEVER

133

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES
SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES
SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES
SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN
OFTEN

OFTEN
OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN
OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN
VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN
VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN
VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

How often do you watch the following types of American shows?

Detective/crime
1. On regular TV

2. On cable TV

Adventures/action/hero
3. On regular TV

4. On cable TV

NEVER
NEVER

NEVER

SOMETIMES
SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

OFTEN
OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

VERY OFTEN
VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

Westerns
5. On regular TV

6. On cable TV

Rock musidvideos
7. On regular TV

8. On cable TV

Variety
9. On regular TV

10. On cable TV

Comedy
11. On regular TV

12. On cable TV

Sports
13. On regular TV

14. On cable TV

NEVER

Game shows (Faustiio, for example)

15. On regular TV
16. On cable TV

Talk shows
17. On regular TV

18. On cable TV

Telenovelas
19. On regular TV

20. On cable TV

News/public affairs
21. On regular TV

22. On cable TV

Movies
23. On regular TV

24. On cable TV

Cartoons
25. On regular TV

26. On cable TV

NEVER

NEVER

134

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES
SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES
SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES
SOMETIMES

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN
OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN
OFTEN

OFTEN
OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN
OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN
VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN
VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN
VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN
VERY OFTEN

135

How often do you watch the following types of m shows?

Adventure/hero
1. On regular TV

2. On cable TV

Movies
3. On regular TV

4. On cable TV

Cartoons
5. On regular TV

6. On cable TV

Children's shows
7. On regular TV

8. On cable TV

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES
SOMETIMES

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN
OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN
VERY OFTEN

How often do you watch the following types of Mam shows?

Telenovelas
1. On regular TV

2. On cable TV

Movies
3. On regular TV

4. On cable TV

Cartoons
5. On regular TV

6. On cable TV

Children's shows
7. On regular TV

8. On cable TV

SOMETIMES
SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

OFTEN
OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN

OFTEN
OFTEN

VERY OFTEN
VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN
VERY OFTEN

VERY OFTEN
VERY OFTEN

136
How do you watch AMERICAN shows? (PLEASE CIRCLE YOUR ANSWER.)
1. I NEVER WATCH AMERICAN SHOWS
2. IN ENGLISH WITH SUBTITLES
3. IN PORTUGUESE
4. IN SPANISH
5. IN ENGLISH WITHOUT SUBTITLES
6. IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE NOT LISTED
How do you watch JAPANESE shows? (PLEASE CIRCLE YOUR ANSWER.)
7. I NEVER WATCH JAPANESE SHOWS
8. IN JAPANESE WITH SUBTITLES
9. IN PORTUGUESE
10. IN SPANISH
11. IN JAPANESE WITHOUT SUBTITLES
12. IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE NOT LISTED
How do you watch MEXICAN shows? (PLEASE CIRCLE YOUR ANSWER.)
13. I NEVER WATCH MEXICAN SHOWS
14. IN SPANISH WITH SUBTITLES
15. IN PORTUGUESE
16. IN ENGLISH
17. IN SPANISH WITHOUT SUBTITLES
18. IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE NOT LISTED

137

Which ONE of these do you depend on the most for news about what's happening in the world?
(PLEASE CIRCLE ONLYQNE OF THE FOLLOWING RESPONSES.)

1. NEWSPAPER
2. TELEVISION
3. RADIO

4. FRIENDS

5. FAMILY

6. MAGAZINE

How much can you believe the news you ﬁnd in

7. Television VERY LITTLE LITTLE MUCH VERY MUCH
8. Radio VERY LI'I'I‘LE LITI‘LE MUCH VERY MUCH
9. Newspapers VERY LITTLE LI'I'I‘LE MUCH VERY MUCH
10. Magazines VERY LITTLE LITI‘LE MUCH VERY MUCH
11. Friends VERY LITTLE LITTLE MUCH VERY MUCH
How much can you believe the advertising you ﬁnd in
12. Television VERY LITI‘LE LITTLE MUCH VERY MUCH
13. Radio VERY LITTLE LI'I'I‘LE MUCH VERY MUCH
14. Newspapers VERY LITTLE LITTLE MUCH VERY MUCH
15. Magazines VERY LITTLE LITTLE MUCH VERY MUCH
16. Friends VERY LI'I'I‘LE LI'I'I‘LE MUCH VERY MUCH

From which of the following do youlearn the most about products you are interested in buying.
YOU CAN CHOOSE MORE THAN ONE. CIRCLE YOUR ANSWER(S).

17 . Newspaper ads

18. Radio Ads

19. Billboards

20. Catalogs

21. Cable TV ads

22. Magazine ads

23. Regular TV ads

138

How much do you pay attention to:

24. Ads when watching TV

VERY LITI‘LE LITI‘LE MUCH VERY MUCH

25. Ads when reading newspapers

VERY LITTLE LITTLE MUCH VERY MUCH

26. Ads when listening to the radio

VERY LITI‘LE LITTLE MUCH VERY MUCH

27. Ads when reading magazines

VERY LITl‘LE LITI‘LE MUCH VERY MUCH
Please let us know if you agree or disagree with these statements. PLEASE CIRCLE YOUR

ANSWER.

1. Most of the ads I read, see, and hear tell the truth.
STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
2. I like most of the ads I read, see, and hear.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
3. Ads give me a lot of good information.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
4. I am often unhappy with things I buy from ads

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
5. I often ask a parent to buy something I have seen advertised.
STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
6. A parent often buys me something that I asked for from an ad.
STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
7. There is too much advertising.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
8. The people in ads really use the products.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
9. When I want something I look for it in ads.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
10. I often see things in ads I can't afford.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

11. I often get frustrated when I see something in an ad I can't aﬂ'ord.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
12. Women and men should have equal pay at work.
STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

139

13. Parents on TV shows are like parents in real life.
STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
14. Americans on TV shows are like Americans in real life.
STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
15. Policemen on TV shows are like policemen in real life.
STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
16. Romance on TV is like romance in real life.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE

17. Brazilian shows are more like real life than American shows.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
18. Mexicans on TV are like Mexicans in real life.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
19. Men on TV shows are like men in real life.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
20. Marriage on TV is like marriage in real life.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

21. Problems people have on TV are like problems people have in real life.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE

22. American families have more money than Brazilian families.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

23. Brazilian families do more things together than American families.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
24. TV shows are more violent than real life.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
25. Women on TV shows are like women in real life.
STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
26. American women have better jobs than Brazilian women.
STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
27. Brazilian men have better jobs than American men.
STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
28. American shows are more violent than Brazilian shows.
STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE

29. Brazilian shows are more like real life than American shows.

STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE
30. Violence can sometimes be the solution to a problem.
STRONGLY AGREE AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

140
When given the choice, which TV shows on regular TV do you prefer to watch?
1. Brazilian
2. American
3. Mexican
4. Japanese
5. Other
When given the choice, which TV shows on cable TV do you prefer to watch?
6. Brazilian
7. American
8. Mexican
9. Japanese
10. Other
Where would you prefer to live?
11. Mexico
12. Brazil
13. France
14. England
15. USA
What is your general opinion of the following countries?
16. U.S. VERY BAD BAD NEUTRAL GOOD VERY GOOD
17, France VERY BAD BAD NEUTRAL GOOD VERY GOOD
18. Mexico VERY BAD BAD NEUTRAL . GOOD VERY GOOD
19. Brazil VERY BAD BAD NEUTRAL GOOD VERY GOOD
20, England VERY BAD BAD NEUTRAL GOOD VERY GOOD

21. Japan VERY BAD BAD NEUTRAL GOOD VERY GOOD

1. Are you

2. What is your age? 10-12 or 14-18 (CIRCLE YOUR ANSWER)

141

MALE or FEMALE ? (CIRCLE YOUR ANSWER)

3. What is your grade in school? 6th Grade or 10th Grade (CIRCLE YOUR ANSWER)

What was the last year of school that your father (or guardian) had?

4. Less than 8th grade

5. Finished 8th grade

6. Went to high school, but did not ﬁnish

7. Finished high school

8. Went to college, but did not ﬁnish

9. College degree

10. Master's degree or Ph.D.
What was the last year of school your mother (or guardian) had?

11. Less than 8th grade

12. Finished 8th grade

13. Went to high school, but did not ﬁnish

14. Finished high school

15. Went to college, but did not ﬁnish

16. College degree

17. Master's degree or Ph.D.
18. Does you father have a job right now? YES

19. (IF "YES" TO #18) Does he work all day or
20. Does your mother have a job right now? YES

21. (IF "YES" TO #20) Does she work all day or

N 0
part of the day
NO

part of the day

142
Which parents live with you now? CIRCLE ALL THAT LIVE WITH YOU RIGHT NOW.
22. MOTHER
23. FATHER
24. STEPMOTHER
25. STEPFATHER

How many of each of these people live with you right now?

26. Brothers 0 1 2 3 MORE
27. Sisters 0 1 2 3 MORE
28. Grandparents O 1 2 3 MORE
29. Others 0 1 2 3 MORE

Where you live, is it an.... (CIRCLE YOUR ANSWER)
1. APARTMENT or a
2. HOUSE

Do your parents... (CIRCLE YOUR ANSWER)

3. OWN IT, or

4. RENT IT
5. How many bedrooms are there? 0 1 2 3 MORE
6. How many bathrooms are there? 0 1 2 3 MORE
7. How many cars does your family have? 0 1 2 3 MORE
PLEASE CIRCLE WHICH LANGUAGES YOU SPEAK WELL.

8. Portuguese

9. English

10. Spanish

11. Other

Appendix B: Portuguese Version of Questionnaire

Questionario Sobre Habitos de
Assistir Televisﬁo

O que vocé gosta de assistir?

O preenchimento deste questiona’rio é opcional.

Suas respostas nos ajudarao a entender melhor como pessoas da sua idade
consomem os varios tipos de midia (radio, televiséio, etc.).

Vocé nﬁo precisa colocar seu nome neste questionario, assim as respostas serao
an6nimas. Nos nao iremos mostrar seu questionario para ninguém, portanto

pode responder as perguntas com toda honestidade.

O preenchimento deste questionario signiﬁca que vocé quer participar
voluntariamente neste estudo.

Se vocé tiver alguma pergunta, consulte a sua professora ou fale com uma das
pessoas que esta administrando este questiona’u'io.

143

144

CIRCULE A SUA RESPOSTA EM CADA UMA DAS
PERGUNTASABAIXO.

Em sua casa, qual o nﬁmero de:
1. Televisao a cores 0 1 2 3 4 5 MAIS
2. Televisao preto e branco O 1 2 3 4 5 MAIS
3. Quantos canais de TV vocé tem em casa? 1-10 11-15 15-20 21 OU MAIS
4. Vocé tem TV a cabo instalada em sua casa? SIM NAO

(Se ”SIM" para N0 4, responds N9 5) 5. Quantos aparelhos de TV 8130 ligados no cabo em sua casa?
0 1 2 3 4 5 MAIS
6. O seu prédio ou sua casa recebem TV via satélite? SIM NAO

Em seu apartamento, vocé tem algum dos seguintes? (Circule todos os que vocé tem)

7. TVA SIM NAO
8. GloboSat SIM NAO
9. Multicanal SIM NAO
10. MTV SIM NAO
11. GloboNet SIM NAO

Lembre do dia de ontem. Por quanto tempo vocé assistiu TV (em horas)?

12. De manha, antes da aula
0 1/2 1 1 1/2 2 2 1/2 3 OU MAIS

13. Depois da aula, antes do jantar
0 1/2 1 1 1/2 2 2 1/2 3 OU MAIS

14. Depois do j antar, até quando vocé foi dormir
O 1/2 1 1 1/2 2 2 1/2 3 OU MAIS

 

 

SE vocE TEM TV A CABO, FAYOR RESPONDER AS
PERGUNTAS Na 15 a 19. SE VOCE NAOASSISTE TVA CABO,

FAVOR IR DIRETO PARA QUESTAO N 9 20.
15. Com que frequéncia vocé assiste shows 11am, UHF on TV via satélite?

NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEM'PRE

16. Com que frequencia vocé assiste programas brasileiros na TV a cabo?
NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE

145

17. Com que frequéncia vocé assiste programas americanos na TV a cabo (comoMelrose Place)?

NUNCA As VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE
18. Com que frequéncia vocé assiste programas japoneses na TV a cabo (comoGodzilla)?

NUNCA As VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE
19. Com que frequéncia vocé assiste programas mexicanos na TV a cabo (comoChaves) ?

NUNCA As VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE
20. Com que frequéncia vocé assiste aﬂmal?

NUNCA As VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE

21. Com que frequéncia vocé assiste programas brasileiros na TV normal?

NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE
22. Com que frequencia vocé assiste programas americanos na TV normal (comoMelrose Place)?
NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE
23. Com que frequéncia vocé assiste programas japoneses na TV normal (comoGodzilla)?
NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEIWENTE SEMPRE
24. Com que frequéncia vocé assiste programas mexicanos na TV normal (comoChaves)?
NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE

Com que frequéncia vocé assiste os seguintes tipos de programas brasileiros?
Detetive/crime

1. TV normal NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE
2. TV a cabo NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE

Aventura/acao/heréis
3. TV normal NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE

4. TV a cabo NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE

Cowboy
5. TV normal NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE

6. TV a cabo NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE

Rock/musica/videos
7. TV normal NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE

8. TV a cabo NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE

Diversos
9. TV normal NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE

10. TV a cabo NUNCA AS VEZES FREQUENTEMENTE SEMPRE

Comédia
11. TV normalNUNCA

12. TV a cabo NUNCA

Esportes
13. TV normalNUNCA

14. TV a cabo NUNCA

J ogos na TV (Faustao, por exemplo)

15. TV normalNUNCA
16. TV a cabo NUNCA

Entrevistas
17. TV normalNUNCA

18. TV a cabo NUNCA

Novelas
19. TV normalNUNCA

20. TV a cabo NUNCA

Noticias
21. TV normalNUN CA

22. TV a cabo NUNCA

ﬁlmes
23. TV normalNUNCA

24. TV a cabo NUNCA

Desenho animado
25. TV normalNUNCA

26. TV a cabo NUNCA

146

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTERIENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTENIENTE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE

SEMPRE

SENIPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

Com que frequéncia vocé assiste os seguintes tipos de programas americanos?

Detetive/crime
1. TV normal NUNCA

2. TV a cabo NUNCA

Aventura/acao/herois
3. TV normal NUNCA

4. TV a cabo NUNCA

As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

SEMPRE

SEMPRE

SEMPRE
SEIKPRE

Cowboy
5. TV normal NUNCA

6. Tvacabo NUNCA

Rock/mﬁsica/videos
7. TV normal NUNCA

8. TV a cabo NUNCA

Diversos
9. TV normal NUNCA

10. TV a cabo NUNCA

Comédia
11. TV normalNUN CA

12. TV a cabo NUNCA

Esportes
13. TV normalNUN CA

14. TV a cabo NUNCA

J ogos na TV (Faustao, por exemplo)

15. TV normalNUNCA
16. TV a cabo NUNCA

Entrevistas
17 . TV normalNUNCA

18. TV a cabo NUNCA

Novelas
19. TV normalNUNCA

20. TV a cabo NUNCA

N otfcias
21. TV normalNUNCA

22. TV a cabo NUNCA

Filmes
23. TV normalNUN CA

24. TV a cabo NUNCA

Desenho animado
25. TV normalNUN CA

26. TV a cabo NUNCA

147

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

FREQUENTEIWENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE

SEMPRE

SEMPRE

SEMPRE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE

SEIWPRE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE
SEIKPRE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

148

Com que frequéncia vocé assiste os seguintes tipos de programas 1W?

Aventura/acao/herois
1. TV normal NUNCA

2. Tvacabo NUNCA

Filmes
3. TV normal NUNCA

4. TV acabo NUNCA

Desenho animados
5. TV normal NUNCA

6. Tvacabo NUNCA

Programas infantis
7. TV normal NUNCA

8. TV a cabo NUNCA

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE
SElVIPRE

SEMPRE

SEMPRE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

Com que frequéncia vocé assiste os seguintes tipos de programas W?

Novelas
1. TV normal NUNCA

2. TV a cabo NUNCA

Filmes
3. TV normal NUNCA

4. TV a cabo NUNCA

Desenho animado
5. TV normal NUNCA

6. TVs cabo NUNCA

Programas infantis
7. TV normal NUNCA

8. Tvacabo NUNCA

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

As VEZES
As VEZES

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

FREQUENTEMENTE
FREQUENTEMENTE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE

SEItIPRE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

SEMPRE
SEMPRE

149
Como vocé assiste programas AMERICAN OS? (Circule a sua resposta.)
1. EU NUNCA ASSISTO PROGRAMAS AMERICANOS
2. EM INCLES COM LEGENDA
3. EM PORTUGUES
4. EM ESPANHOL
5. EM INGLES SEM LEGENDA
6. EM OUTRA LINCUA NAO LISTADA
Como vocé assiste programas JAPANESES? (Circule a sua resposta.)
7. EU NUNCA ASSISTO PROGRAMAS JAPANESES
8. EM JAPONEs COM LEGENDA
9. EM PORTUGUES
10. EM ESPANHOL
11. EM JAPONES SEM LEGENDA
12. EM OUTRA LINGUA NAO LISTADA
Como vocé assiste programas MEXICAN OS? (Circule a sua resposta.)
13. EU NUNCA ASSISTO PROGRAMAS MEXICANOS
14. EM ESPANHOL COM LEGENDA
15. EM PORTUGUES
16. EM INGLES
17. EM ESPANHOL SEM LEGENDA

18. EM OUTRA LIN GUA NAO LISTADA

150

Qual dos meios de comunicacao listados abaixo vocé utiliza mais para se manter informado sobre
o que acontece no mundo? (CIRCULE APENAS LIMA OPCAO.)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

JORNAL
TV
RADIO
AMIGOS
FAMILIA

REVISTAS

Quanta vocé pode acreditar nas noticias da/do

7.

8.

9.

10

11

TV BEM POUCO
Radio BEM POUCO
Jornal BEM POUCO
. Revistas BEM POUCO
. Amigos BEM POUCO

POUCO
POUCO

POUCO
POUCO
POUCO

Quanto vocé pode acreditar nas propagandas da/do

12.

13.

14

15

16

TV BEM POUCO
Rédio BEM POUCO
. Jornal BEM POUCO
- Revistas BEM POUCO
- Amigos BEM POUCO

POUCO
POUCO
POUCO
POUCO
POUCO

MUITO
MUITO
MUITO
MUITO
MUITO

MUITO
MUITO
MUITO
MUITO
MUITO

BASTANTE
BASTANTE
BASTANTE
BASTANTE
BASTANTE

BASTANTE
BASTANTE
BASTANTE
BASTANTE
BASTANTE

Dos listados abaixo, qual lhe fornece mais informacao sobre produtos que vocé esta interessado em comprar.

VOCE PODE ESCOLHER MAIS DE UMA OPCAO. CIRCULE A(S) RESPOSTA(S).

17

18.
19.
20.
21.
22.

23.

. Propagandas no jornal
Propagandas no radio
Outdoor (Cartazes na rua)
Catalogos

Propagandas na TV a cabo
Propagandas nas revistas

Propagandas na TV normal

151

O quanto vocé presta atencao em:

24. Propaganda quando assiste TV

BEM POUCO POUCO MUITO BASTANTE
25. Propaganda quando lé jornais

BEM POUCO POUCO MU ITO BASTANTE
26. Propaganda quando ouve radio

BEM POUCO POUCO MUITO BASTANTE

27 . Propaganda quando lé revistas
BEM POUCO POUCO MUITO BASTANTE

Agora, diga se vocé concorda ou discorda com estas frases. CIRCULE A SUA RESPOSTA.

1. A maioria da propagand a que eu leio, vejo e ouco diz a verdade.
CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
2. Eu gosto da maioria da propaganda que eu vejo, leio e ouco.

CON CORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE

3. Propaganda me fornece boa informacao.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
4. Frequentemente ﬁco desapontado(a) quando compuo produtos anunciados.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
5. Sempre peco para meus pais comprarem produtos que vi em alguma propaganda.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
6. Meus pais sempre compram algo que vi em alguma propaganda.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CON CORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
7. Ha muita propaganda.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CON CORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
8. As pessoas que fazem propaganda realmente usam aqueles produtos.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
9. Quando eu quero algum produto eu procuro em propagandas.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
10. Sempre vejo produtos em propaganda que n50 tenho dinheiro para comprar.

CON CORDO PLENAMENTE CON CORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE

11. Sempre ﬁco desapontado(a) quando vejo algo numa propaganda que nao tenho dinheiro
para comprar.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
12. Mulheres e homens recebem pagamentos iguais no trabalho.
CON CORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE

152

13. Pais na TV 850 como pais na vida real.

CON CORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
14. Americanos na TV 350 como americanos na vida real.

CON CORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
15. Policiais na TV 350 como policiais na vida real.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
16. Romance na TV é como romance na vida real.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
17. Programas brasileiros sao mais parecidos com a vida real do que os americanos.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
18. Mexicanos na TV 850 como mexicanos na vida real.

CON CORDO PLENAMENTE CON CORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
19. Homens na TV 350 como homens na vida real.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
20. Casamento na TV é como casamento na vida real.

CON CORDO PLENAMENTE CON CORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
21. Os problemas das pessoas na TV 850 como 08 da vida real.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
22. Famﬂias americanas tém mais dinheiro do que as famﬂias brasileiras.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
23. Famﬂias brasileiras tém mais atividades em famﬂia do que as americanas.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEU'I‘RO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
24. Programas de TV 350 mais violentos que a vida real.

CON CORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
25. Mulheres na TV 850 como as mulheres na vida real.

CON CORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
26. Mulheres americanas tém melhores empregos do que as brasileiras.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEU'I‘RO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
27. O homen brasileiro tem melhores empregos que os homens americanos.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
28. Programas americanos sao mais violentos do que os brasileiros.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
29. Programas brasileiros sﬁo mais parecidos com a vida real dos que os americanos.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEU'I‘RO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE
30. Violéncia pode ser solucao para algum problems.

CONCORDO PLENAMENTE CONCORDO NEUTRO DISCORDO DISCORDO TOTALMENTE

153

Havendo escolha, quais programas naTV normal vocé prefere assistir? (CIRCULE SUA
REPOSTA)

1. Brasileiros

2. Americanos

3. Mexicanos

4. J spaneses

5. Outros

Havendo escolha, quais programas naTV a cabo vocé prefere assistir? (CIRCULE SUA
REPOSTA)

6. Brasileiros

7. Americanos

8. Mexicanos

9. J spaneses

10. Outros

Aonde vocé preferiria morar? (CIRCULE SUA REPOSTA)

11. México

12.

Brasil

13. Francs

14. Inglaterra

15. EUA

Qual é a sua opiniao sobre os seguintes paises?

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

EUA
Francs
México
Brasil
Inglaterra

Japao

BEM RUIM

BEM RUIM

BEM RUIM

BEM RUIM

BEM RUIM

BEM RUIM

RUIM

RUIM

RUIM

RUIM

RUIM

RUIM

NEUTRO

NEUTRO

NEUTRO

NEUTRO

NEUTRO

NEUTRO

BOM

BOM

BOM

BOM

BOM

BOM

MUITO BOM

MUITO BOM

MUITO BOM

MUITO BOM

MUITO BOM

MUITO BOM

1. Vocé é

2. Qual é a sua idade?

154

HOIWEM ou MULHER ? (CIRCULE A RESPOSTA)

10-12 on 14-18 (CIRCULE A RESPOSTA)

3. Em que ano vocé ests na escols? 6' AND Ginasial

Qual o nivel de educacao do seu psi (ou guardiso)?

4.

5.

9.

10.

Ginasial incompleto
Terminou o ginssio

Colegial incompleto
Terminou o colegial
Faculdade incampleta
Obteve diploma de faculdade

E' professor universitario

Qual o m’vel de educacao da sua mse (ou guardiao)?

11. Ginasial incompleto
12. Terminou o ginssio
13. Colegial incompleto
14. Terminou o colegial
15. Faculdade incompleta
16. Obteve diploma de faculdade
17. E' professor universitario
18. O seu pai trabalha no momenta? SIM
19. (Se "SIM" para ND 18) DIA TODO on

20. A sua mae trabalha no momenta?

SIM

21. (Se "SIM" pars Nn 20) DIA TODO on

011

2' ANO Colegial

NAO
DO TEMPO
NAO

DO TEMPO

155

Qusis pais moram com vocé atualmente? (CIRCULE TODOS QUE MORAM COM
VOCE NO MOMENTO.)

22. MAE
23. PAI
24. MADRASTA
25. PADRASTO

Quantas destas pessoas moram com vocé atualmente?

26. Irmiios 0 1 2 3
27. Irmas O 1 2 3
28. AV68 0 1 2 3
29. Outros 0 1 2 3

Vocé mars em unVuma... (CIRCULE SUA REPOSTA)
1. APARTMNTO on
2. CASA
Sens pais, (CIRCULE SUA REPOSTA)
3. 8110 PROPRIETARIOS ou
4. PAGAM ALUGUEL

5. Quantas quartos tem ns casa/apta? 0 1 2 3
6. Quantas banheiros tem na cass/apta? 0 1 2 3
7. Quantas carros a sua famﬂia tem? 0 1 2 3

CIRCULE AS LINGUAS QUE VOCE FALA BEM.
8. Portugués
9. Inglés
10. Espanhol

11. Outros

MAIS
MAIS
MAIS

MAIS
MAIS
MAIS

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