Memorable Mediated Experience Alaa Jaber

Memorable media events across history are remembered quite differently years after. Because of our experiences with media events we associate companies, characters, people, and places with whichever media event comes to mind. For instance when someone mentions John F. Kennedy for the majority of us the first thing that comes to mind is his assassination. For myself when someone mentions the acquisition of ABC from Disney the first thing that comes to mind is that on-screen message from Time Warner cable that Disney could not come to an agreement in 2000 to maintain broadcasting of ABC through Time Warner's cable.

After Disney's acquisition of ABC in 1996 the ratings have steadily declined until 1999 when finally they started to rise due to the popularity of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. The heads of Disney in 2000 felt that the opportunity they had with the widespread popularity of their new show would give them the perfect footing they needed in negotiations for establishing a much more lucrative deal for the with the cable provider.

The moment the Prof. had spoke the words “ do you remember Disney acquiring ABC” the first image that popped into my mind was that message that aired on Channel 7 on April 30 2000. The message read “"Disney Has Taken ABC Away From You”. I remember it vividly because I had been watching TV when my brother had jokingly asked me what was on channel 7. I had looked at him quizzically while asking him why he even wanted to know. I knew my siblings viewing habits very well at the time; there was no particular program that we followed on Channel 7(ABC). Time Warner had posted a message with a blue screen and white letters explaining that Disney and Time Warner were in negotiations for maintaining ABC under the cable provider. Time Warner's message stated that Disney was being unreasonable with their terms. The message was clearly meant to provoke Time Warner's 3.5-million customer base to move against Disney's decision to hardball Time Warner when it came to negotiating favorable conditions for their cable networks.

In eighth grade I did not have the media literacy (cognitive dimension) to understand this message. For me the message did not convey what was being broadcast on the screen. For me the words “Disney has taken ABC away from you” meant that they literally took it from me. At the time I did not understand that Time Warner pays various companies for the privilege to air various channels. At that point for me you could've told me Time Warner made all the channels and I would've believed should. My emotional response was (emotional dimension) that Disney was going to take away all my channels. It's likely that Time Warner had succeeded in bolstering the public against Disney. Because of the majority of the population's lack of media literacy when it comes to the inner workings of these types of negotiations Time Warner was able to take advantage of Disney's stance.

It is clear that media events that we remember resonate with us for a long period of time. When particular topics are mentioned we think back to those memorable media events as a reference point for some sort of semblance.

Cited :

To watch the massage as it appeared: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-may-2-2000/moment-of-zen---disney-has-taken-abc-away-from-you

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=89154&page=1

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/may2000/abc-m05.shtml