Switching channels: The effects of channel specialization and differentiation on judgment, evaluation, and memory of television information

This study attempted to conceptualize and experimentally test how people differentiate between television channels. It assumes that characteristics of the television channel are important to how television program content is judged, evaluated, and remembered. Television channels are conceptualized as having two important properties. First, channels differ in the degree of specialized content they show. Second, channels are positioned within an array that varies in size. This experiment tested the effects of these two properties of channels on viewers' judgments, evaluations, and memory of program content. Forty-eight subjects watched news stories identified as emanating from either specialist channels (e.g., CNN) or from generalist channels (e.g., ABC). In addition, subjects either watched the stories on one channel or on four different channels. As predicted, subjects who watched news on specialist channels rated the stories as more representative of news than subjects who watched the identical stories on generalist channels. Also, subjects who watched the specialist channels evaluated the news stories more positively than those who watched the generalist channels. Furthermore, subjects who watched the stories on one channel rated the stories as more similar, and were able to recall more stories after two weeks, than subjects who watched the stories on four channels. This pattern of results is consistent with the notion of channel as a place where television programs--and the people and action in them--exist. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.