| Summary: | 碩士 === 世新大學 === 傳播管理學系 === 92 === Television digitalization has been a global phenomenon. Due to the extraordinary popularity of cable systems in Taiwan, digital cable systems paved a smooth path to digitalization. In 2002, the two most prominent cable systems, EBT and CNS, have initiated their digital channels. According to Dimmick, three fatal resources of television industry are advertising income, audience and media content. Based on the theory of user gratification and niche theory originating from organizational ecology, this research targeted digital cable systems of EBT and CNS, and examined their content and audience response with the purpose of evaluating cable systems’ competitiveness.
First, the study compared, in respect to media content, the number, diversity and interactive services of both digital channels and traditional cable systems. The study found that digital channels’ niche breadth in terms of channel numbers and diversity is lower than that of traditional cable channels. At the same time, digital channels enjoy higher niche breadth in terms of interactive services.
Second, the study surveyed EBT digital cable users in Hsintien city and analyzed their gratification with digital channels and traditional channels. A niche analysis showed that niche breadth of digital channels in terms of user gratification is lower than that of traditional cable channels while niche overlap of the two systems is medium. The finding revealed that users of digital channel have higher degree of gratification than those of traditional cable channels; meanwhile, the two systems are competitive but complementary to each other. In general, digital channels have lower niche superiority than traditional cable channels.
This study found in general that the competitiveness of digital cable systems is lower than that of traditional cable systems owing to the former’s failure to provide a multi-channel environment. If digital cable systems can develop their niche--interactive services and personalized functions--and provide more entertainment and information, higher user gratification will follow while more popularity is expected.
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