Slow TV

Roel Puijk

Description

Slow TV has become a familiar feature of broadcasting in Norway. It refers to a set of programmes produced by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) since 2009, starting out with a seven-hour broadcasting of the train ride between Bergen and Oslo. 

The concept of slow TV and ‘minute-by-minute’ broadcasting was developed so that the event on television lasts as long as in real time. Several broadcasters outside Norway, including BBC Four, YLE, SRF and Netflix, have now taken up the concept of slow TV.

The first study of this genre, this highly original book explores three different aspects of the phenomenon of slow TV: the perspective of the broadcaster, the perspective of the producers and other actors involved in the production of the programme, and that of the audience.

It goes beyond the question of genre and considers how slow TV fits into television scheduling and how the audience appeal can be understood within broader concepts such as media events, media tourism, reception and national identity. Public service broadcasters can be seen as having more opportunity to experiment, and slow TV can be seen as a good example of public service programming.  What attracts viewers to the programmes is that they invite a contemplative mode of watching: there is a chance to see something unexpected, or to be introduced to interesting new things.

Illustrated throughout in full colour, using stills from broadcast programmes.

This book will appeal primarily to an academic readership, both researchers and students. Most readers are likely to be involved with media and communication studies, cultural studies and film studies.  It will also be of interest more generally to the humanities and social sciences fields as it touches on topics such as national and local identity, popular culture, Nordic lifestyle, well-being, tradition, community and popular culture.

Preface

Introduction

Slow TV – a public service concept?

Slow TV as media event - Hurtigruten

Skibladner: Slow TV and Media Tourism

Mountain hiking – minute by minute

Audience response to slow-TV

Conclusion

List of interviews

Sujets

• Genres
• Sociologie, société et politique
• General officer
• Cultural studies
• Television
• Media studies
• Norway
• General

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 07 juillet 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789383324
• Langue: English

Extrait

Slow TV
Slow TV

An Analysis of Minute-by-Minute Television in Norway
Roel Puijk
First published in the UK in 2021 by Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2021 by Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright 2021 Intellect Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copy editor: MPS Limited
Cover designer: Aleksandra Szumlas
Cover image: Front page left image: (C) Roel Puijk
Front page middle image: (C) Marius Dalseg S tre/DNT
Front page right image: (C) NRK
Screenshots: (C) NRK
Production managers: Helen Gannon and Georgia Earl
Typesetter: MPS Limited
Print ISBN 978-1-78938-201-3
ePDF ISBN 978-1-78938-333-1
ePUB ISBN 978-1-78938-332-4
Printed and bound by Severn, UK
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This is a peer-reviewed publication.
To Ronja and Nora
Contents
Figures
Tables
Maps
Preface
1. Slow TV - concept and context
2. Slow TV - a public service concept?
3 . Hurtigruten minute-by-minute : Slow TV as media event
4. Skibladner minute-by-minute : Slow TV and media tourism
5. Monsen minute-by-minute : Mountain hiking and national identity
6. Audience response to slow TV
Conclusion
Interviews
References
Index
Figures
Figure 2.1: Ratings Bergensbanen minute-by-minute (population age > 12 years) (per cent).
Figure 3.1: Structure of the Svolv r-Stokmarknes broadcast.
Figure 3.2: Sound in the Svolv r-Stokmarknes broadcast.
Figure 3.3: Ratings (000) and the number of chat entries.
Figure 3.4: The most active chatters, 250 entries.
Figure 4.1: Sound in the Lillehammer-Hamar broadcast.
Figure 4.2: Structure of the Lillehammer-Hamar broadcast.
Figure 5.1: Structure of the Heinseter-Tuva broadcast.
Figure 5.2: Sound in the Heinseter-Tuva broadcast.
Figure 6.1: Importance of different factors for watching slow TV (per cent) ( N = 537 ).
Tables
Table 2.1: Average viewing time among different age categories in Norway, 2007 and 2017, main TV channels (minutes per day).
Table 2.2: Ratings, Bergensbanen minute-by-minute (per cent).
Table 2.3: Costs of slow TV programmes.
Table 2.4: Average ratings of some travel-based minute-by-minute 60 programmes (per cent).
Table 2.5: Average ratings of some theme-based programmes (per cent).
Table 3.1: Ritual elements in the harbours.
Table 3.2: Number of chat-entries per day.
Table 3.3: Number of chatters with more than 10 entries.
Table 3.4: Excerpt from the chat, Monday June 20.
Table 4.1: TV coverage of Skibladner s stop at Moelv, 16 June 2016.
Table 4.2: Ratings for the different Skibladner broadcasts, 12-16 July 2016 (per cent).
Table 4.3: Passenger number Skibladner 2015-2019.
Table 5.1: Ratings by age group, Monsen minute-by-minute (per cent).
Table 6.1: Watching the different programmes (per cent) ( N = 1017 ).
Table 6.2: Watching slow TV shows, living inside or outside the region (per cent) ( N = 973 ).
Table 6.3: Categories of watching.
Table 6.4: Linear regression analysis of total watching (coefficients).
Table 6.5: Watching slow TV and gender (per cent) ( N = 1024 ).
Table 6.6: Watching slow TV and age (per cent) ( N = 1009 ).
Table 6.7: Watching and lifestyle, Gallup Compass 5 part (per cent) ( N = 824 ).
Table 6.8: Watching and lifestyle, Gallup Compass 5 part, younger than 45 years (per cent) ( N = 423 ).
Table 6.9: Viewing modes slow TV (per cent) ( N = 537 ).
Table 6.10: Viewers participation in activities connected to slow TV ( N = 509 ).
Table 6.11: Reasons for not watching slow TV (per cent) ( N = 371 ).
Table 6.12: Factor analyses of reasons to watch slow TV ( N = 537 ) (Rotated Component Matrix).
Table 6.13: Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings.
Maps
Map 2.1: Geographic presentation of slow TV broadcasts 2009-winter 2020.
Preface
Having written about Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) for a number of years, their experiments with slow TV first drew my attention when they produced the five-day continuous live broadcast of the voyage of Hurtigruten along the Norwegian coast in June 2011. I was intrigued by the question of how the Bergen office managed to convince the Broadcast Division in Oslo to schedule this crazy programme. When I interviewed the project leader in Bergen, I got the impression that he was a bit disappointed that there seemed to be little academic interest in the programmes. He reasoned, probably rightly, that most academic attention was focused on the bombing of government buildings in Oslo and the assault on the youth camp at Ut ya just one month later. Slow TV in many ways is the opposite to these disasters - it is not only about slowness and the mundane, but also, as I became more and more aware of as I worked on this book, about national identity and unity.
I would like to thank the people I interviewed for their cooperation - this book is largely based on the information they provided. I have interviewed and spoken with the man behind slow TV, Thomas Hellum, several times. He has also provided information normally not available to the public. Other NRK employees have also generously contributed their time and insight not only those I interviewed and listed in the appendix, but also those of NRK Analyse who provided viewer statistics. I also thank NRK for allowing me to use screenshots from their broadcasts.
Students and anonymous respondents have been prepared to reveal information about their viewing behaviour for which I am very grateful. Adrian Ophus did a great job transcribing the interviews, while Kristin Sandvik helped out with the references. All Norwegian texts are translated by me.
I have benefitted enormously from feedback during the writing of this book. Jan Anders Diesen, Jo Sondre Moseng, Jorid Vaagland, Hilde Lid n and Andrew Spicer have read parts and given constructive critique. Intellect s anonymous readers also provided helpful suggestions. Joyce Woolridge not only smoothed over my English, but she was also very helpful in suggesting improvements in the last phase of the project. Many thanks to you all for your patience and advice.
Lillehammer,
March 2020
1
Slow TV – concept and context
Introduction
We live in a time of contrasts. Many think society's pace is too fast, social media demands a short time span and often YouTube videos last no longer than a few minutes. Conversely, people sit down and binge-watch long television series, they listen to lengthy podcasts, and – at least some of them – watch slow television for hours at a stretch.
Slow television has become a frequently used concept in Norway. It refers to a set of programmes produced by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) since 2009, which began with a seven-hour broadcast of the train ride between Bergen and Oslo. Slow and/or ‘minute-by-minute’ TV has come to mean that the event on television should last as long as events unfold in real time, mediated at the same speed as in reality, resulting often in rather static pictures of landscapes passing by, of waiting (for fish to bite, for a piece of knitting to be produced). Some of these programmes – in particular, a five-day live broadcast of a boat trip along the Norwegian coast in 2011 – enjoyed considerable popularity among the Norwegian viewers. Since its inception, the concept has developed in several directions – from the summer of 2013, live travel broadcasts were combined with prime-time entertainment shows from the place where the slow broadcasts were transmitted during the day. Also, aspects of the natural world were captured by a range of cameras (such as a bird colony and fish streams) and there has been coverage of certain cultural activities (knitting, fishing and singing of psalms). Although varying in duration, most are live broadcasts lasting several hours and have a slow pace in terms of content as well as editing.
NRK has built an international reputation for broadcasting ‘slow television’. Features on a number of Norwegian slow television broadcasts have been published in the media, including those by the BBC, Reuters, The New York Times and The Huffington Post (BBC, 2013; Isaacson, 2014; Koranyi, 2013; Lyall, 2013). Here, the greatest emphasis has been on the length of the programmes as well as on the unusual subjects they cover. On its own webpages, NRK often comments on the success of these broadcasts. Following a 60-hour programme, during which different choirs had sung each hymn from the Norwegian Hymnal, they reported: ‘2.2 million had checked out the Hymnal broadcast. On Saturday, NRK2 was the next most-watched television channel in the country’ (NRK, 2014). In 2013, slow television was sold as a format to the United States and in March 2015, tgivision.com announced that the LMNO Cable Group would produce a 12-hour programme for the Travel Channel in November of that year (Whittock, 2015). At the same time, NRK reported that the BBC had been inspired by their success to broadcast a week of ‘slow TV’ on BBC Four (Aas, 2015).
Recently, the concept of slow has surfaced in other contexts: slow food, slow city and also slow journalism and slow media are all ideologically based ‘movements’ that are critical of today's ever-increasing pace (see Honore, 2004; Mayer & Knox, 2006; Pink & Servon, 2013; Van Bommel & Spicer, 2011). The terms ‘slow media’ and ‘slow journalism’ seem to have close parallels to that of slow food. Indeed, in her book Slow Media , Jennifer Rauch connects slow media with the slow food movement and its underlying