In the beginning, television was simultaneously a production medium and a live dis- tribution medium. Its production technique was matched to the necessity for live broadcasting. After the invention of videotape recording and the evolution of post-production video editing, television could be produced with single cameras by non- broadcast companies as well as the broadcast behemoths. The television signal can be produced outside the studio, recorded, and edited on videotape. Television is now independently a distribution medium as well as a production medium. Its delivery to the end user is by broadcast radio signal, by satellite, by cable, and via the Internet. Other methods of program distribution are theatrical exhibition in a movie theatre, videocassette sales and rentals, and laser disks such as CD-ROMs and Digital Virtual Disks. To this now add netcasting via Internet web pages.

Let's not confuse the distribution medium with the production medium or the type of program delivered via a given medium. For example, a feature film could be delivered on all of the media mentioned. A television quiz show or a news program would probably be restricted to over-the-air broadcast, cable, and netcasting. A documentary could be delivered to you on many of the media mentioned. Knowing that you can see documentaries on television does not help you write them. Multiple-camera studio production, the traditional and original television production technique, is different from...