Television in the United States

Television is one of the major mass media of the United States. As of 2011, household ownership of television sets in the country is 96.7%, and the majority of households have more than one set, with approximately 114,200,000 American households owning at least one television set as of August 2013. The peak ownership percentage of households with at least one television set occurred during the 1996–97 season, with 98.4% ownership.

As a whole, the television networks that broadcast in the United States are the largest and most distributed in the world, and programs produced specifically for U.S.-based networks are the most widely syndicated internationally. Due to a recent surge in the number and popularity of critically acclaimed television series during the 2000s and the 2010s to date, many critics have said that American television is currently undergoing a modern golden age.

Television channels and networks

In the United States, television is available via broadcast (also known as "over-the-air") – the earliest method of receiving television programming, which merely requires an antenna and an equipped internal or external tuner capable of picking up channels that transmit on the two principal broadcast bands, very high frequency (VHF) and ultra high frequency (UHF), in order to receive the signal – and four conventional types of multichannel subscription television: cable, unencrypted satellite ("free-to-air"), direct-broadcast satellite television and IPTV (internet protocol television). There are also competing video services on the World Wide Web, which have become an increasingly popular mode of television viewing since the late 2000s, particularly with younger audiences as an alternative or a supplement to the aforementioned traditional forms of viewing television content.

American Gods

American Gods is a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel by Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on the mysterious and taciturn Shadow. Several of the themes touched upon in the book were previously glimpsed in The Sandman graphic novels.

The book was published in 2001 by Headline in the United Kingdom and by William Morrow in the United States. A special tenth anniversary edition, with the "author's preferred text" and including an additional 12,000 words, was published by William Morrow in June 2011. The text is identical to the signed and numbered limited edition that was released by Hill House Publishers in 2003. This version of the text has also been in print from Headline, Gaiman's publisher in the UK since 2005. The tenth anniversary edition marks the first time the author's preferred text has been available in wide release outside the UK. Gaiman also did a very extensive sold-out book tour celebrating the tenth anniversary and promoting this book in 2011.

Director's cut

A director's cut is an ordinary edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials, comic book or video games, that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit. 'Cut' explicitly refers to the process of film editing: the director's cut is preceded by the rough editor's cut and followed by the final cut meant for the public film release.

Director's cuts of film are not generally released to the public: with most film studios the director does not have a final cut privilege. The studio (whose investment is at risk) can insist on changes that they think will make the film profit more at the box office. This sometimes means a happier ending or less ambiguity, or excluding scenes that would earn a more audience-restricting rating, but more often means that the film is simply shortened to provide more screenings per day. The most common form of director's cut is therefore to have extra scenes added, often making the director's cut considerably longer than the final cut.

Television channel

A television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video (VSB) and 59.75 MHz for analog audio (FM), or 55.31 MHz for digital ATSC (8VSB). Channels may be shared by many different television stations or cable-distributed channels depending on the location and service provider.

Depending on the multinational bandplan for a given region, analog television channels are typically 6, 7, or 8 MHz in bandwidth, and therefore television channel frequencies vary as well. Channel numbering is also different. Digital television channels are the same for legacy reasons, however through multiplexing, each physical radio frequency (RF) channel can carry several digital subchannels. On satellites, each transponder normally carries one channel, however small, independent channels can be used on each transponder, with some loss of bandwidth due to the need for guard bands between unrelated transmissions. ISDB, used in Japan and Brazil, has a similar segmented mode.

American

American(s) may refer to:

Organizations

Sports teams