Broadcast TV: the Condensed Version

This may be the web's first animated explanation of broadcast television; or if not the first, perhaps the silliest. (And if you are reading it without Netscape 2.0, it will seem totally bizarre because you won't see the animation! I am sorry about that part, but at least there are a couple of text-only jokes here, anyway.)

Okay, here's how it works. First, somebody gets a really great idea. Like, say, a weekly show about lifeguards. Anyway, they get a whole lot of money and then make the TV show, and send it to antennas like this one.

Then, the antenna sends the show to high-tech TV sets.

After that, people watch the show and buy everything that's advertised on it. The producers become very wealthy, and the actors become fodder for tabloid journalism.

Note: Yes, I know this explanation leaves out fiber optics, satellites, and all those things because it was just too much work making the animation. It's like McLuhan said: the medium is the message. In this medium, I got tired after making two animated GIFs. So the message stops with an antenna and a TV set. In that respect, this would be a "hot" medium in McLuhanesque terms: you, the user, have to imagine viewers sitting and watching the TV. The reason the reception is so bad is because it is a TV SET OF THE FUTURE, and naturally is not backward-compatible with today's signals. Sorry.

Whoever uses this page last, please return the TV set to the Jetsons' prop closet. Thanks.