Course 2025-2026 a.y.

20476 - TELEVISION

Department of Management and Technology

Course taught in English

Student consultation hours
31
ACME (6 credits - I sem. - OBS  |  3 credits L-ART/06  |  3 credits SECS-P/07) - AFC (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  3 credits L-ART/06  |  3 credits SECS-P/07) - AI (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  L-ART/06  |  SECS-P/07) - CLELI (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  3 credits L-ART/06  |  3 credits SECS-P/07) - CLMG (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  3 credits L-ART/06  |  3 credits SECS-P/07) - DES-ESS (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  3 credits L-ART/06  |  3 credits SECS-P/07) - DSBA (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  3 credits L-ART/06  |  3 credits SECS-P/07) - EMIT (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  3 credits L-ART/06  |  3 credits SECS-P/07) - ESS (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  3 credits L-ART/06  |  3 credits SECS-P/07) - FIN (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  3 credits L-ART/06  |  3 credits SECS-P/07) - GIO (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  3 credits L-ART/06  |  3 credits SECS-P/07) - IM (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  3 credits L-ART/06  |  3 credits SECS-P/07) - MM (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  3 credits L-ART/06  |  3 credits SECS-P/07) - PPA (6 credits - I sem. - OP  |  3 credits L-ART/06  |  3 credits SECS-P/07)
Course Director:
ANDREA QUARTARONE

Classes: 31 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: ANDREA QUARTARONE


Suggested background knowledge

The course does not require specific proficiency in the subject, but a genuine interest in the media industry and regular monitoring of the current media landscape are strongly recommended.

Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

The digital revolution, which began more than twenty years ago with the explosion of the internet and the later rise of social networks, has had a disruptive impact on the television industry. New and challenging equilibria in competitive dynamics and value-generation models became necessary. This led to a new “golden age,” characterized by a growing number and size of players, the emergence of new business models, and increased content consumption, driven by evolving viewing habits, tastes, and goals. Now, a third stage of the process is underway, as the major global digital media companies are taking the strategic game to a faster, more powerful, and larger scale. The mission of the course is to develop a deep understanding of the television industry in today’s complex landscape, with a focus on strategic management, business models, content production processes, and the most pressing day-to-day issues. In the long term, the course aims to prepare those who wish to pursue a professional career in the industry, equipping them to grasp emerging challenges and opportunities—and to address them with managerial insight and entrepreneurial initiative.

CONTENT SUMMARY

The course adopts a global perspective, with a primary focus on the US and European industries, and is divided into three main parts:

  1. Industry basics: medium history, key players, mechanisms, strategies, business models, processes, value chains, etc.

  2. Advanced scenarios: global markets, new business and offering models, emerging technologies, both old and new challenges and opportunities, etc.

  3. Editorial processes and content production: audience analysis, ideation and production of editorial and branded content, TV programming structures and dynamics, emerging editorial trends, etc.

 

The program aligns with the overall ACME media major track, particularly in its cross-cutting focus on strategic management of players and global markets, streaming platform dynamics (products and business models), and the logic of branded entertainment.

 

 

 


Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...

  • Recognize and explain the most relevant strategies, processes, and business models in the television industry

  • Understand the industry's value-creation system and its broader ecosystem of stakeholders

  • Illustrate and explain the main television production processes

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...

  • Connect and relate industrial processes, content production, and audience consumption

  • Analyze and interpret the main strategies and business models in the current television landscape

  • Examine and predict ongoing changes and trends in the television industry


Teaching methods

  • Lectures
  • Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
  • Company visits
  • Practical Exercises
  • Individual works / Assignments
  • Collaborative Works / Assignments
  • Interaction/Gamification

DETAILS

  • Guest speakers and company visits provide focused perspectives on specific dimensions of the television industry
  • Case studies are used as open discussion topics in class
  • Individual and group assignments—developed using the interpretative tools explored in class—are part of the exam for attending students
  • Interactive class activities: in the first sessions, each student chooses a real TV company and, from that moment on throughout the course, is asked to interact with the professor and other students about the course topics as a manager of that company

Assessment methods

  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Individual Works/ Assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
 x    
  • Collaborative Works / Assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
 x    
  • Active class participation (virtual, attendance)
 x    

ATTENDING STUDENTS

Attending students assessment is based on: 

  • Individual partial assignment (35% of the final grade): a written report about the TV company choosen by the student, in order to assess his/her capabilities to:
    • Connect and relate industrial processes, content production and audience consumption
    • Analyze and interpret main strategies and business models in current television panorama
  • Final group project  (35% of the final grade): a short video produced by each group of students about an hot topic or a new trend in the industry, in order to assess their capability to:
    • Examine and predict the ongoing modifications and trends in the television industry. 
  • Class participation  (30% of the final grade): the evaluation of the quality and intensity of the student interaction in class activities and debates

NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

Non attending students assessment is based on a written exam about two textbooks. The exam lasts 60 mins and is made by 3 open questions. The aim of this final written exam for non attending students is to verify their capabilities in:

  • recognizing and explaining the most relevant strategies, processes, and business models in the television industry
  • understanding the value creation system of the industry and its broader ecosystem of stakeholders
  • illustrating and explaining the main TV production processes

Teaching materials


ATTENDING STUDENTS

Lessons notes, slides, papers and articles mentioned in the syllabus.


NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

Two textbooks, to be communicated in the syllabus and on Bboard at the very beginning of the course.

Last change 26/05/2025 17:38