Inheritance effects in the new media environment

Despite recent interest in new technologies, media researchers have not examined the impact of remote control devices, VCRs, and cable television on inheritance effects. In this study, inheritance effects in network primetime programming were found to have increased between 1979 and 1982, a period of rapid growth in cable television penetration, and then to have decreased between 1982 and 1985, as the sales of remote control tuning devices jumped. These results were discussed in the context of the changing composition of the network primetime television audience.