Television on the Web, 1996: Local Television Stations’ Use of the World Wide Web

by

Benjamin J. Bates, Ass. Prof. L. Todd Chambers, Ph.D student

Margot Emery, Ph.D student Melanie Jones, M.A. student

Steven McClung, Ph.D. student & Jowon Park, Ph.D. student

College of Communications

University of Tennessee

Paper submitted to the Communication Technology & Policy Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication,

for the 1997 Annual Convention in Chicago. Contact: Benjamin J. Bates, Dept. of Broadcasting, University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN 37996-0333 phone: (423)-974-4291 e-mail: bjbates@utk.edu fax: (423) 974-3896 Copyright 1997, Benjamin J. Bates

Television on the Web, 1996: Local Television Stations’ Use of the World Wide Web

Abstract: This study examines the use of the World Wide Web by local television broadcast stations in the U.S. A census of television stations on the Web as of October 1996 was compiled, and the content of those sites downloaded. Based on a content analysis of the stations’ home pages, the study finds improvements in the use of the Web and Web features, although the use of audio and video features remains very low, and there is not much non-promotional content feature.

Television on the Web, 1996: Local Television Stations’ Use the World Wide Web

Although the World Wide Web is less than eight years old, its emergence has triggered a massive

growth in Internet usage around the world. The emergence and rapid growth of the Web has generated

both interest and concern among traditional media outlets: interest in taking advantage of the opportunities

offered by the new systems; concern over the rise of competition for the time and attention of audiences,

the development of information systems which bypass the traditional media’s gatekeeping efforts, and for

the continuing technological developments of Internet and telecommunication technologies that threaten to

open up alternate delivery mechanisms for traditional media content, audio and video in addition to print

and graphics. But while the threat of competition is there, there is also interest in the potential for using the

Web to supplement and support traditional media and contribute to the basic media mission:

communicating and delivering information to people. How are existing media, particularly local television

stations, reacting to the rise of the World Wide Web?

Are local television stations using the Web primarily as a promotional tool, as suggested in an

earlier study of television Web sites (Bates and King, 1996)? Are they seeking to market their news

products and communicate with their audiences, as suggested by one Freedom Forum report (1996)? Are

they jumping onto the Web to reach and regain what they fear are fleeing viewers (Christian Science

Monitor, 1996)? Television stations, like other media and information businesses, are struggling to figure

out how to best use the Internet and the World Wide Web to their advantage (Jensen, 1996). Will stations

be effective in their efforts; are they offering the kinds of content sought by Internet users, are they taking

advantage of the interactive and multimedia capabilities of the World Wide Web?

This study follows an earlier one addressing how one component of the American media is using

the World Wide Web. Specifically, we examine how local television stations are utilizing the World Wide

Web through an examination of the content of the Web sites they have established. A list of U.S. local

television broadcast stations was compiled, as of October 1996, and those sites were visited and

downloaded over a five day period, utilizing computer software designed to collect site content. The

content of those sites was then content-analyzed in order to examine both content and use of Internet and

World Wide Web features. This study reports on the analysis of the home pages of these commercial and

non-commercial full-power television stations.

Background

The growth of the Internet in recent years has been phenomenal. The subset of the Internet known

as the World Wide Web, which offers a simplified interface to consumers, has grown even more rapidly

since its initial proposal in 1989. On the network side, surveys suggests a growth from some 25,000

domains and roughly one and a half million hosts, in 1993, to almost 500,000 domains and 13 million hosts

in July 1996 (Kantor and Neubarth, 1996).1 Estimates of the number of U.S. Internet users in 1996 range

from 9 million to 35 million, but most estimates also indicated that was double their previous year’s

estimates (Kantor and Neubarth, 1996; Nua, 1997). The Web is attracting a large cross-section of people

who appreciate and contribute to its universal nature (National Academy of Sciences, 1996).

As noted briefly above, this growth has raised both opportunities and concerns for traditional

media, including television stations. Is the Web an emerging new form of mass media which will compete

directly against existing mass media (Morris and Ogan, 1996), or is it a new form of media which will

draw audience time and attention away from other media? Will it provide opportunities to expand the

audience and reach of stations? Does it provide related business opportunities for broadcasters? While the

revenue potential of the Net is currently quite low, some market analysts are predicting that the Internet

economy will approach $200 billion by 2000 (Nua, 1997).

The World Wide Web is not merely another media, however. In 1976, the Rockefeller

Commission suggested that the rise of a computer-based telecommunications system had the potential to

not only extend existing media and communications systems. Perhaps more importantly, though, the

Commission argued that the development and spread of a national information infrastructure had the

potential to revolutionize communications by enabling new patterns of communication and empowering

users. The Internet arguably began to develop this potential by building the basic system framework. It

1 A host is defined as a domain name with a specific IP address associated with it, such as www.bigstateu.edu, while the domain measure focuses on the overall site owner, i.e. bigstatu.edu.

was the development of a simple GUI (Graphical User Interface) overlay, the World Wide Web, which

brought the potential to a wider audience.

It is the potential offered by new patterns and forms of communication that makes the impacts of

the Internet and the World Wide Web so uncertain. Scholars of the development of media systems (Boyd-

Barrett, 1979; Innis, 1964, 1972; McLuhan, 1964) have long argued that it is the newer forms and

structures that are likely to have the greatest impact, as they shape how the new communication system will

be used, and thus their social impact. Perhaps more importantly for existing media systems, these impacts

are said to strengthen as new media systems become dominant systems for distributing information. As the

Internet and the World Wide Web continue their evolution into a Global Information Infrastructure, their

impact on existing media will only increase.

The threat, and potential, of computer information systems such as the Internet and the Web is

arguably most immediate for print media such as newspapers and magazines, who have been

experimenting with videotex, on-line services, and other telecommunications and information systems for

years. However, the likely impacts of the Internet and the World Wide Web are not limited to print media:

traditional broadcast media are also beginning to consider the implications of this new medium upon their

business. Local television and radio stations began to have a presence on on-line service providers such as

America On-Line and the Web soon after their emergence. On-line service providers encouraged networks

and local affiliates to establish e-mail links, discussion groups, and program related content.

Each of the four major networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC) took their first test drives on the

Information Highway in 1994, primarily on the commercial on-line services. Initially, most of these efforts

seemed to be primarily in providing an alternate means of viewer feedback, through e-mail, electronic

bulletin boards, and the use of chat rooms. A second early approach was clearly promotional, providing

tie-ins with particular programs and specials. ABC’s Super Bowl site on America On-Line, set a record

early in 1995 with more than 250,000 visits. Other tie-ins included promos for the network’s late night

programming, and information on upcoming sports coverage. The networks also encourage their local

affiliates to establish a presence on these systems (Mandese, 1995).

Within a few years, though, most of these on-line efforts had migrated from the private on-line

services to sites on the World Wide Web. The Web offered new opportunities to reach broader audiences

with relative ease of its user-interface, and its capacity for storing and retrieving sound and video as well as

text and graphics. A 1995 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference focused on the

opportunities and costs of maintaining a presence on the Web. They noted that stations can spend up to

$250,000 for a Web site. Stations were encouraged to start small, providing indices of local links, station

promotional material, and local news; the important thing for broadcasters was to get people to regularly

visit the site (Jessell, 1995). The Public Broadcasting System took a more systematic approach, creating an

Internet Publishing Group to help member stations establish Web sites. Cited strategies for PBS stations

included providing educational resources, interactive events, and opportunities to purchase merchandise

(Berniker, 1995).

More recently, with the establishment of MS-NBC, NBC is encouraging their affiliates to not only

establish Web sites, but to develop them around a common template focusing on local news and

information in cooperation with the MS-NBC site. In a similar vein, Warner is marketing a standardized

Web offering to local stations.

How are local television stations responding to this threat and opportunity? Some stations are

probably ignoring it, hoping that perhaps it will all just go away. Others are probably uncertain as to

whether the Internet or the Web will actually pose a threat, or are unclear as to what opportunities they

might present, or what values those opportunities may hold for their traditional businesses. Entry onto the

Web, while it can be relatively inexpensive, is not costless. And it can be costly, depending on the size of

the site, the kinds of content offered, and the frequency of updating and revision needed. Some stations are

experimenting with the new technology, exploring some of the perceived opportunities. Whether these

experiments are considered successful will likely depend both on what stations are seeking from their Web

sites and whether the sites and their visitors can deliver the anticipated value. From a consideration of

what the technology offers, and from considerations in trade magazines, there would seem to be several

basic opportunities offered by a presence on the World Wide Web.

While placing content on the World Wide Web may offer local television stations certain

opportunities, the value of those opportunities depends on the content being used, on the site being

accessed. Although the Web is a relatively new phenomenon, it is also a fairly well researched one. One

of the early GVU studies showed that respondents in the U.S. mostly used the Web for browsing, with

entertainment showing up as their primary use, followed by work and educational uses (Pitkow and Kehoe,

1995). Respondents to that survey also indicated a preference for sites with greater interactivity, highly

visual content, and guides to other sites. A more recent GVU study reported that respondents reported

spending an average of six hours a week on the Net, with more than a quarter of respondents indicating

that their Net use displaced television viewing on a regular basis (Pitkow and Kehoe, 1996). Another

major source of information on Internet users is the CommerceNet/ Neilsen (1996) user surveys. Both the

initial 1995 survey and a follow-up in early 1996 indicated that the most frequent uses of the Internet were

for accessing the World Wide Web and communications.

These considerations give direction to this study of local television stations’ presence on the

World Wide Web. What kinds of opportunities do television stations seem to be seeking to take advantage

of? This general question translates to what kind of content is provided on web sites: are they focused on

delivering mass entertainment by providing that kind of content; are they focused on delivering advertising

messages, by placing those kinds of messages on their web pages; are they focused on providing local

news and information, by placing current or archived news, weather, and sports stories, camera shots of

local traffic, or other local information; are they focused on promoting the station; are they focusing on

community service and ties, by providing consumer information and links to local activities and sites; or

are they combining aspects of some or all of these activities? In following the Children’s Television Act,

are they providing outreach activities for children through links to sites designed for children, or providing

their own content aimed at kids?

A second general research question deals with the basic issue of whether local television stations

are providing the kinds of content, and the types of features which Internet users have indicated that they

are interested in. Related to this is the issue of whether local television stations are taking advantage of

their position as audio and video content providers to differentiate themselves from other media and sites.

Are stations taking advantage of the hyperlinking that the Web offers? Are they taking advantage of the

opportunities for two-way, and interactive, communication that the Web offers? Are they taking advantage

of the emerging systems for transmitting live and archived sound and video?

A final general question for this study is how recent television station use of the World Wide Web

has changed over time. One previous study (Bates and King, 1996) looked at television station Web

content in the summer of 1995, allowing a foundation for examination of how television station Web use

has begun to evolve over time.

Methods

This study focuses on the content of local television stations’ World Wide Web sites. Thus, the

first step of this analysis was the identification of those stations having Web sites, and locating those sites.

The first step in locating the sites was visiting four collections of television Web sites URLs: TVNet

(1996), Yahoo’s list of television stations (1996a, 1996b), InfoSearch’s Broadcasting Links and

WebOVision’s USA Television list (1996). Lists of television web sites were obtained from each of these

locations in early October, and combined into a master list of potential sites. Each site was briefly visited

to insure that it was a valid, working, television-related World Wide Web site. At this time, some station

URL changes were updated. The valid master list, containing some 464 listings, was then entered into the

NetAttache Light software program. This program will automatically visit and download the content of

listed World Wide Web sites.

NetAttache Light, the freeware version of the program, allows some user selection of just how

much content is downloaded from sites. The user may select how many levels of a site to download (going

“down” a level means that the program will download all web pages linked to pages on the original level),

whether to include only “internal” links (those residing on the host computer-- i.e. those within a web site)

or to also include external links (those located elsewhere), and whether to download graphics and other

non-text inserts. As the content to be considered included the use of graphics, it was decided to download

the graphics and other non-text inserts with eligible pages. On the other hand, since the focus was on the

content of television station web sites, it was decided to not follow and download external links. This left

the decision on how many levels to download.

An earlier study of television station Web sites found a total of 3316 separate Web pages for some

61 stations, or sites (Bates and King, 1996). This suggested an average of more than 50 pages per site, in

early implementations. With more than 450 possible sites on the list, and the likely expansion of sites as

new content is added, and older pages remaining as an archive, this suggested that we could expect well

over 20,000 separate pages of Web content if we collected the entire site for each station. Since each web

page generally contains a number of different files (each graphic is a separate file), and the software creates

pages for links not followed, it was decided that a full census of television station Web sites was not

practical under existing time and funding constraints. There seemed to be two basic ways to reduce the

data set to manageable levels. First, we could restrict the number of levels collected. Second, we could

sample within the universe of local television Web sites.

It was decided that the basic goals of defining how stations utilize their Web sites, in terms of the

types of content offered and the types of features utilized, could be achieved by examining only the upper

levels of each site. It was felt that stations would want to showcase any advanced uses and features on

those pages that users would visit first. Similarly, it was felt that stations would showcase, or at least

identify, major types of content on the home page, or at least on the next level down. In addition, it was

considered important to examine as many different sites as possible, in order to get the full picture of this

rapidly evolving medium. Thus, we decided to collect data from all sites, but at only two levels (the initial

home page, and those internal pages directly connected to the home page).

NetAttache Light was used to download the selected Web pages in four parts. The program was

run overnight over a period of five days, and resulted in a collection of more than 40,000 files totaling

more than 100 Mb of content. Upon examining the data, it was found that the download was not fully

complete: some sites were not available when the download was conducted, and some files did not

download cleanly and were not readable when the page was examined. It was decided to check the

downloaded sites against the original sites, and where possible, determine what, if anything, was missing

and include that in the content analysis. In addition, the content of several sites indicated that they were

not associated with full power local television broadcasters, but rather with low-power stations, or with

cable-only channels. These sites were excluded from the sample to be coded. This left a total of 426 sites.

At this point, several of the sites originally found not accessible were still not available on the net,

suggesting that the Web sites had been taken off, or were still under construction. While missing or

corrupted files prevented some coding of specific variables, a total of 416 usable downloaded sites were

collected. The cases where apparently existing Web sites were not accessed in the initial data collection

runs were few enough that it was decided that it would not be necessary to recollect the entire data set. For

this initial examination, the home page of each usable site was examined and content analyzed by members

of the research team.

The list of general research questions suggested a broad range of content, factors, and features to

measure. To begin with, the Web page was selected as the basic unit of analysis. Variables were

constructed to measure Web page content in three basic areas: basic identifying variables, types and

amount of content appearing on the page, and the use of selected Web features of interest within the page.

Identification variables included assigning identification numbers to each page, coder information,

as well as specific information on the page (station URL, domain type for server, use of a its own server,

page level and type), information on the station (call sign, channel, affiliation, ownership), and market

information (market as identified on the page, market as identified by Neilsen DMA, market rank and other

characteristics). A station Web site was coded as having its own server if the host address referred to the

specific station, such as “www.wzzz.com,” or “www.news10.com.” For this specific report, as only the

initial home pages were included, all page levels were coded as 0 (base level).

Content related variables overlapped with some of the feature variables at some points. Of basic

interest was the general content of the page: what kind of information, if any, did it offer? What kinds of

promotional content, such as station and network logos, links to related media and program sites,

ownership and personnel information, was offered? Did the station offer community service content, such

as links to community or community service sites, children’s and educational links? Did the station

incorporate advertising into its site? If so, how much, and what kind, of advertising was included? Did the

station incorporate multimedia components, such as photos, audio, or video? Did the station site

incorporate interactive components, and if so, to what degree?

These issues suggested a range of content related variables, starting with basic size measures such

as the length of the Web page. Since different computer systems and browsers were used to code the sites,

a standard “page length” was defined, and coders were informed to set their browsers to just cover that

standard page. The size of the Web page was defined as the number of screens it took to display the entire

Web page content, rounded to the nearest integer. The general type and purpose of the page was measured

as the overall apparent purpose of the page. Again, most of the pages coded for this analysis seemed to be

primarily introductory home pages, guiding users to pages and content farther within the site. A number

seemed to focus more on providing local information such as news and weather and were coded as being

primarily informational. The timeliness of a site was coded as to the apparent frequency of the site being

updated. If the site contained any current data (such as time, temperature, live audio feeds, or live video or

video captures), it was coded as being current. If the page contained the day’s top stories, or information

about that day’s programming, it was coded as being daily. If there seemed to be no timely content on the

page, it was coded as indefinite. Intermediate codes were for weekly, and monthly updates.

As one area of interest was the use and provision of information and entertainment content by

television stations, separate variables measured the number of different news, sports, weather, and

programming stories or content contained on the page. In addition, the number of links to networks,

program syndicators, and other media were counted. Promotional content variables included the whether

the page utilized and displayed the station’s logo and it’s network logo; whether the station identified itself

by using its call sign, channel assignment, and network affiliation. The related issues of the provision of

community-related content, and content focusing on children and education was handled by general page

type codes, and counts of the number of links to that type of content. The advertising content was coded as

to the location of the advertising on the Web page, and the proportion of the page devoted to advertising.

Also coded were the number of panel ads, the number of icon ads (including displays of browser logos, or

logos of related products such as RealAudio), and the number of links to advertisers (defined as business

sites located off the broadcaster’s Web site).

A series of variables examined the site’s use of graphics and other non-text content. Sites were

coded as to their use of frames, image maps, and specialized backgrounds. The number of large, medium,

and small graphics, and large, medium, and small photos were counted. A graphic or photo was classified

as large if any of its dimensions was more than half of the standardized page size. Small graphics or

photos were those of icon size. Very small photos or graphics used as bullets accompanying text were

coded and counted as specialized bullets. Photos and graphics were not included in this count, however, if

they contained any hypertext links. If they contained a single link, they were counted as icons; if they

contained multiple links, they were counted as image maps. Photo icons and graphic icons were counted

separately. In addition, any links to downloadable graphics or photos were counted. Any graphic

displaying movement or motion was counted as a motion graphic.

Use of audio on television station Web pages was measured by several variables. If sound was

incorporated as a basic component of the Web page (automatically loaded with newer browsers) it was

counted as unsolicited audio. The number of links to live sound feeds, archived sound, or to the software

needed to take advantage of sound feeds, were counted for each page. The use of video was measured in a

similar manner. Separate variables counted the number of video capture photos, unsolicited motion video,

and live video feeds on the page. Also counted were links to archived video, video capture photos, and

video playback software. The use of other interactive features were coded in two basic ways. First, by

counting the number of index links (internal to the page), internal links, and external links as indicators of

the incorporation of hypertext features. Second, the use and incorporation of e-mail links, forms, search

engines, upload access, and real-time interactive features on the page were counted.

Five coders were used to code the collected home pages for the local broadcast television station

Web sites. The coding process was overlapped somewhat, so that reliability could be coded. Overall,

there was about 85% agreement between coders. A total of 425 home pages were coded, although nine

home pages contained too little codable information to be useful; thus a base of 416 stations was analyzed.

Within page coding difficulties might reduce the exact sample size for some measures, however. The data

was entered and cleaned before using SPSS for Windows for analysis. It should be noted at this point, that

since the data was obtained from a census of television station web sites, the use of standard sampling-

based statistical estimates of statistical significance is not necessary, in the strict sense. However, as there

is a possibility of some error in measurement and as a result of missing values, those statistics will still be

reported where appropriate.

Results and Analysis

The 416 stations forming the basis of the data sample came a wide range of markets and

affiliations. As indicated in Table 1, not only has there been considerable growth in the number of stations

with Web sites, but the affiliation proportions have changed somewhat from the early study (of stations on

the Web in June 1995). Three shifts are particularly notable. The rise in the proportion of NBC affiliates

may be partially attributable to the formation of MS-NBC and their efforts at encouraging their affiliates to

establish Web sites, and links with the Internet side of MS-NBC. There is also what seems to be a

concerted push among Fox affiliates to establish a presence on the Web. There are several potential factors

behind this: the emphasis of Fox on a younger audience (which are also higher Internet users), and the rise

of the Fox children’s programming block, and its related Kids Club. Many Fox sites included links to

local and/or national Fox Kids Club sites and activities. The relatively slower growth of PBS sites is

somewhat of a disappointment, since PBS had hoped to have all 345 of their affiliates on the Web by 1996

(Berniker, 1995). However, it should be noted that this proportion is somewhat misleading, as in a number

of cases, PBS home pages represented several stations.

Table 1. Network Affiliation and WWW Presence Affiliation 1995 Stns 1995 % 1996 Stns 1996 % ABC 16 26.7% 66 15.5% CBS 14 22.9 71 16.7 NBC 10 16.4 88 20.7 Fox 3 4.9 45 10.6 WB 0 9 2.1 UPN 1 1.6 19 4.5 PBS 13 21.3 50 11.8 Other types of affiliates 4 6.5 5 1.2 Independent 17 4.0 Affiliation not noted on page 42 10.2 (1995 data from Bates and King, 1996) Table 2 shows the distribution of these pages, as to domain type. In 1996, commercial domains

(.COM) were the predominant type of domains. More than three-fourths of local television Web sites were

located on commercial servers. Much of the increase in proportion of commercial domains seems to be

coming from the .NET domains, which are reserved for the commercial telecommunication network

providers, and the on-line services. This could be the result of a movement from on-line service systems to

more directly linked Internet sites, and the increase in the linking of internal station computer systems to

the Internet, which would give the station its own server and domain. There was also a considerable

increase in the number of .ORG domains, which are reserved for non-profit organizations. This group of

sites, along with the educational domains (.EDU), were primarily associated with PBS stations.

Table 2. Domains and Server Types. 1995 Stations 1995 % 1996 Stations 1996 % Domain Type .COM 31 50.8% 328 78.8% .NET 16 26.2 28 6.7 .ORG 3 4.9 26 6.3 .EDU 11 18.0 31 7.5 Other 3 0.7

Own Server 326 78.2 Site Created by Station 61 39.4* Site Maintained by Station 81 52.2* (1995 data from Bates and King, 1996) * The created by, and maintained by, figures are for the 155 stations where the information was provided on the page. Table 2 also indicates that three of every four local television station home pages were located on

the station’s own server. The coding used, however, does not allow discrimination between truly

independent servers (those located on its own, dedicated computer) and virtual servers (a dedicated area on

a computer, which may also host other servers, with a separate address; this is a service offered by many

Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Still, the creation of a separate server address is an indication of interest

in creating and maintaining a long-term presence on the World Wide Web. The question of whether this

is a separate station server or a ISP service, though, would really seem to be related to a more fundamental

question: Is the site truly a station effort, created and maintained by station personnel, or is the station

outsourcing their Web activities? Regrettably, most Web sites contained no indication of who created or

maintained the Web site and individual pages. For the 155 home pages that provided that information,

almost 40% seemed to suggest that the page was created by station personnel, and more than half (52.2%)

seemed to indicate that the site was regularly maintained and updated by station personnel.

One of the interesting basic content measures was that the 1996 home pages seemed to be tighter,

more focused, than the pages examined in 1995. As indicated in Table 3, the number of pages having

more than three screens of content declined from 35% to just over 20%. Moreover, only two of the 1996

home pages examined contained more than 10 screens (one with 11 screens, the other with 18), where

Bates and King (1996) had reported that more than 5% of 1995 site pages ran longer than 10 screens.

Another interesting result was the fact that in 1996, television station Web pages seemed to be both more

current, and more fixed, that the 1995 sample would suggest. In fact, this result would seem to reflect the

effects of two different factors at work. One factor is the increased capacity to incorporate current

information on Web pages, such as live audio feeds, video captures from live cameras, and current weather

information. This increase might also reflect a trend towards the incorporation of more news and weather

information, with an emphasis on timely information.

Table 3. Page characteristics

1995 % 1996% 1996 N Page Length 405 One Page 12.2% 20.7% Two- Three Pages 52.8 58.8 More than Three Pages 35.0 20.5 Timeliness 398 Current (live and daily) 10.5 22.6 Regular (weekly & monthly) 35.8 13.5 Indefinite 53.7 63.8 Page Content Type 403 Guide/Index 95.5 Informational 3.0 Other 1.5 Page Focus Type 403 Home Page 85.6 News 10.2 Weather 3.2 Other 1.0 (1995 data from Bates and King, 1996) The increase in the “Indefinite” category reflects somewhat of a shift in television station Web

designs. Early adopters tended to not incorporate many of the hypertext elements of Web site designs.

Pages were longer, often incorporating many different elements. Many site designers now recommend that

a site’s home page, at least, be small, simple and clean, serving primarily as an informative guide to other

pages. Following such a design course would suggest that the home page would become more static, with

the more current and more frequently updated pages located further inside the site. That television stations

seem to be taking this advice can be seen in two other variables reported in Table 3. First, the results

indicated that, for almost all of the examined pages (95.5%), the content was primarily in the forms of

guide and indices to other pages. There may have been other elements, but the basic purpose would seem

to be to lead the user to other pages. This focus is further supported by the page focus variable, which

once again indicated that the main focus for most pages (85.6%) was to serve as a home page, an

introduction and guide to the site’s content rather than serving as a more direct provider of that content.

This basic focus is further supported by the finding (in Table 5), that 67.3% of the pages contained more

than six links to other pages in the site.

In retrospect, however, this should not be a surprising result, given that the sample used for this

study consisted of the initial pages on local television stations’ Web sites, by definition often considered

the home page. Perhaps more interesting, are the related indications that even with this limitation, more

than 10% of the pages seemed to focus more on providing news, and more than 3% with a focus on

weather information, than serving simply as a guide to further pages.

The results reported in Table 4 would seem to indicate a relatively greater use of graphic and

visual elements than indicated by the earlier study. In most of the measured categories, there was higher

use of visual elements than indicated by the Bates and King study. There was a considerably higher use of

graphics and most types of photographs. In addition, there are fairly high level of use of graphic icons, and

backgrounds, simple yet effective ways to incorporate distinctive visual elements onto a Web page. The

one measure where this trend does not hold is for the use of medium photographs. It should be noted,

though, that the 1995 figures reported in Tables 3 and 4 refer to the total sample of pages, and not just the

designated home page for the site. And the 1995 sample contained a large number of pages (roughly 11%)

which were classified as promotional pages for talent, which may have inflated the medium photo figure.

This result further reminds us, though, that the two samples are different in nature, the 1995 data set

containing all the pages on a site, while the 1996 data includes only the initial, home page. This limits the

true comparability of the two data sets.

Table 4. Use of Visual Elements on 1996 Home Pages Use of Large Graphics 397 None 82.8 72.0 One 12.7 26.4 More than One 5.5 1.6 Use of Medium Graphics 398 None 70.9 47.5 One 24.1 36.4 Two to Five 4.6 14.8 More than Five 0.5 1.8 Use of Small Graphics 398 None 86.4 62.6 One 12.6 14.6 Two to Five 0.9 15.6 More than Five 0.3 6.3 Use of Large Photos 398 None 96.7 94.5 One 3.0 5.3 More than One 0.3 0.3 Use of Medium Photos 398 None 68.7 92.7 One 13.8 5.8 More than One 17.5 1.5

Use of Small Photos 398 None 99.7 93.7 One 0.2 3.8 More than One 0.1 2.5 Use of Background/Color 37.2 403 Use of Custom Background 21.8 403 Use of Specialized Buttons 6.5 398 Used graphic icons 20.4 70.6 398 Used Photo icons 7.8 398 (1995 data from Bates & King, 1996) While the above tables give us some indication of the diffusion of television station Web home

pages, the overall focus of their use, and their use of visual elements, they do not give much indication of

the content of the textual and visual elements, or the types of links they guide the visitor to. We begin to

examine the nature of that content, and the inferences the content provides about the purpose of local

television Web sites, in Table 5. The content variables have been loosely grouped to aid in the

interpretation of focus and use. The first to be examined are indicators of promotional content. Most of

the content types listed in this section refer to use of logos, links to network and other program suppliers,

and the provision of basic information about the station. The data suggest that there is a fairly high use of

promotional elements on television station Web home pages. Just under 90% of home pages

Table 5. Page Content Type of Content 1996 Percentage 1996 N Promotional Type Content Station Logo on Page 88.7 401 Station Call Letters on Page 97.5 403 Station Channel on Page 93.7 399 Station Location on Page 83.2 403 Network Logo on Page 59.8 398 Ownership Info on Page 39.4 401 Links to the Network Site 46.2 403 Links to Syndicated Programming Sites 7.0 403 E-Mail Links 402 None 29.7 One 49.3 More than One 21.0 Informational Type Content Guides and Indices 403 None 7.2 One 77.7 More than One 15.1 Internal Links 403 One to Five 27.6 More than Five 67.7 External Links 403 One to Five 70.2 More than Five 12.4 Internal Links to Other Media 403 None 91.3 One 7.2 More than One 1.5 External Links to Other Media 401 None 81.8 One 12.2 More than One 6.0 News Information 403 None 83.6 One story 12.7 More than One story 3.7 Sports Information 403 None 90.8 One 8.4 More than one 0.7 Weather Information 403 None 88.3 One 9.9 More than one 1.7 Programming Information 403 None 82.6 One 12.6 More than one 3.7

Table 5. Page Content (continued) Type of Content 1996 Percentage 1996 N Community and Service Related Content Internal Links to Community & Service Sites 403 None 64.7 One 24.6 More than One 7.2 External Links to Community & Service Sites 401 None 84.5 One 11.2 More than One 4.2 Internal Links to Kids or Educational sites 403 None 74.9 One 21.3 More than One 3.7 External Links to Kids or Educational sites 401 None 95.5 One 4.0 More than One 0.4 Advertising Content Use of Advertising Icons 403 None 62.5 One or Two 31.7 More than Two 5.7 Use of Panel Advertising 403 None 92.8 One 6.0 More than one 1.2 Links to Advertisers 398 None 55.0 One or Two 35.9 More than Two 9.0 Proportion of Advertising Content 403 No advertising 70.0 Less than 10% of page 27.0 More than 10% of page 2.9 incorporate the station’s logo in some form or another, and a slightly higher percentage indicated the

station’s channel allocation. Almost 60% incorporated the network logo on their home page, and just

under half of the stations included a link to their network’s Web site. Somewhat surprisingly, some

stations’ home pages failed to include what most would consider vital information: 2.5% of home pages

failed to have any indication of the station’s call sign, 6.3% failed to mention the channel the station

broadcast on, and almost 17% of pages failed to indicate the community which the station served.

The solicitation of e-mail through the inclusion of a hypertext link was also considered to be an

aspect of promotion, as it could be interpreted as encouraging viewer input and involvement with the

station. The data in Table 5 indicate that about 70% of stations included specific e-mail links (using the

“mailto” feature of HTML) as well as providing e-mail addresses.

There are several ways in which local television Web site pages can convey useful information to

the visitor. The most obvious way is by placing the information content directly on the page being

examined. Another way is to provide some indication of information content to be found elsewhere, and

then to provide access to that other location through the use of a hypertext link. While arguably a more

indirect way of providing information, it is a way that also takes fuller advantage of the hypertext

capabilities of the World Wide Web, and gives the user greater control over her information seeking

behaviors. Certainly, previous surveys of Web users have indicated that providing guides and indices is

one of the more valuable functions of Web sites.

As indicated in Table 5, while the television station home pages examined tend to do a fairly good

job of providing such guides to information (92.8% of pages contain at least one set of guides), they have

not done quite so good a job at linking to other media sites, or with provision of local news and

information content. Again, most provide a number of internal and external links, although a couple of

pages went nowhere else and provided only minimal information on the page itself (often only an

indication that the site was under construction). Most links on sites were to internal locations, either index

links within the page, or links to other pages contained within the local television station’s Web site. As

Table 5 indicates, two out of three home pages contained links to more than five internal pages. There

were not as many external links, however; only 12.4% of the home pages contained links to more than 5

external sites.

This suggestion that station home pages provide only limited information is also reflected in the

variables looking for the provision of specific or detailed information beyond indicating links. Only 16.4%

of station home pages contained any specific mention of local news stories. Even fewer home pages

included specific weather or sports information. It would seem that most stations are not using their home

pages to complement their local news operations by either providing promotional leaders to the night’s

broadcast or but providing more in-depth information in support of broadcast stories. While this result is

initially somewhat disappointing, it should not be inferred that there is no information of that type on the

station’s Web site. This result indicates only the lack of such content on stations’ home pages, which may

be, in part, a result of trends in Web design, moving more current information deeper into the site and

maintaining the initial home page as a guide. There was slightly more information available about

programming. Roughly 17% of the home pages contained some specific information about station

programming. This often included reference to the station’s local newscast, but without mention of a

specific story.

The use of the Web’s potential for community service activities also seemed to remain largely

underutilized. None of the home pages seemed to concentrate on that type of content. Only about a third

of station sites indicated that the station provided any community or service information on their web sites

(as indicated by the presence of internal links to such sites). Even fewer, about 15%, maintained any links

to community or service related sites outside of the station's site. Only about one in four stations appeared

to provide any content targeted at children, or serving an educational function, despite a mandate from the

Children’s Television Act requiring stations to undertake service activities outside of normal programming

targeted at children. Even more disappointing was the finding that less than 5% of stations even took the

minimal step of linking with an outside site serving kids..

Advertising is a relatively new phenomenon on the Internet and the World Wide Web. It would

seem to be an innovation which television stations seem to be somewhat cautious about adopting. Only

7.2% of station home pages contained explicit advertising panels, and only 1.2% contained more than one

panel of advertising. There are other ways in which stations can promote outside businesses on their home

pages, however. Home pages can contain icons for products and businesses that provide links to outside

commercial sites. Some local television station home pages contained lists of links to firms that advertise

on the station. The study results in Table 5 indicate that both of these indirect forms of advertising are

much more widely utilized by stations on their home pages. More than one-third of station home pages

contained icon advertisements, and 45% contained links to outside businesses. The advertising does not

appear to overwhelm the non-advertising content of pages; in only 2.9% of pages did the advertising

content appear to comprise more than 10% of the page.

The overall results of Web page content suggest that the majority of these initial site pages were in

fact incorporating “home page” design characteristics. They were relatively small pages, incorporating

graphic elements, and serving primarily as an introduction to the site and a guide to its contents. While

some sites did incorporate more specific informational content on their initial pages, this did not appear to

be a consistent or common component of local television station home pages. In addition, most stations

did not appear to be taking advantage of either the opportunities for community service or provide

educational and/or children’s content. In particular, stations did not seem to be taking advantage of the

wealth of related sites in these areas by provided links to those sites. On the other hand, stations also

appear to be slow in integrating commercial messages and links on their sites.

The apparently slow integration of content opportunities also seems to be reflected in the

integration of more advanced HTML and World Wide Web features on local television stations’ home

pages. Only two of the features coded for were used by more than one-fifth of station home pages. Image

maps were used by 24.8% of home pages, and motion graphics were used by 20.5% of sites. Their high

rate of adoption may be partially related to the fact that these advanced graphics features are relatively easy

to incorporate into Web sites; they require no special equipment or programming expertise to incorporate

these forms of graphics into Web pages. Framing, a somewhat more complex design feature, is used by

only 8% of station home pages.

Audio and video features seem to be starting to make inroads onto local television station home

pages, although such features remain far from common. Compared to Bates and King’s (1996) finding that

less than one percent of station pages in 1995 contained any audio or video elements, Table 6 found

considerably greater use of those elements, although the overall percentages remained low. About 2% of

stations’ home pages incorporated audio elements in their basic design; that is, loading the page brought

forth music clips (often program themes) or unique sounds. In addition, more than 5% of the home pages

contained links to audio archives, where visitors could download audio clips. Providing access to live

audio feeds remained rare, though, probably due in large part to the need for specialized equipment,

software, and a dedicated link to the Internet.

Table 6. Use of Advanced Features in 1996 Home Pages Feature Percentage N Use of Image Maps 24.8 403

Frames 8.0 400 Used motion graphics 20.5 400 Use of unsolicited audio 2.0 402 Links to Live Audio 0.4 401 Links to Archived Audio 5.1 403 Use of unsolicited video 1.5 403 Use of video captures 2.2 403 Live Video 0.4 402 Links to Video Captures 6.9 403 Links to Archived Video 1.4 403 Incorporated Forms 1.5 403 Incorporated Search Engines 5.0 403 Incorporated Upload Capability 0.5 403 Incorporated Real-Time Interaction (Chat) 1.5 403 It was expected that video applications would be utilized less frequently than audio applications,

as the technology for delivering video over the Internet is newer and not as widely adopted. The

equipment needs are also higher. In addition, video clips are much larger than audio clips, which restricts

interest in downloading. As expected, there was considerably less incorporation of live video, or of links

to video archives, than there was use of the relevant audio features. One aspect of video did seem to be

used somewhat more heavily. Video captures, where a frame of a video feed is digitally captured and

presented as a still photograph, did exhibit higher levels of use. Just over 2% of local television station

home pages included video capture photos, often from dedicated cameras overlooking some portion of the

community served from the station’s tower. Further, almost 7% of the home pages contained links to video

captures, suggesting even greater adoption of this technological feature.

Finally, there seemed to be some increase in the incorporation of interactive features on local

television station home pages. Compared to Bates and King’s (1996) finding that, in 1995, there was

virtually no use of interactive features other than e-mail and links to other pages and sites, this study

indicated that 5% of station home pages incorporated search engines, allowing site visitors to personalize

their information seeking behaviors. In addition, 1.5% of pages incorporated forms, allowing visitors to

provide feedback to the station indirectly, and 1.5% also included some form of real-time interaction,

allowing that feedback to be immediate and direct. While the adoption rates for these features are still

quite low, they do indicate an increase in use over time.

Conclusions There are several clear conclusions that can be reached from this examination of the “home

pages” of the sites which local television stations are putting on the World Wide Web. First, is seems clear

that the number of stations with World Wide Web sites continues to expand at a fairly high rate. The

number of local television stations with World Wide Web sites increased almost eight-fold from June 1995

to October 1996. With the continued emphasis placed by networks on achieving an Internet and Web

presence, it can be expected that this growth will continue in the future.

While this particular study only examined the initial pages on station Web sites, it seems fairly

clear that local television stations remain somewhat uncertain about how to use the World Wide Web, and

how to use it effectively. The primary focus of sites seems to remain promotional, with a secondary

emphasis on providing information content. For the examined pages, however, that information content

remains primarily in the form of links to other pages and sites. There is a suggestion, through the use of

internal site links, that there is more dedicated content located elsewhere on the station’s Web site. The

nature and extent of that information content, however, remains to be determined in further studies.

There are indications that some stations are taking greater advantage of the opportunities for

content and service that the World Wide Web offers. This study indicated that a sizable proportion of

station home pages included specific programming (17.4%), news (16.4%), weather (11.7%), and sports

(9.2%) information. The presence of internal links on the home pages further suggested that a fairly large

percentage of sites contained community service related information (35.3%) and educational and other

content directed at kids (25.1%). Still, for most stations, this initial, “home,” page remains primarily a

guide to the site’s offerings.

It can be argued that, over time, stations are becoming a bit more adept at integrating into their

home pages and sites the kind of design features which World Wide Web users seem to prefer. There

seems to be a greater integration of visual features onto these pages, while also keeping the site relatively

small, and thus easier and faster to download. Stations also appear to be integrating more timely features

into their sites. The use of interactive and multimedia features has also increased, although those features

remain relatively rare on local television station Web sites. Already, nearly seven percent of stations

incorporate video on their sites, in the form of video captures. Live audio and video feeds are beginning to

make their appearance on home pages, and their use should increase as the technologies improve. This can

help to further differentiate television station sites from other media sites. The use of other interactive

features, such as search engines and chat rooms, has also increased, although such features remain scarce.

Overall, it would seem that while local television station Web sites have increased in numbers,

and in their use of beneficial features and design factors, there is still a great deal of uncertainty over what

the role and function of local television station Web sites should be.

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