Web TV in Network TV: Digitextuality and Hybridization of Media Labor in My Little Television

Abstract

The emergence of the new audiences floating across multimedia platforms and engaging in TV production and distribution have forced producers and broadcasters to think of not only the fragmented distribution of their content but also the development of a new format beyond the frame of traditional TV production. A Korean entertainment TV show My Little Television combining the form of live webcasting and traditional TV show reflects such a trend. Because of the distinct format, My Little Television carries out a unique strategy in managing the two screens – Internet and TV. The dualistic production requires all players to understand not only online subculture and communication styles and methods, but also implicit and explicit rules of traditional TV production. Through text and visual image analysis on the show, this study discusses how MLT negotiates with the original Internet text, the producers’ paratext, and the supertext of the national TV network in the context of the transitory screen culture.

Keywords

• tv format
• webcasting
• interface
• media labor
• paratext
• supertext