Live Television. One can distinguish between recorded and live television broadcasts.

One can distinguish between recorded and live television broadcasts. The former allows correcting errors, and removing superfluous or undesired material, rearranging it, applying slow-motion and repetitions, and other techniques to enhance the program.


The very process of technological advancement has nearly destroyed even the simplest meaning of "live" transmission. Videotape, though perceptually equivalent to "live" transmission, preserves the event, eliminating uniqueness and thus aura.

The introduction of computerized editing equipment is making video editing as flexible as film editing. Curiously, the most sophisticated new technology such as computerized graphics and instant replay techniques was developed precisely for the purpose of recording and freezing those "live" sports events that were supposed to be the ontological glory of the medium.

Anyone who watched the 1980 Olympics had to be aware that the idea of an event happening once is no longer a part of this highly packaged occasion. Clearly, in terms of this simplest conception of the "live," current network television is best described as a collage of film, video and "live," all interwoven into a complex and altered time scheme.