Pete Johnson @itstv.bsky.social · 13/07/2026In our analysis, we use broader conceptions of consumer welfare, public interest, and competition by folding in humanistic and democratic objectives like media access, the preservation of community cultural spaces, the diversity of stories and storytellers, and more. 100
Pete Johnson @itstv.bsky.social · 27/02/2026However, very quickly, tv insiders realized they could benefit from PE and LBOs even if it crippled their companies, despite the framing of insider (TV) vs. outsider (finance) in the trades. This acceptance, paired with deregulation, led to an explosion of LBOs and station sales in the late 80s. 4/ 110
Pete Johnson @itstv.bsky.social · 27/02/2026At first, broadcast/tv execs were genuinely confused about what an LBO was. Private equity and this financial model was still fairly new, but there was a spat of LBOs in 1983. 2/ 110
Pete Johnson @itstv.bsky.social · 27/02/2026A good time to note that the first leveraged buyouts in media industries were of station groups and cable operators in the mid-80s. Where Mr Zaz got his start. Here, a 1985 cartoon in Broadcasting: a baffled tv exec asks his accountant what an LBO is... 1/ 130
Pete Johnson @itstv.bsky.social · 12/02/2026considering there's no backend, it's sort of an unbelievable piece of information that Fifth Season *lost* money on Severance deadline.com/2026/02/appl... 000
Pete Johnson @itstv.bsky.social · 06/02/2026I argue the rise of 70s indies was driven as much by macroeconomic factors, inertia, and studio retrenchment as by FCC policy. By the late 80s, the deficit financing model reinforced studio dominance despite the rules. We need to look past policy myths to the material history of financing (2/3) 110
Pete Johnson @itstv.bsky.social · 06/02/2026Is the return of Fin-Syn a "silver bullet" for Hollywood? My new article in the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television offers a revisionist history of the "Golden Age" of independent TV, challenging the "industrial common sense" of our contemporary moment. (1/3) 150
Pete Johnson @itstv.bsky.social · 27/09/2025Sleepy Hollow, NY: Andrew Carnegie’s grave sits directly across from Samuel Gompers’ (American Federation of Labor founder) in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Both relatively modest compared to Rockefeller’s mausoleum at the top of the hill! 000
Pete Johnson @itstv.bsky.social · 20/05/2025The only section of my dissertation I am willing to share publicly: #Dunkin 020
Pete Johnson @itstv.bsky.social · 29/03/2025Monthly breakdown of top four activities (hours per month) of an ABD on the job market: 000
Pete Johnson @itstv.bsky.social · 15/11/2024Finally got a chance to share my diss research on TV financing and indep producers with the UT RTF department yesterday. It was really energizing. Looking forward to sharing these findings and how this might reshape how we understand risk in cultural prod. Just need to write the darn thing. 030
Pete Johnson @itstv.bsky.social · 23/10/2023A first edition Entertainment Industry Economics — is this anything? 040