The dissertation is devoted to clarifying the specifics, status and prospects of modernization transformations of television in Ukraine in the context of digital mediatization. The achievement of this goal determined the solution of the following tasks: to reveal the state of scientific development of the problem and the source base of the study; to systematize the main approaches to the conceptualization of mediatization processes as a determinant of modernization transformations of television in Ukraine; to identify the specifics of the transformation of distribution channels and consumption of television products; to analyze the media behaviour of the audience of modern television; to study the formal and substantive characteristics of the so-called television 2.0; to characterize television as a means of creating and presenting culture, as well as its impact on the formation of worldview and value orientations; to reveal the role of television in the formation of a single information and cultural space and the integration of society. The object of the study is Ukrainian television, the subject is the specifics, state and prospects of modernization transformations of television in Ukraine in the context of digital mediatization.
It is stated that television, in particular its technical component, has undergone significant transformations over a relatively long period of its development: technical equipment has improved, the possibilities of information transmission from single to multi-channel have increased, and the channels of television signal transmission have expanded: cable, satellite, cable-digital, satellite-digital, and the Internet. It is established that Ukrainian Internet television today, as in the rest of the world, is, on the one hand, the interaction of traditional television with the network, and on the other hand, the development of services for broadcasting television and video content on the Internet (YouTube, Smart TV, etc.). Interactive television (ITV) is currently presented in three forms: the so-called Enhanced TV, personalized TV and intermedia interaction. The main trends in the development of modern terrestrial television are the completion of broadcasting digitalization; improvement of signal delivery quality; launch of streaming broadcasting; development of technology for delayed viewing of content on the Internet; development of interactive services (TV pause, broadcast recording, Second Screen); gradual adaptation of terrestrial television to cross-platform and integration with other types of media.
It is generalized that television is a form of cultural expression that involves the study of the specifics of its discursive form in articulation with aspects of its materiality (R. Williams) and at the same time a cultural device that has its forms, logic and connections, a place of visibility that ritualizes the ways of interpreting the world and socially acceptable ways of “watching” (J. Martin-Barbero). Television is a product and a process at the same time, it is a culture and a means of creating culture, a tool for promoting certain events. Television promotes a) coherence between cultural standards, norms, and patterns of behaviour; b) implementation of cultural standards in human behaviour by regulating public opinion; c) is a subject of exchange of cultural meanings, symbols, and values in an integrating society; and d) is a factor of social differentiation and at the same time its product, playing its specific role in the modern world.
It is summarized that sociocultural needs lead to a variety of uses of television in society, new interactions and corresponding consequences. As a product of mass culture, television broadcasts the values of the consumer society, offering a so-called standard of “real” life, which not only blurs the boundaries of reality but creates another altered reality capable of spreading various stereotypes, values, and prestige models, most often taken from Western culture. It is about the homogenization of culture, increasing its uniformity with a focus on “lower” models, which leads to degradation in the spiritual life of society. However, mass culture also has certain advantages that can be used to improve the spiritual life of society, such as the accessibility of cultural values and traditions. This tendency does not disintegrate but rather integrates society through the widespread dissemination of mass culture standards by the media, and television in particular. Television in this process performs a sociodynamic function, which consists in the production, distribution and consumption of cultural values.
