Editorial: TV Formats: History, Theory, Industry and Audiences

Abstract

highlighted the rising significance of 'geocultural markets'. The TV format business raises again the question of transformations in the patterns and flows of the programming trade. As Paul Torre has aptly noted, 'new players, new markets, and new dynamics are combining to reformat global media economics'. 8 Moreover, an additional aspect now demands attention: adaptations' local-global texture. TV formats are sold in the form of a 'production bible', spawning numerous local productions-three on average, but in a growing number of cases over twenty, forty or even more different local versions. 9 The ways in which and the extent to which these productions differ from one another; 10 how 'the local' finds expression; 11 how the socio-cultural, political and industrial contexts impact on formats and vice versa; 12 and how to evaluate adaptations 13 are all issues that have attracted scholarly interest in recent years. 14