WHAT VIEWERS WATCH WHEN THEY WATCH TV - AFFILIATION CHANGE AS CASE-STUDY

The investigation reported here lends further support to the interrela tedness of television use motives, the identification of instrumental and ritualized patterns in how television is used, and the generalizab ility of these patterns to rimes when local television stations change network affiliation. By augmenting traditional measures of viewing af finity and viewer perceptions, this study expands the known parameters of television viewer uses and gratifications and identifies three maj or viewer archetypes-medium-oriented viewers, station-oriented viewers , and network-oriented viewers. Implications for theory building and t elevision network audience maintenance and generation strategies are d iscussed.