TY - JOUR

T1 - Over-the-top and under the radar

T2 - An analysis of Internet distribution and its structural consequences in Denmark

AU - Flensburg, Sofie

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Sofie Flensburg, published by Sciendo 2021.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - The article traces the evolution of over-the-top (OTT) services in order to analyse how the growing use of Internet distribution influences the structural conditions and institutional arrangements in Denmark. This story is told in four parts: first, I outline how the shift from postal services to e-mail restructured the conditions for asynchronous one-to-one communication; second, I examine the introduction of web-based services and the declining role of the press as gatekeeper for asynchronous one-to-many communication; third, I focus on the impact of mobile broadband and smartphones on synchronous one-to-one communication and the telecommunications sector; and fourth, I analyse the emergence of streaming technologies and the reorganisation of synchronous one-to-many communication and broadcasting. Building on these examples, I argue that key welfare state principles have come under pressure and that research tends to underestimate the fundamental transformations of the institutional order.

AB - The article traces the evolution of over-the-top (OTT) services in order to analyse how the growing use of Internet distribution influences the structural conditions and institutional arrangements in Denmark. This story is told in four parts: first, I outline how the shift from postal services to e-mail restructured the conditions for asynchronous one-to-one communication; second, I examine the introduction of web-based services and the declining role of the press as gatekeeper for asynchronous one-to-many communication; third, I focus on the impact of mobile broadband and smartphones on synchronous one-to-one communication and the telecommunications sector; and fourth, I analyse the emergence of streaming technologies and the reorganisation of synchronous one-to-many communication and broadcasting. Building on these examples, I argue that key welfare state principles have come under pressure and that research tends to underestimate the fundamental transformations of the institutional order.

KW - digital distribution

KW - Internet history

KW - Internet infrastructure

KW - OTT

KW - political economy of communication

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103222481&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.2478/nor-2021-0022

DO - 10.2478/nor-2021-0022

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85103222481

VL - 42

SP - 93

EP - 108

JO - N O R D I C O M Review

JF - N O R D I C O M Review

SN - 1403-1108

IS - 1

ER -