In a revised edition of this unique work, John Ellis combines an examination of the cinema and television industries with a detailed analysis of their aesthetic and semiotic characteristics. Visible Fictions explores new developments in the theory of narrative and the place of the spectator, re-exploring Ellis's definition of cinema and broadcast TV as interdependent rather than interchangeable cultural forms, with their very own distinct social roles.

Ellis draws on his own experience as an independent television producer to examine subtle negotiations taking place in the relationship between viewer, program, and progammer in the face of satellite dishes, pay-for-view, and cable television.

In a new chapter, he discusses the "meaning-routines" fundamental to television broadcasting in TV news, and explores the legacy of the home video boom of the 1980s, the replacement of the drive-in with the "stay-in." Considering whether, as its cultural importance diminishes, television is now about to experience a kind of liberation, Ellis expresses his notion of an unfolding and unpredictable revolution in broadcasting.