In a changing media environment, television is being transformed by the adoption of practices such as audience participation and interactivity. This article analyses the ways in which managers and producers in Finnish and Israeli public service and hybrid television companies perceive participation and interactivity. We suggest that while these concepts can be described by hybrid broadcasters using the technologically- and commercially-oriented concept of ‘social TV’, the term does not adequately address the perceptions of socially-oriented public service broadcasters (PSBs). Hence, we propose the society- and value-oriented concept of ‘soci(et)al TV’ in an effort to conceptualise the PSBs’ perceptions concerning the adoption of interactivity and participation practices while they seek to fulfil their social commitments and objectives. Our argument is based on a comparative study of two different broadcasting models (public service vs. hybrid) in two national media systems and cultures.

KAN, the new Israeli public service broadcasting corporation, was established in 2015 to replace the declining, 40-year-old, PSB. This unique situation constitutes an intriguing case study for exploring several interrelated academic and professional contemporary interrelated discussions: transforming PSB organisations into public service media and adapting their public mission to the digital age; political pressure on PSM organisations and their struggle for independence; and PSM's legitimacy in a challenging media environment. This paper identifies the strategies employed by KAN to manufacture legitimacy and consolidate the organisation's existence solely via online outlets, and the relation of these strategies to core PSM values.

Broadcast television faces new challenges in the rapidly changing media environment. This article proposes 'para-interactivity' as a concept that identifies the ways television addresses its audiences in the digital age. Para-interactivity is a term that brings together several salient elements in contemporary television texts as well as positing a contemporary context for established and familiar television strategies. It identifies elements embraced by television, which echo interactive communication processes and are characteristic of digital media and participatory culture, but when employed by and adapted to television, they do not usually construct communication that is actually interactive. This article focuses on one of these para-interactive strategies: unvelling television's apparatus on screen. This strategy implies an inclusive viewing experience and a seemingly more equal and reciprocal relationship between television and its viewers. However, I argue that what is presented to the viewers is nothing but a 'staged backstage', while television industry surrounds itself in real and legal fences. Drawing on Israeli commercial television texts, this article contributes to the understanding of contemporary transformations in television as a medium and as a cultural industry.