Adoption and Use of Videocassette Recorders in the Third World

This chapter explores two interacting levels of causation or explanation for Third World VCR diffusion. It shows several phenomena, largely related to Third World media structures and media or economic policies, that create the conditions that in some cases lead to rapid adoption and use of VCRs. Videocassette recorders (VCRs) are undergoing an explosive growth or diffusion in a number of Third World countries, throughout Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Latin America. When it is considered that a number of less wealthy countries also have high numbers of VCRs, it becomes clear that the reasons for VCR adoption are broader than purchasing power. This seems to be spawning a second wave of VCR adoption, at least in Brazil. There, VCR adoption remained limited when the primary use was only for rental of pirated films, but it has grown enormously in the last year as other uses have been publicized.