MCOM 100 – Ownership and
Economics
TV Organization and Structure
Pervasive
·
Multiple sets
o 1 TV – 22%
o 2 TVs –
38%
o 3 TVs –
40%
Older networks: ABC, CBS, NBC
New networks (since 1980s):
·
FOX
·
WB (Warner Bros)
·
UPN (United/Paramount)
·
PAX
FOX and Murdoch
WB, UPN, and PAX
Ted Turner and WTBS
Currently have four networks
·
1970 – Big 3: 95% of all viewers
·
1999 – Big 3: 20% of all viewers (with a major hit – often
it is less)
Fragmentation of Audiences
·
Network loss of audience timeline
|
1960s
|
3 networks (over 75% of viewing audience common)
|
|
1970s
|
Cable, HBO, Ted Turner, 10 channels
|
|
1980s
|
VCR, cable networks (USA, Lifetime, CNN), 40 Channels
|
|
1990s
|
DBS, increased cable bandwidth, 60+ Channels
|
|
2000s
|
Digital compression, more signals with better quality,
Internet/TV linkages, DBS further developing 300+ channels (20% of viewing is
successful)
|
|
2010s
|
Interactive TV and movies, Virtual Reality, ???, 1000+
channels
|
Fragmentation leads to Narrowcasting
Seinfeld
·
$1 million per minute
·
A TV sure thing
Why such big media companies?
Media structure
1) Government ownership
Advantages
·
Capital
·
Not commercialized
Disadvantages
·
Government
2) Private ownership
Advantages
·
Competition
·
Independence
Disadvantages
·
Commercialization
·
Independence
U.S. media: Key characteristics
1. Private
ownership
2. Minimal govt. control
3. Media are businesses
4. Profit orientation
5. Revenue: ads, subscription
6. News: industry standards
7. Competitive environment
8. Economies of scale
9. Economic efficiency
·
Vertical integration:
owning all steps in the process
·
Horizontal
integration: across media (television, radio, cable, magazines)
Why media concentration?
·
Relaxation
of Federal Rules on Ownership
·
Media
properties very profitable
·
Existing
Media Company profits
·
Attractive
for owners to sell media properties
·
U.S.
tax laws
·
Concentration
can save a lot of money
·
Synergy
Possible
Good? Bad?
·
Positive
aspects
§
Economies of scale
§
Better resources
§
More efficient production
§
More public service programs.
§
Greater ability to withstand outside threats
§
Greater ability to invest in future development.
·
Negative
aspects
§
Fewer independent voices in the marketplace.
§
Ownership often unclear to public
§
Loss of family-owned independent companies
§
Greater emphasis on bottom line: on profits.
§
Supplies are not purchased locally
§
Fewer local jobs
Rupert Murdoch?
Is it a danger to democracy to have one man who owns so much?
Example of the modern media tycoon.
·
His
company: News. Corp.
·
Criticisms
§
Politics
§
Wooing China
§
Content Strategy
·
Goals
Is it possible that a scenario such as the one in the Bond movie, Tomorrow
Never Dies, would come to pass?
·
Media
mogul Elliot Carver wants to run the world
Bagdikian: Preface to The Media
Monopoly
Concentration of media outlets into 6 companies
·
Positives vs. Negatives
Reading suggestion: For each of the sections in the Bagdikian
reading you should be able to write a two to three sentence summary of what his
main point is. To “boil down” this
lengthy piece I suggest that you actually do this. Here are the sections:
·
The Intertwined Six
o “6 firms
dominate all American mass media”
·
Enter: The Internet
·
Technology and Monopoly
·
Whom do the Media Watchdogs Watch?
·
Richer Six, Poorer Public
·
Disneyland
·
The Shadow of Giants and Coarsened Culture
·
Meanwhile, Back to Reality
·
All the News That’s Fit to Print?
·
The News that Wasn’t There
·
Making More and Reporting Less
·
Print, Radio and TV Survive
·
TV Set Versus the Computer?
·
Violence Still Raised Its Ugly Head
·
Books – Grandfather of Them All
·
Selling Books
·
Rebellions in the Ranks
·
Can It Be Changed?
Media Ownership
Chart from mediachannel.org
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