Cross Media Ownership

1. Cross Media Ownership

2. What is Media Ownership? • All Media products are owned by a particular producer. • Bauer produce Heat magazine • News Corporation produce The Sun • New Line Cinema produced Lord of the Rings

3. Legal Ownership • Each of these producers has legal ownership of the particular media text they produce • This means that they profit from the distribution of the media text. • They are also legally responsible for its content (complaints, regulation, legal action)

4. Historical Media Ownership • Historically, Media ownership was reasonably restricted • Media producers tended to stick to one channel of distribution (film, TV, radio, magazine) • The producers were smaller, specialist companies

5. 1980s – What changed? • Since the 1980s, the world economic climate has altered rapidly, with companies either merging or being taken over by other companies with similar interests. • This happened in all industries and not just Media. • Bigger companies = bigger profits

6. 1980s onwards Media • As well as the economic changes, the Media industry has changed rapidly in the last 20 years. • Since the late 1980s, the technology available to distribute Media texts has exploded. • This has impacted upon the companies that produce these texts.

7. 1980s onwards Media • To take advantage of the changing technology, Media companies have seen a significant amount of merger, takeover and buyout. • IPC now owned by Time Warner (originally 2 companies, Time and Warner Brothers) • New Line Cinema now owned by Disney

8. Cross Media Ownership • As a result of the size of the companies which now operate, they are able to diversify into more than one Media area. • IPC – Film/Magazine/News/TV • The term to describe this is CROSS MEDIA OWNERSHIP

9. Cross Media Ownership - Advantages • 1) Reduced Costs – big companies have more purchasing power (think Tesco) and produce products at a reduced cost. • They can then either pass on this reduction to the consumer or increase their profit margins. • 2) Synergy – they are able to pool the resources of the underlying companies to produce a better product at a reduced cost

10. Cross Media Ownership - Advantages • 3) Wider distribution – the markets into which the media text can be distributed are increased – bigger audience = bigger profit • 4) Business Security – the diversity of the products on offer increases the security of the business – one market fails, can focus on another – think Sony

11. Cross Media Ownership – Disadvantages – Media Power • The Media is very persuasive – much of this persuasive power lies in the hands of fewer producers. Bias and partiality severely restricted. • Campaign for Press Freedom: ‘When media are concentrated in the hands of powerful proprieters deep damage can be inflicted on democratic societies.’

12. Cross Media Ownership – Disadvantages – Media Power • The issue was again raised in parliament in 2008 when a Lords Select Committee investigates these concerns. • They concluded that ‘It is possible for one voice to become too powerful’ and that any future mergers need to be carefully scrutinised by the government. • They also insisted that the current system of regulation remain to protect media recipients. • Many believe little has changed.

13. Cross Media Ownership – other disadvantages • Privacy – massive databases of personal information • Flow of Information – information providers control selection, organisation and flow of information. • Time Warner own 1,000,000,000 Google shares. Google own You Tube. ITV own Facebook. • Branding – media texts become part of a brand and lose their individual status.

14. Cross Media OwnershipConclusion • There are both advantages and disadvantages of this global change. • What is clear is that change is happening NOW. • TASK = Rewrite your Ownership section of your Learned Response now to take into account what you have learnt today.