Ownership - The big 6

The media studies industry is owned by 6 major companies. These industries include, GE, News Corp, Disney, Viacom, The Warner and CBS. These industries have a large influence on what the public perception and opinion of something can be.

GE

General electric

News Corp

 

News Corporation has control over many of the popular media products which makes them part of the big 6. 

News Corporation in 2009 was known as the third largest industry in entertainment and in 2012 was the second largest media group in terms of revenue. The industry was created in 1979 by Rupert Murdoch as a holding company for News Limited. Rupert Murdoch is worth around $6.3 billion.

News Corporation owner Rupert Murdoch was involved in a scandal where he was reported to of hacked into celebrities, royalty and public citizens phones voicemails and bank accounts. This scandal meant the forced cancellation of popular british newspaper 'News of the World.'

Disney 

The company is best known for the products of its film studio, the Walt Disney Studios, and today one of the largest and best-known studios in Hollywood. Disney also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, A+E Networks, and ABC Family; publishing, merchandising, and theatre divisions; and owns and licenses 14 theme parks around the world. It also has a successful music division.  Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney. The Walt Disney Company expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theatre, radio, music, publishing, and online media. In addition, it has created new divisions of the company in order to market more mature content than it typically associates with its flagship family-oriented brands. An early and well-known cartoon creation of the company, Mickey Mouse, is the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney is worth between $42 and $52 billion. 

Viacom

Viacom Inc. is short for "Video & Audio Communications." As of 2010, it is the world's fourth-largest media conglomerate, behind The Walt Disney Company, Time Warner and News Corporation. The current Viacom was created on December 31, 2005 as a spinoff from CBS Corporation, which changed its name from Viacom to CBS at the same time. CBS, not Viacom, retains control of the over-the-air broadcasting, TV production, outdoor advertising, subscription pay television (Showtime) and publishing assets (Simon & Schuster) formerly owned by the larger company. Viacom connects with audiences through television, motion pictures, mobile platforms and online in more than 160 countries and territories. Viacom operates approximately 170 media networks reaching more than 600 million global subscribers and more than 500 branded digital media properties.

Viacom international also continues to focus on its own in-house productions made for its various networks (MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, etc.) – these programs include Dora the Explorer, Pinky Dinky Doo, Invader Zim, The Hills, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, Behind the Music, Big Time Rush, iCarly and Victorious.

The Warner

 

 Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. (though the name was occasionally given in full form as Warner Brothers during the company's early years), is an American producer of film, television, and music entertainment. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network. The Warner Brothers introduced the first genuine talking picture in 1927. The company was founded by four brothers Harry, Albert, Samuel and Jack Warner. In 1903 they started aquiring movie theatres, and then they moved into film distribution. In 1913 they began producing their own films.

Sources of income

There are many different ways to get a source of income in the media sector.

The different types include: downloads, advertisers, sponsorship, product placement, BBC licence fee, cinema box office, CD and DVD sales, DVD rental, Television subscriptions, merchandise, licensing and preminum telephone lines.

Advertisers
Media companys can make money from people wanting to put advertisements on their products. Such as certain television channels at certain times will cost more to have a video advertisement on their because of the range of viewers it is. Also bigger magazines will be more expensive for advertisements because of the amount of readers they have, it will also range in cost on the size of the advertisement they put in. This allows the companys to gather money from people wanting to use them to present their products.

Sponsorship
Sponsorship is where a company/brand will pay a company to show off their logo on a product or client. This could include things such as putting a PHILLIPS logo around a football stadium. Sponsorship can be used alot during sport such as on race cars and football players. 

Product placement
This is where manufacturers of products or providers of a service gain exposure for their products by paying people to have them featured in movies and television programs. An example of product placement is in the popular movie 'ELF' where Buddy is drinking Coca-Cola.

BBC licence fee
This is where people have to pay for the right to own a television in their house-hold and watch programs as they are broadcast. The licence fee is used almost entirely to fund the BBC's domestic radio, television and internet services.

Cinema box office
This is where people pay to watch brand new movies as soon as they are released in high quality on big screens. There is also the additional fee of buying sweets and drinks when you enter.  

CD and DVD sales
This is where the media publish CD's and DVD's for people to purchase to listen and watch for their own benefit at home. This is allows the company to make more money than they would recieve from just showing it at the cinema. This is a popular form of income because many people like to choose when they watch the movie.

DVD rental
DVD rental is a business that allows a consumer to temporarily own a DVD for a specified period of time in exchange for payment, a process known as renting. This allows the media to make more money because people can rent the DVD a number of times. Netflix is a popular DVD rental system.

 

Television subscriptions
This is where people pay extra money to have different features each subscription has. These subscriptions come out monthly and go towards the media sector. SKY is one of the most popular television subscription services.

Merchandise
This is where if a specific brand or something becomes popular and well-liked then they can create t-shirts, posters, figurines and all sorts of things from it to sell to the public.

Licensing
This is where you can't distribute or listen to something without buying it first. Alot of music generated companies use this method.