LO1 Understanding the Creative Media Sector

Understanding the ownership and structure of the media

sector
Discuss ownership within the film industry. (Warner Bros.; Paramount Pictures; Walt Disney;
Columbia Pictures; Universal Studios; 20
th
Century Fo!
There are five main distributors that dominate the film industry within the UK, these are
United !nternational "ictures
#arner $rothers
$uena %ista
&'
th
Century (o)
Sony
*ll media is +rinted by a com+any, the +oint of this is that they hold rights to +ublish or
distribute the film, (or e)am+le #arner $ros own -C comics and so therefore won the
rights to any of the -C characters, $ut all well./nown ownershi+s are all legal, but you do
get some +iracy co+ies,
"roduction com+anies such as #arner bros, "aramount and M0M are multi million +ound
industries, This enables them to dominate the international film industry as they are able to
release lots of titles and have vast amounts of money to mar/et and distribute them, They
are businesses interested in ma/ing money hence they concentrate their efforts in to
endless se1uels, (ilms cannot be financed without the hel+ of distributors, they need
brand recognition for the audience to want to watch it more,
What is vertical integration?
%ertical integration is when a firm is being ta/en over by a, or merged with another film
which is in the same industry and in the same stage of +roduction as the merged firm, This
means that both com+anies would be at the same stage in +roduction and also in the
same industry, !t is the idea of owning many media outlets, which run nearly the same
content, is considered to be very +roductive, since it re1uires only small changes to the
format and information to use in multi+le media forms, (or e)am+le the content used in
broadcasting television would be used in broadcasting radio as well, or the content used in
hard co+y of the news+a+er would also be used in online news+a+er website, These are
new strategies of content develo+ment and distribution designed to increase the 2synergy3
between the different divisions of the same com+any,
What is horizontal integration?
4ori5onal integration within film means that in each ste+ to +roducing a final end +roduct it
has to go through a +rocess and in each +rocess there is a different com+any for each
ste+, so it is not all done by the same com+any, These are called a su++ly chain, so each
member of the su++ly chain +roduces a different +roduct or service and all the +roducts
combine to satisfy a common need, !t is contrasted to vertical integration.
LO1 Understanding the Creative Media Sector
What is a conglomerate?
* media conglomerate is a com+any that owns large numbers of com+anies in many
different ty+es of media such as television, radio, +ublishing, movies, and the !nternet,
* conglomerate is a combination of two or more cor+orations engaged in entirely different
businesses together into one cor+orate structure, * conglomerate is a multi.industry
com+any, Conglomerates are often large and often multinational, *n e)am+le of one of
these is #alt -isney it is the world3s largest conglomerate but there are others such as
Time warner
Sony
%iacom
Comcast
*OL
What is a multinational company?
* multinational com+any is a com+any or organisation that is /nown in more than one
country ma/ing it 1uite +o+ular, Some com+anies have their studios and offices in different
countries and normally have a central head office, %ery large multinational com+anies
have budgets that e)ceed those of many small com+anies, There are so many e)am+les
of these within the film industry, but one of the com+anies that stic/s out the most within
this is #arner $ros and &'
th
Century (o),