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Media conglomeration

A media conglomerate, media group or media institution is a company that owns

large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio,

publishing, movies, and the Internet. Media conglomerates strive for policies that

facilitate their control of the markets across the globe.

According to the 2011 Fortune 500 list, The Walt Disney Company is America's

largest media conglomerate in terms of revenue, with News Corporation, Time

Warner, CBS Corporation and Viacom completing the top 5. Other major players

are NBC Universal, and Sony Corporation of America.

A conglomerate is, by definition, a large company that consists of divisions of

seemingly unrelated businesses.

It is questionable whether media companies are unrelated, as of 2007. The trend

has been strongly for the sharing of various kinds of content (news, film and video,music for example). The media sector is tending to consolidate, and formerly

diversified companies may appear less so as a result. Therefore, the term media

group may also be applied, however it has not so far replaced the more traditional

term.[citation needed]

Criticism

Critics have accused the larger conglomerates of dominating media, especially

news, and refusing to publicize or deem "newsworthy" information that would be

harmful to their other interests, and of contributing to the merging of

entertainment and news (sensationalism) at the expense of tough coverage ofserious issues. They are also accused of being a leading force for the

standardization of culture (see globalization, Americanization), and they are a

frequent target of criticism by various groups which often perceive the news

organizations as being biased toward special interests.

There is also the issue of concentration of media ownership, reducing diversity in

both ownership and programming (TV shows and radio shows). There is also a

strong trend in the U.S. for conglomerates to eliminate localism in broadcasting,

instead using broadcast automation and voice tracking, sometimes from another

city in another state. Some radio stations use prepackaged and generic satellite-fed programming with no local content, except the insertion of radio ads.

Media Deregulation: Integrating Film and Television

Media companies have thought of a way to reconstruct and enlarge their

company, beyond the traditional operational methods. Often the television

networks are part of the film studios, thus having a link to the company. Often

there is a grand mixture of these companies working in all aspects of the media

conglomerates that own numerous amounts of networks and studios. These smalllittle companies are partly owned by these mass media companies, such as

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Hollywood film industry is controlled by 7 firms: The Walt Disney Company, CBS

Corporation (because of CBS Films), Viacom, News Corporation, Time Warner,

Comcast (majority owner of NBCUniversal), and Sony (through Sony Corporation of

America), while Comcast & Sonys entertainment properties stretch across the

film, music, and television industries.

Examples

Some of the most well-known media conglomerates include:

BBC

Discovery Communications

Sun-Times Media Group

Time Warner

The Times Group (distinct from Times Newspapers of News Corporation)

Tribune Company

Viacom (owned by National Amusements alongside CBS Corporation)

Tv, radio, net, newsagency,