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Media industries research

Private ownership
Private ownership is funded simply by advertising. Therefore private
ownerships is more able satisfying the company shareholders rather than
the publics interest. Private ownership defiantly had more varied channel
choices. You find with private that certain channels are only aimed at one
type of audience for example MTV is only aimed at an audience between
the ages of 16-24 therefor the advertisements on these channels would be
different from adverts on the Discovery channel. The big advantage of
private ownership is that its run purely on advertising funds, and there
are many companies desperate to advertise their products on TV as its
now one of the most influential sources of media today. This means that
the more popular the shows and the channels the more money the
channel will get to fun more shows. The disadvantage on the other hand
public owners like BBC are able to spend a lot of money on research to
find out exactly what would be popular before even funding a show
Multinationals
Multinational corporations is a company that has its facilities and other
assets in at least on country other their home country. Such companies
have offices and/or factories in different countries and usually a
centralised head office where they co-ordinate global management. Very
large multinationals have budgets that exceed those of many small
countries. The advantages of using multinational companies is that they
will create jobs which boosts the local economy and more workers to tax.
The companies will also bring in expertise in the skills of the workplace,
some may use IT that never have been used or other skills which would
now be deemed basic. At the moment multinationals are in a position to
benefit from the economic scale. So costs per unit would be lowered by
specialisation, with a large workforce work can be divided up and people
are able to focus on the main skill. However multinational companies can
come with problems, like a lot of main multinational companies have been
known to cut corners. Social responsibility would be overlooked, and
they have been known to exploit the workforce and the environment. A
main example of this would be the BBC, theyre based in the UK but also
America and so I a multinational corporation.
Independents
Independents refers to any form of media be it radio, television,
newspaper or internet where it is free or provided by the government or
corporate industries. Independent TV channels are able to broadcast what
they want. If the channel is funded by themselves then they can
broadcast anything they want within reason, abiding by the Television
broadcasting laws. I simple example of this would be Dave. They are
able to broadcast everything they want. It is usually re runs of television

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shows from BBC or other independent channels, but are able to televise
what shows they want being funded by the adverts they show.

Conglomerates
A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engages in
entirely different businesses together into one corporate structure, usually
involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a
conglomerate is a multi-industry company, with them also being mostly
multinational. A media conglomerate describes companies that own large
numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio,
publishing, movies and the internet. A huge and well known example
would be TimeWarner. There subsidiaries consist of New line Cinema,
Time Inc. , HBO, Turner Broadcasting System, DC comics, Warner Bros and
many more.
Cross-media
Cross-media is often explained as something that includes the distribution
of content amongst different media. One frequently used combination is
television, newspapers/magazines mobile devices and internet. Crossmedia is usually seen as the use of traditional media along each other in
an innovative w ay. However, the term can be used in a variety of ways.
The concepts are not only formed by the means of commercial purpose,
but also depend on the personal lives of consumers. In the current medialandscape consumers control the use of media, they decide when and
where they to access specific media and content.
Vertical and Horizontal Integration
Vertical integration is when a production company has the ownership of
the means of production, distribution and exhibition of the film by the
same company, because of this they will receive all of the profit. The
benefits of vertical integration is that it enables you to invest in greatly
specialised assets. So you are able to invest and develop what the
industry is offering. With specialised assets youre able to differentiate
your business from your competitors, allowing you to gain highly
competitive advantage. However your problem you could have with
vertical integration is that there could be capacity balancing problems, so
the business may need to establish excess upstream capacity in order to
ensure that the downstream operations will have enough supply under
any demand conditions.
Horizontal integration is where a production company expands into other
areas of one industry. This means that the company can develop in a
particular area of production or they can buy out another company that
deals with these areas. Benefits of horizontal integration is that it enables

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firms to benefit from greater economies of scale. However the problems of

horizontal integration is that it could lead to an increase in market share.
Share of Ownership
share of ownership is almost the same as a merger. It is where you give a
percentage of your business to other owners. People would usually do multiple
shares so that people are able increase their product distribution. Benefits of this
include attractive proposition, this is because they can provide a low-cost option for
companies and would-be option holders, who do not have to pay for option shares up
front in the same way that they would if they become shareholders. However some
problems that businesses could face is that people are provided with incentives right
up until the point of sale or flotation, with a loss of financial return ensuing for those
who do not stay on the course.
Mergers and Takeovers
The combining of two or more companies, generally by offering the
stockholders of one company securities in the acquiring company in
exchange for the surrender of their stock. So a merger involves the mutual
decision of two companies to combine and become one entity. So the
decision made was equal. Having a merger is able to cut costs and
increase profits, boosting shareholder values for both groups of
shareholders. However a takeover on the other hand is very similar but a
much larger corporation buys out a smaller one. They can produce the
same benefits as a merger, its just the both businesses arent equal on
merging.
A famous example of a successful merger would be when Viacom offered
to buy CBS earlier in 1999 for around $37 billion, this resulted in a flurry of
praises in the mainstream media in the US, which otherwise reports little
on its own industry.
Cross-media Regulation
Cross-media regulation is the ownership of multiple media businesses by a
person or corporation. These businesses can include broadcast and cable
television, film, radio, newspaper, magazine, book publishing, music,
video games, and various online entities. Advantages of this would be that
theres reduced costs and so there will be more purchasing costs for the
bigger companies. Theres also going to be a wider distribution and so the
markets into which the media can be distributed are increased by the
bigger audience. However there will be some disadvantages like privacy.
Theres going to be huge databases filled with personal information. Also a
major one is that of branding some media texts become part of a brand
and lose their individual status.
Sources of income

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Sources of income is the money that an individual or business receives in

exchange for providing a good or service or through investing capital.
Income is consumed to fuel day-to-day expenditures. Income can refer to
a companys remaining revenues after all expenses and taxes have been
paid. In this case, it is also known as earnings. Most forms of income are
subject to taxation.
Product diversity
Product diversity in the process of expanding business opportunities
through additional market potential of an existing product. Diversity may
be achieved by entering into additional markets and/or pricing strategies.
Often the product may be improved, altered or changed, or new marketing
activities are developed. The planning process included market research,
product adaptation analysis and legal review.
Organisational objectives
Organisational objectives are the overall goals, purpose and mission of a
business that have been established by its management and
communicated to its employees. The organisational objectives of a
company typically focus on its long range intentions for operating and its
overall business philosophy that can provide useful guidance for
employees seeking to please their managers. For example any television
show would have its main organisational objectives to make sure that
theyre meeting theyre target viewer count and that their meeting their
target audience. Seeing these statistics is a good way to predict how well
your show is going to be in the future.
Competitors
Any person or entity which is a rival against another. In business, a
company in the same industry or a similar industry which offers a
similar product or service. The presence of one or more competitors can
reduce the prices of goods and services as the companies attempt
to gain a larger market share. Competition also requires companies to
become more efficient in order to reduce costs. So for example BBC 1 are
going to be in competition with ITV 1 to see who can get the most
audience members for a certain time and who can get the most positive
feedback.
Customers
An individual or business that purchases the goods or services produced
by a business. The customer is the end goal of businesses, since it is the
customer who pays for supply and creates demand. Businesses will often
compete through advertisements or sales in order to attract a larger
customer base. For example the customers of ITV would be the audience
members who watch the channel/show

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National and global competition and trends

National and global trends refers to the increasing competition from other
companies which operate from much further away than local companies,
this has come about through had advancements in internet speeds and
digital television. The advancements have allowed for small companies to
compete with larger companies that are on the other side of the world.
This means that it is harder for companies to establish themselves or keep
their customer base as more popular companies can compete from miles
away.
Trends on the other hand are Trends are patterns and predictions
regarding the media industry, in order to make predictions about future
changes and competition differentiations, patterns are studied to identify
what trends have occurred repeatedly and therefore product future
changes. Media Company can use this to tailor their plans towards the
future and allow them to compete with other companies which may be
larger and able to change their organisational aims at short notice

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http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/productdiversification.html
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