Industries: Ownership and control

1) Type up your research notes from the lesson - what did you find out about your allocated media conglomerate? Selection of companies: Alphabet, The Walt Disney Company, Comcast, 21st Century Fox, Facebook, Viacom, News Corp, Time Warner. If you were absent or don't have the notes, research any of the companies above and find examples of all the terminology outlined in the notes at the start of this blogpost. We did Time Warner

Time Warner. Warner brotherw is a huge company that have been involved in the creation of many films and television series 

2) Do you agree that governments should prevent media conglomerates from becoming too dominant? Write an argument that looks at both sides of this debate.

 Yes the government should prevent media conglomerated from becoming too dominant because if they become too dominant they'd be sharing their point of views for certain things e.g. a company might think brexit is a good thing for the UK so they'll share all the positive things and there will be no negatives shared. 

Media Magazine 52 has a good feature on the changing relationship between audiences and institutions in the digital age. Go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM52 and scroll to page 9 to read the article 'Two Key Concepts: The Relationship Between Audience and Institution'.

3) Briefly describe the production, promotion and distribution process for media companies.

Production companies produce content and then promotion companies promote this content through different media and so the distribution companies bring the content to the audiences. 

4) What are the different funding models for media institutions?

The different funding models are the BBC, ITV, Sky One and The MailOnline. The BBC is funded by a license fee and has a public service remit so it's more likely to screen programmes with a reigional interest. ITV relies on income generated by advertisers which means the appeal to larger audiences is seen as more valuable. Sky One needs an income from subscribers and mart invest in programming that attracts a loyal audience. The mail online recieves more income the longer a reader stays on the site.

5) The article gives a lot of examples of major media brands and companies. Choose three examples from the article and summarise what the writer is saying about each of them. 

Marvel:

These films contain a lot of violance but also support morally correct social values like protecting the innocent, taking responsibility and and sacrificing 

Disney:

A very family friendly media conglomerate that have a massive following especially now that they take part in creating films. They also sell a lot of merchandise

ITV:

Main income source is advertisers, means that their main focus is on appealing mass audiences rather than niche ones.

6) What examples are provided of the new business models media companies have had to adopt due to changes in technology and distribution?

Musicians: The music industry can no longer generate most of its profits through the sale of music itself, so other ways to make money have been sought. Sponsorship, merchandising, and the income generated by live shows are some of the ways it seeks to recoup its investment

7) Re-read the section on 'The Future'. What examples are discussed of technology companies becoming major media institutions?

Google now owns YouTube, and has revolutionised the way we access music and moving-image

- Amazon, Netflix and Yahoo now create, produce and ‘broadcast’ their own TV shows, such as
 Transparent, Orange is the New Black and Community.

- Facebook has bought the virtual reality technology Oculus Rift (see MM51); one potential   benefit for audiences is that it allows users to ‘attend’ and ‘experience’ events without leaving   their own homes. 

8) Do you agree with the view that traditional media institutions are struggling to survive?

I agree that traditional media institutions ae struggling to survive as there are a huge amount of competitors that are still rapidly growing and the fact that the younger generation are more into online streaming services doesn't help traditional services either

9) How might diversification or vertical integration help companies to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing media landscape? 

Diversification helps companies survive as media is always changing so to be able to be recognisable is key and allows the company to branch out to a wider audience

10) How do YOU see the relationship between audience and institution in the future? Will audiences gain increasing power or will the major global media conglomerates maintain their control?

I think that audiences will indeed gain increasing power because business institutions need the audience to help support their company as if they don't they won't want to purchase or support what the institution is offering. This will then lead audiences to feel much more powerful because they can have part in controlling institutons.