| Who
Controls the Media?
| Parent
Company |
General
Electric $100.5
billion
1998 revenues |
Time
Warner $26.8
billion
1998 revenues |
The
Walt Disney Co. $23
billion
1998 revenues |
Viacom
$18.9
billion
1998 revenues |
News
Corporation $13
billion
1998 revenues |
| Background |
GE/NBC's
ranks No. 1 on the Forbes 500. Prior to its merger with
NBC and an alliance with Microsoft, GE specialized in
electronics. The peacock owns many New York sports team.
It also owns or has equity stakes in many popular websites,
including Snap.com and iVillage. |
The
largest media corporation in the world, Time Warner
owns film and music production companies, theme parks,
sports teams, magazines, websites and book publishers
as well as Turner Broadcasting |
With
its 1995 merger with Capital Cities/ABC, Disney has
become a fully-integrated media giant. In addition to
its theme parks, the company profits from retail outlets,
magazines, book publishers, websites, motion pictures,
sports teams, TV, cable, radio, music and newspapers. |
Viacom's
purchase of Paramount, CBS and Blockbuster Video enables
them to use cable, television, movies, comic books,
theme parks, music publishing and book publishing to
cross-market their products. Broadcasting alone brings
in over $6 billion in revenues. |
CEO
Rupert Murdoch's style has inspired respect and fear,
and it has also made his multinational ventures in publishing,
television and satellite services very successful. The
company owns 20th Century Fox, the New York Post,
the London Times, TV Guide, many stadiums,
the LA Dodgers and five New York sports teams. |
| Networks
Owned |
NBC
includes
programming, news and more than 13 TV and radio stations |
TURNER
BROAD-
CASTING includes
sports teams, programming, production, retail, book
publishing and multimedia |
WB
Television
Network |
ABC
includes
ABC Radio, ABC Video and ABC Network News |
CBS
includes
stations, CBS Radio, CBS Telenoticias and CBS Network
News |
UPN
includes
programming and TV stations (50%) |
FOX
includes
programming and stations |
| Cable
Interests |
Owns
25-50% of the following:
A
& E (with Disney and Hearst)
American
Movie Classics (25%)
Biography
Channel (with Disney and Hearst)
Bravo
(50%)
Bravo
International
CNBC
Court
TV (with Time Warner)
Fox
Sports Net
History
Channel (with Disney and Hearst)
Independent
Film Channel
MSG
Network
MSNBC
(50%)
National
Geographic Worldwide
News
Sport
Prime
Prism
(with Rainbow, a subsidiary of Cablevision, and Liberty
Media, a subsidiary of TCI)
Romance
Classics
Sports
Channel Cincinnati, Chicago, Florida, New England,
Pacific, Ohio, Philadelphia |
HBO
(75%)
Cinemax
HBO
Direct Broadcast
Court
TV (33% with GE)
TBS
Superstation
Turner
Classic Movies
TNT
Cartoon
Network
Comedy
Central (37.5% with Viacom)
Sega
Channel
OVATION
(50%)
Women's
Information Television (WIN) (partial)
TVKO
(75%)
4
regional all-news channels
CNN
CNN/SI
(with Sports Illustrated)
CNNfn
(financial network)
CNNRadio
Headline
News
Sportsouth
CNN
International
CNN
Airport Network |
Disney
Channel
Disney
Television (58 hours/week syndicated programming)
Toon
Disney
Touchstone
Television
A&E
(37.5% with Hearst and GE)
Lifetime
Network (50%)
ESPN
(80% with Hearst)
ESPN2
(80% with Hearst)
ESPN
Classic (80% with Hearst)
ESPN
West (80% with Hearst)
ESPNews
(80% with Hearst)
Buena
Vista Television
Biography
Channel (with GE and Hearst)
History
Channel (37.5% with Hearst and GE)
Classic
Sports Network
E!
(35%) |
Nickelodeon
MTV
M2:
Music Television
VH1
Showtime
Nick
at Nite's TVLand
Paramount
Networks Comedy Central (50% with Time Warner)
TNN:
The Nashville Network
Movie
Channel
FLIX
All
News Channel (50%)
Sundance
Channel (45%)
Midwest
Sports Channel
CBS
Telenoticias (30%)
Home
Team Sports (66% with News Corporation) |
Fox
Family Channel (50%)
Fox
News Channel
fx
(50% with TCI's Liberty Media)
fxM
(50% with TCI's Liberty Media)
Fox
Sports Net (25% with TCI, GE and Cablevision)
The
National Geographic Channel (50%)
FIT
TV Partnership
Regional
networks, including TV Guide Channel and Fox Sports
New York |
Other
Major Players:
AT&T
(TCI) - Recently acquired by AT&T, TCI's hold on cable,
internet and local phone services contributed to $7.6 billion
in 1997 revenues. TCI is the second-largest US cable television
system provider, and it has 10% ownership of Time-Warner/Turner.
The company owns all or part of USA Network, Sci-Fi Network,
E!, Court TV, Starz! and Starz! 2, Black Entertainment Television,
BET on Jazz, BET Movies/Starz! 3, CNN, TNT, Headline News,
Prime Sports Channel, The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel,
QVC, Q2, Fox Sports Net, The Travel Channel, Prevue Channel,
Animal Planet, The Box, Telemundo, International Channel,
Encore, MSG Network, Action Pay-per-view, and the Home Shopping
Network.
Sony
- Sony's main media interests, earning $9 billion in 1997
sales, are in film and television production, movie theaters
and music.
Universal
(Seagram) - In addition to Universal Studios, with its
production facilities and theme parks, the company owns the
USA and Sci-Fi cable networks.
Source:
NOW Foundation
|
