Media Ownership

Company structures-effects of ownership
Size of company such as:

• Multinational
• National
• Local

How media companies are structured and who owns them is very important as it can have an effect on the types of products and services that they provide.
Some companies are huge multinationals with interests in many countries throughout the world; they may also produce many different types of products.

Cross Media

Cross media production relates to the different products and services within the creative media sector that a company produces. This allows them to work in a range of platforms and maximise their customer base. Virgin Media is a cross-media producer with interests in:

• Film
• Television
• Radio
• Music production

Multinational

News Corporation is an example of a multinational corporation. It was founded by Rupert Murdoch and owned by its shareholders and is classed as a multi-media conglomerate. News Corporation has subsidiary companies around the world.

National

The BBC is the oldest broadcasting company in the UK; it began on radio and then moved into television broadcasting on the channel we now know as BBC 1.Today it consists of many terrestrial and digital channels, radio stations and an interactive website. Although the BBC is funded by the TV license it also makes money from other areas of the creative and media sector. The BBC undertakes the following activities in order to generate revenue:

• Merchandising
• Selling books, DVDs
• Selling programmes

Small scale/local

Not all companies work on such a massive scale and there are plenty of locally based media producers who specialise in offering small scale, more personalised products and services. Local newspapers and radio stations are common throughout the UK and provide essential news and entertainment. These companies work on a much smaller scale and rely heavily on advertising revenue from local and national companies as a means of generating income. Community media organisations are set up on a very small scale by a local community, these could take the form of community radio broadcasting to a very limited area.