Ownership and Structure.

1. Describe the current ownership of the creative media sector.
- The creative media sector is currently owned by a small number conglomerate companies. This is called an oligopoly. For example the supermarket trade is controlled by four major companies, Tesco, Asda, Morrisions and Sainsburys.

2. Who are the big six media conglomerates? What type of media industries are these conglomerates working in? How much is each conglomerate worth?
-Disney $40.1 billion. - ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Miramax, Marvel Studios.
-Time Warner $29 billion. - CNN, HBO, Time, Waner Bros.
-CBS $14.2 billion - Showtime, Smithsonian, Nfl.com, Jeopardy, 60 Minuets.
-GE $13.96 billion - Comcast, NBC, Universal Pictures, Focus Features.
-News-Corp $33.4 billion - Fox, Wall Street Journal, New York Post.
-Viacom $14.9 billion. - MTV, Nick JR, Bet, CMT, Paramount Pictures.


3. What are the benefits of being part of a major media conglomerate?
You get more publicity for your company, this means the company will be earning more money for themselves than they were before. Also a advantage is that the company get to keep their own name, staff and logo.

4. 'Ownership of media is shared by a select few'. How might this affect the industry and audience?

• Competition - There are many little companies out there in the media. This means a lot of fierce competition to get their products known. The little companies have to try and compete with the conglomerates  
• Employment - There may be less jobs going around in the industry because companies are coming together and becoming conglomerates. This means they will already have the people to do the job and the owner of a small company may not get full control over their company.
• Independent media companies - Indie companies will face lots of competition because there are lots of conglomerates out there which will be taking the spotlight as a more 'reliable' company.
• The audience/products - The audience will be drawn to the bigger conglomerates rather than independent companies because they will be more advertised as they will have to money to advertise unlike smaller companies. This means a good product made by an independent company may not be getting the credit it deserves.