Media Ownership

Ownership

In the UK the term 'public service broadcasting' means the broad casting that is intended for the general public. Ofcom requires that certain TV and radio broadcasters do certain things as part of their license to broadcast. All of the BBC's TV and radio stations have a public service remit.

Commercial Broadcasting is the broadcasting of TV and radio programs all over a country which is owned by a company which isn't funded by the state. The BBC is funded by everyone who has a TV license.

Corporate ownership is mass produced media with funding that has been given to them by their corporation's or CEO's whereas private ownership can be held by an individualor small group of people or by share holders in in a company.

A global company is one which operates in different countries around the world, this means that they can broadcast their shows to lots of different audiences and make a bigger profit. An example of this would be SKY as this is available in lots of different countries and they are then able to make their production appeal to a larger audience.

Concentration of ownership is a process when less and less people have control over shares in a company in the media. A lot of today's companies are highly concentrated but owned by a small amount of people.

Vertical integration is when a company owns it's suppliers. Each member of the supply chain gives the owner a different service/product. Vertical integration also has management styles that bring large amounts of the supply chain not only under a singular owner, but into a larger corporation.

Horizontal integration is a strategy which companies use to buy off and/or acquire other company which share the same purpose, sometimes competitively. An example of this would be if two companies were making progress on the same front for the creation of a monopoly. Another example of this would be the management of a group of products that are creating a group of products which are similar but different in price and qualities. This strategy would decrease competition and increase market shares.

Funding types

In the UK any household which watches TV is required to have a TV license. All businesses, schools and hospitals are also required to hold this license. Since 1st April 2010 the annual license has been £145.50 for colour and £49 for black and white. Income from the license is primarily used to fund TV, radio and other services provided by the BBC.

Some services require that you purchase a subscription to use their service instead of letting you buy it for a lump sum. This idea was first used by magazines and newspapers but is now used by many different businesses and websites such as Netflix and Playstation Network. The way this works is that on a certain date every month or year you pay use the services that that business offers. this can also happen in others fields such as football when you by a season ticket and you can do this after every season so you can see every match that a certain clubs plays.

A one-off payment is the opposite to a subscription as for a one off payment you don't have to pay for that product ever again unless it changes to a subscription service.

A pay-per-view service is one in which a subscriber can purchase events to view privately. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time for everyone who as bought the event. They can be purchased via the onscreen guide, an automated phone system or through a live customer service. These events often include films, sports events and other entertainment programs.

Sponsorship is a fee that is paid in return for access to the commercial potential of that product or company. The sponsor may be non-profit, unlike philanthropy, sponsorship is done with the hope of there being commercial return. While sponsorship can deliver brand building it is different from advertising, unlike advertising sponsorship cannot communicate product attributes neither can it stand alone as sponsorship requires support.

Advertising is when a company asks someone like ITV to be able to show one of their products in a slot during one of their programs. They will pay ITV a fee to e able to screen said advert but the more popular the show the more expensive the advert slot will be. An example of this would be that Nike payed ITV about 10 million to screen their adverts.

Product placement is when a product is used in a film or TV programme and the producer of the film or TV programme ask the owner of a certain product if they can use it in there production, this can also be done with music and the producer will then pay the owner of the product so they can use it. This will also benefit the owner of the product as their product will promoted in the feature. 

Private Capital is when producers use their own money to start their career. This will be made by an equity firm, they have their goals but provide capital to the the company that needs it to expand, for development or working on the companies management.

Crowd funding is when the 'crowd' give money to an organisation to fund a film/video game. This could be a non-profit venture such as funds for an event like a school fate, to support a political candidate, charitable or financing a company to release a new product.

Development funds are used as channels where funds are made available to help channel partners and distributors. These then sell the new product to create awareness of said product.