Media Ownership: The Big Six

The film industry is by far and largely dominated by a select group of very large, rich and powerful companies, known as media conglomerates. These companies have grew and become large enough through:

• Personal success
• More money
• End result

The big six media conglomerates in the U.S. are as follows:

• Disney - a list of movies made under the Disney conglomerate include: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and much more.
• General Electric (G.E.)
• Viacom
• Time Warner
• CBS
• News Corp

The combined North American market share of the big six make up to 90% of the market in the film industry. The big six film studios in North America include:

• Warner Brothers
• Paramount
• 20th Century Fox
• Walt Disney Pictures
• Columbia Pictures
• Universal Pictures

Key terms that apply to this topic include the following:

• Convergence -  the merging of mass communication outlets – print, television, radio, the Internet along with portable and interactive technologies through various digital media platforms. An example: the PS4 being able to perform and enable multiple apps, such as Netflix and YouTube.  
• Synergy - used to describe a situation where different entities cooperate advantageously for a final outcome. An example: McDonalds and a toy company partnering up in order to sell toys with "Happy Meals". 
• Concentration of media ownership - a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media. An example: Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corps and 21st Century Fox.
• Cross-media ownership - the ownership of multiple media businesses by a person or corporation. These businesses can include broadcast and cable television, film, radio, newspaper, magazine, book publishing, music, video games, and various online entities. An example: Rupert Mudroch. 
• Conglomerate - a company that owns numerous companies in various mass media; i.e. television, radio, publishing, motion picture, theme park and the Internet. An example: Disney who owns Pixar, amongst others.
• Subsidiary - a company controlled by a holding company. An example: Pixar, a subsidiary under the conglomerate Disney.
• Oligopoly - a state of limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers. An example: the auto industry is another example of an oligopoly, with the leading auto manufacturers in the United States being Ford, GMC and Chrysler.