WHO OWNS THE MEDIA? A handful of large companies control what you see, hear, and
read every day. Who owns what’s on TV? Why does it matter that a few
corporations own most of the media we see?
Below see the 3
largest companies and what media they own, as depicted by their logos:
General Electric
(GE) is a true behemoth: the conglomerate is the world’s third largest
company with market capitalization of nearly $370 billion and annual revenue
of $173 billion (2007). The company produces practically everything – from
aircraft engine to locomotives to medical devices.
GE’s media holding
includes TV networks NBC and Telemundo, 27 TV stations in the US and many
cable TV networks, including the History Channel, A&E, and Sci Fi
Channel. It also owns the popular web-based TV website Hulu.
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Time Warner is the
world’s largest media and entertainment company – it owns major operations in
film, TV, print, Internet, and telecommunications. Time Warner has an annual
revenue of $50.5 billion (2008) – the equivalent of the entire GDP of
Luxembourg.
Time Warner’s got
Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, CNN, Headline News and
more;
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The Walt Disney
Corporation has grown to be one of the world’s largest media and
entertainment corporation since its founding as an animation studio by
brothers Walt and Roy Disney in 1923.
Disney owns ABC TV
network, with 200 affiliated stations reaching nearly 100% of all U.S. TV
markets, as well as dozens of niche cable networks. True to its cartoon
animation origin, Disney captures its viewers early – it counts millions of
young children as its audience with kids channels like the Disney Channel,
not to mention targeted marketing to kids and teens.
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