The understanding of both company, who they, what they do and how they are funded.

1. Walt Disney Company & The BBC
Unit 8 Task 1
By Mustafa Said &
Jack Kilminster

2. Ownership
The Walt Disney company that is mostly known as Disney is a multinational entertainment company with
headquarters in California, Burbank. It is also a public limited company that is owned by private investors or
shareholders. After the death of Walt Disney himself, Disney is now owned by many shareholders under the
CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Robert Allen Iger. In order to become a shareholder you must pay a minimum of
$105.70 US Dollars which gives you a small percentage of share in the company. Till this very day it is possible
for any one to become a shareholder or investor in the Walt Disney Company. The more money you would
invest into the company, the more percentage of share you would have in the company. Steve Jobs even had
a share in the company with $138 million US Dollars. After his death in 2011, this was then transferred to his
wife Powell Jobs.

3.  The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the major national public service broadcaster of the United
Kingdom. It is the leading broadcaster in the UK and is the largest broadcaster in the world by audience
figures. The BBC is an independent body which is held in trust for the British people. The BBC was most
recently given a ten-year royal charter in 2006 that defines its purposes and allows it to act somewhat
autonomously, free from commercial and government influence. The royal charter was put into place for
three purposes to educate, entertain and inform the public.
 Control rests with the 12-person BBC Trust. Trust members are supposed to represent the interests of a
broad cross-section of the British listening and viewing public. Day-to-day management is handled by the
board of management, headed by the director general (Tony Hall); its members are appointed by the board
of governors.
 When the BBC was first introduced, the BBC was given a royal charter in 1927 as a public body; it replaced a
private, commercially run British Broadcasting Company, which began in 1922. The royal charter and
license, constitute the BBC as a public corporation with a mandate to provide broadcasting as a public
service.
 However changes that were made during the month of April 2017, the BBC Trust was dropped by the
board of governors as they were not living up to the standards they were suppose to, they were replaced
by OfCOM. Which is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting,
telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom

4. Funding
Walt Disney is funded in many ways today. At the beginning, Walt Disney himself was very desperate in
making Disneyland a reality. He had decided to borrow a loan from his life insurance policy to fund a private
company (Walt Disney) and used the money also help in the development in the very first Disney theme park.
Disney today has many international theme parks which also help fund the company itself by making $16
billion US dollars per year in revenue and $2.2 billion in profit.
Merchandise is another way Walt Disney make their money. With their successful films and animations over
the past many years, Disney have decided to make merchandises such as action figures, lunch boxes, printed
clothing and much more. Walt created yet another company with just the money that could be made off of
having his name and likeness attached to a product or service. He had named this company Walt Disney Inc.
This name then changed to WED Enterprises as it was a confusion with the Walt Disney Company. He also
added to WED Enterprises licensing rights that netted him between 5% and 10% of the revenue from Disney
products even till the ones that are sold today. The Walt Disney Company ended up buying WED Enterprises
after Walt Disney’s death for $46.2 million in shares in 1981.

5.  Another huge way of funding the company was by film ticket sales and DVD’s including Blu-Ray. Disney
have made many popular films and animations over the years that people would go and spend money to
watch at the cinema or at home. Subscriptions are another way of funding with the help of the Disney Life
website and app. With this people pay monthly and are then accessible to watching unlimited Disney films,
reading books and listen to their music.
 Shareholders play an important part in funding the company. Anyone is able to become a shareholder in
the Walt Disney Company by paying a minimum of $105.70 US Dollars which gives you a share in the
company. The more you pay, the more percentage of share you are likely to have in the company itself.
 Walt Disney and his brother Roy O. Disney also was able to become sponsored from their theme parks.
This included $50,000 US Dollars from the Santa Fe Railroad, which in return got to sponsor the Disneyland
railway and $45,000 US Dollars from American Motors, which sponsored Circarama, the first of several 360-
degree movie attractions that would be featured at Disney parks.

6.  The BBC is a Crown corporation supported by a licensing fee applied to television owners of £145.50 per year.
All owners of TV receiving equipment are obliged to pay the fee whether they watch BBC content or not. As
such the license fee is often criticized as being a tax.
 There are many different methods of funding for the BBC such as; TV licenses paid by the British public, they
also sell programs to other companies, this known as a TV format, this is the overall concept and branding of
a copyrighted television program. The most common type of formats are those in the television genres of
game shows and reality shows, many of which are remade in multiple markets with local contestants. Recent
examples include Survivor, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Pop Idol and Big Brother that have all proved
successful worldwide. Particular models in the genre of sitcoms are often sold as formats, enabling
broadcasters to adapt them to the perceived tastes of their own audience. An example is The Office, a BBC
sitcom which got adapted as The Office US, Le Bureau in France, Stromberg in Germany, La Job in Quebec
and La Ofis in Chile. A format is licensed by TV networks, so that they may produce a version of the show
tailored to their nationality and audience. Formats are a major part of the international television market.
 Other examples of funding for the BBC can include selling DVD’s of its best programs such as the doctor who
box set’s.
 They Use other platforms such as books and magazines based on their programs such as match of the day,
natural history and science.

7. Synergy
 This is a releasing a brand across different media platforms. The main reason for this is for
the company to make more many by expanding their target audience. For example, Disney
have released their brand in many different platforms. For example, Marvel is owned by
Disney and so they have released many films all starting with Iron man. Since the release of
Iron man, Marvel have made other films such as Captain America, Thor and Hulk and have
linked these Marvel characters into one film such as Avengers Assemble. With these releases,
Disney have been making television shows linked to these shows. For example, ABC’s show
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. There have been many comics based on these Marvel characters too
and even animations. Due to synergy, Disney was able to expand their target audience and
also expand their name by brand identity. This is as the more the audience buy products that
are owned by Disney, the target audience will tend to trust the company, name and logo.

8.  Synergy is when a brand is released on different platforms, the BBC use this method to provide more funding. They
will do this with the programs they air. An example of this would be Doctor who, as this is one of the BBC’s most
popular shows, this would allow the brand to make profit by being released on different platforms, like books and
magazines, merchandise such as toys. DVD box sets of the programs, these are some of the examples of different
platforms organizations would use to sell their brand bringing in profit and funding's for the BBC.
 Synergy is when a brand is released on different platforms, the BBC use this method to provide more funding. They
will do this with the programs they air. An example of this would be Doctor who, as this is one of the BBC’s most
popular shows, this would allow the brand to be released on different platforms, like books and magazines,
merchandise such as toys. DVD box sets of the programs, these are some of the examples of different platforms
organizations would use to sell their brand bringing in profit and funding's for the BBC. Also BBC has used other
media platforms such as Sarah James and Doctor who extra, these are other ways to keep the fans of Doctor Who,
still following the brand.
 Synergy will increase the fame and brand image of a product which gain for the product different audience interest.
This will increase the popularity and spread the image of the product to different platforms therefore more age
groups and different audiences will buy the brand or product.

9. Subsidiaries
 Subsidiaries is when ‘big’ companies tend to buy other companies in order to eliminate competition. The
Walt Disney Company has done the same in order to not just eliminate competition but also get more
money and again brand identity. The Walt Disney Company have bought other companies such as
Marvel, ABC, Pixar, Lucas Films and ESPN. The television network ABC Studios used to struggle really
badly as the network was not doing well itself. Walt himself then decided to add Disney channel to the
network in order for them to become successful in exchange for them to help fund for the Disney theme
park itself at the time. At the time Walt made his deal with ABC and believed it would take $5.25 million
US Dollars to create Disneyland. By the time of its opening, however, the money made had tripled to
about $17 million US Dollars.
 Disney had their own animation studios as well. But looking at the skilled work of Pixar, Disney decided to
buy Pixar due to the rivalry with Dream Works Studios and had made hit animation films ever since
starting with Toy Story 3 success in 2010 with a grossing $1billion US Dollar at the box office. In 2009,
Iger the CEO of The Walt Disney Company did a $4 billion deal for Marvel Entertainment, which is famed
for comic book characters such as Spider-Man, Iron Man and X-Men. This was another great success to
the company as with the studio releasing box office hits including Thor, The Avengers and Guardians of
the Galaxy. Marvel is now a business superhero for Disney till this day.

10.  Subsidiaries are the much smaller companies controlled by the bigger companies this is known as a
“Conglomerate”. BBC have many different subsidiaries which are CBBC, BBC sports, BBC Worldwide
etc.
 For example, The BBC created subsidiaries such as BBC sports, BBC weather and BBC News all specify
in different information, which is being portrayed on to the audience living in the UK. BBC Sports is an
individual channel which represents sports which can be viewed by individuals who have an interest in
this subject. Each subsidiaries follows the same rules put in for the BBC to follow, which is to educate,
to inform and to entertain.
 BBC subsidiaries were created in order for channels to specialize in certain fields. This helps the
audience find and select the specific type of program they are looking to watch.

11. Product/Service
Disney has many products and services over the years. For example, Disney XD is a television channel that have been
providing teenage shows such as Zeke and Luther as a product to the channel with itself being a service. The target
audience for this channel is 2-15 year olds but older audiences can watch them too.
Another television show that Disney produces is How To Get Away With Murder which is aired on the television network
ABC. This show targets audiences from 18-49 year olds mostly female demographic.
Another great example is how when Marvel released Ant-man, they have released the film on their official website in order
for online streamers to buy the film. This makes the website the service and the film itself the product as it is what the
audience consumes. The target audience for Marvel films are usually 15 and above especially Ant-man.

12.  The difference between products and services are The product is what they audience
consume, and the services are the platform used to consume the text on. An example of a
BBC service is BBC One that presents products like: EastEnders, Watch Dogs and doctor who
all are popular television programs that is watched by thousands of people in the UK. The
target audience for EastEnders is targeted for any age group because it portrays characters
from different ages, from young to older, so anyone can watch the programs and it relates
to every age group from 12 years old up to 60 year olds.
 Another example of a product and service that is produced by the company BBC is Bad
Education which is the program and BBC Three which is the service that delivers the
program. Bad Education is a program that targets teenagers and young adults. The reason
this is the target audience of the program is because the show uses characters with similar
age of the audience which can make the audience feel relatable to the show and make it
more enjoyable for them to watch.