2. MEDIA CONGLOMERATES.
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Media conglomerates is one big companies that owns a lot of little companies in various
media e.g. Television, Films and Radio.
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The conglomerates have a lot of money as well to put into film production. They
sometimes market their films through all their subsidiary companies.
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The practice is known as Synergy
3. INDEPENDENTS.
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Some of the producers work outside of the major studios. Most british productions are
made by smaller outfits like Warp Films or the BBC to try secure extra funding and help
with distribution.
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Often, films made this way struggle to get more than 1 or 2 million pounds budget and
success to break-even with DVD after-sales included.
4. OWNERSHIP AND GLOBALISATION
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One effect of the concentration of media ownership is the global media market is
increasingly dominant by a small number of Western conglomerates.
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The process by which an increasingly smaller number of companies own most media
outlets. – Concentration of Media ownership
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A company which produces two or more types of media. – Cross media ownership
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When the market is dominated by a small number of companies. – Oligopoly
5. SYNERGY AND CROSS MEDIA CONVERGENCE
Examples are:
• Vivendi Universal – Make a film in Universal studios.
• It releases the film’s soundtrack on Polygram, one of it record labels
• The tracks can be bought online at MP3.com, one of it internet companies
• The film can be downloaded on Vivendi Telecom phones
• The film is then shown in its Odeon cinema chain.
Owning all of these assets makes it cheaper for the producer to make, distribute,
market and exhibit the film, thus maximizing profit, enabling the studio to keep
making big budget films.
6. TECHNOLOGY CONVERGENCE
The gadgets which films can be watched on are:
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Smart phones e.g. IPhones
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MP4 players
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Portable game consoles e.g. PSP
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Laptops e.g. Air books
Multimedia devices, watching films at home are:
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Game consoles e.g. Xbox
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PC e.g. Via DVD, il / legal downloads
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Home cinema e.g. Plasma TV
