2. Viacom 1994
JULY, 1994: After a bitter battle with Barry
Diller, Viacom acquires Paramount for $10
billion, 25% more than originally planned.
SEPTEMBER, 1994 $8.4 billion Blockbuster
merger is finished. Viacom immediately writes
down about $318 million of tape inventory.
3. Viacom 1994
FEBRUARY, 1995: Viacom is now the No.2
entertainment company in the world. Thanks to
accounting changes, Blockbuster reports huge gains
in cash flow.
SEPTEMBER, 1995: Viacom narrowly dodges having
to issue millions of new shares to compensate
former Blockbuster holders.
NOVEMBER, 1995: Blockbuster founder Wayne
Huizenga resigns from Viacom board.
4. Disney 1995
In the second-largest corporate takeover
ever, the Walt Disney Company moved
yesterday to create the world's most powerful
media and entertainment company, announcing
that it would acquire Capital Cities/ ABC Inc. for
$19 billion.
5. Time Warner 1995
Ending a tumultuous five-week courtship, Time
Warner Inc. and Turner Broadcasting System
said yesterday that they would merge their
sprawling operations, reinforcing Time Warner's
position as the world's largest communications
company.
6. Seagram 1995
Seagram in April 1995 sold its holdings in Du
Pont, receiving about $11 billion in the process.
The proceeds were almost immediately
reinvested when Seagram later that month
acquired 80% (later increased to 84%) of MCA,
Inc. from Matsushita Electric Industrial
Company, Ltd. for $5.7 billion. MCA--whose
name Seagram changed to Universal Studios.
7. Westinghouse 1995
The Westinghouse Electric Corporation, an early
broadcasting pioneer, said yesterday that it had
agreed to pay $5.4 billion for CBS Inc., the last
independent television network and once the
crown jewel of broadcasting.
8. Seagram 1998
MONTREAL, November 4, 1998 – The Seagram
Company Ltd. announced today that it has
commenced its previously announced offer for
all issued shares of PolyGram N.V. In the
offer, each PolyGram shareholder may elect to
receive for each PolyGram share NLG 115 in cash
or Seagram shares based on an exchange ratio
of 1.3772 Seagram shares for each PolyGram
share.
9. Viacom 1999
Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. announced a
blockbuster $35.6 billion merger Tuesday, a
move which is designed to bring the network of
Dan Rather in touch with the MTV generation.
10. Vivendi 2000
French group "Vivendi Universal" has won the
bid for the purchase of 35% of Maroc-Telecom
capital for $ 2.33 billion (23.34 billion DH), it was
officially announced on Thursday.
11. AT&T 1998
Hoping to return to the local telephone market
and become a premier Internet player, AT&T
Corp. unveiled plans Wednesday to acquire
cable giant Tele-Communications Inc. in a
blockbuster $48 billion deal.
12. AOL 2000
Goodwill is simply the difference between the
price paid for a company during an acquisition
and the net assets of the acquired company. The
$128 billion of goodwill in this case was created
when AOL and Time Warner merged in 2000.
13. Comcast 2002
Comcast Corp yesterday became the world's
largest cable company, following its merger with
AT&T Broadband, which was spun off from
parent AT&T Corp yesterday as part of the
$29.2bn deal. The new Comcast Corp has 21.4
million cable TV subscribers and is worth an
estimated $60bn.
14. General Electric/NBC
The conglomerate pays the remaining $3.8
billion it owed under a $5.8-billion deal for the
French firm's 20% ownership of NBC Universal.
15. Sony
The planned merger between music giants Sony
and Bertelsmann (BMG) has been given the
green light by the European Union, with no
strings attached.
The proposed marriage will leave four industry
majors with about 80% of the world music
market.
16. Date Acquiring Firm Acquired firm (new Price (US $ billions) Strategic Motivation
name in brackets)
1994 Viacom Paramount Communications 8.0 Conglomeration across
publishing, film, broadcasting,
cable, theme parks.
1994 Viacom Blockbuster 8.5 Distribution control.
1995 Disney Capital Cities/ABC 19.0 Vertical integration and
control of content creation.
1995 Time Warner Turner Broadcasting 7.4 Vertical integration and
conglomeration
/synergy.
1995 Seagram MCA (Universal) 5.7 General conglomerate
moves into broadcasting.
1995 Westinghouse CBS 5.4 General conglomerate
moves into broadcasting.
1999 Carlton United 8.0 Merger of European media
groups.
1998 Seagram PolyGram 10.6 Recording market share plus
European film interests.
1999 Viacom CBS 22 Media conglomerate
consolidates broadcasting
power.
2000 Vivendi Seagram/Universal 35 Very diversified European
leisure conglomerate
diversifies further.
1998 AT&T TCI (Including Liberty Media) 48 Telecoms and media
convergence.
2000 AOL Time Warner (AOL Time 128.0 Internet service provider
Warner) merges with media
conglomerate.
2002 Comcast AT&T Broadband 47.5 Cable company expands via
acquisition.
17. Vertical & Horizontal
Integration
Vertical integration is the process in which several steps in the production and/or distribution
of a product or service are controlled by a single company or entity, in order to increase that
company’s or entity’s power in the marketplace.
Much more common and simpler than vertical integration, Horizontal integration (also
known as lateral integration) simply means a strategy to increase your market share by taking
over a similar company. This take over / merger / buyout can be done in the same geography
or probably in other countries to increase your reach.
18. Vertical Integration Example
An example of vertical integration, among
contemporary entertainment firms, can be found with
major record labels owning the distributors of their
physical music. UMG owns UMGD and independent
distributor Fontana, Sony owns Sony Music Distribution
and independent distributor R.E.D., Warner Music
Group owns WEA and indie distributor ADA, and EMI
owns EMI distribution.
19. Horizontal Integration Example
Disney, which creates movies and television
shows, uses the characters to create toys and
market other products to kids, etc. would be an
example of horizontal integration. (Note that
Disney uses other companies to do some of the
work on the movies and TV programs, to
manufacture the toys, etc and so is not vertically
integrated.)
21. Informing, educating & Entertaining
Since 2009
Lord Reith was a Scottish broadcasting executive who
established the tradition of independent public service
broadcasting in the United Kingdom. In 1922 he was
employed by the BBC as its General Manager; in 1923 he
became its Managing Director and in 1927 he was
employed as the Director-General of the British
Broadcasting Corporation created under a Royal Charter.
His concept of broadcasting as a way of educating the
masses marked for a long time the BBC and similar
organizations around the world.
Reith summarized the BBC's purpose in three words:
educate, inform, entertain; this remains part of the
organisation's mission statement to this day.
23. Public Service Broadcasting (PSB)
The United Kingdom has a strong tradition of
public service broadcasting. In addition to the
BBC, established in 1922, there is also Channel
4, a commercial public service broadcaster, and
S4C, a Welsh-language broadcaster in Wales.
Furthermore, the two commercial analogue
broadcasters ITV and Channel 5 also have
significant public service obligations imposed as
part of their licence to broadcast.
24. Cross-media ownership
Concentration of media ownership (also known
as media consolidation or media convergence) is
a process whereby progressively fewer
individuals or organizations control increasing
shares of the mass media. Contemporary
research demonstrates increasing levels of
consolidation, with many media industries
already highly concentrated and dominated by a
very small number of firms
25. Diversification
Based on the undisputed merits of social,
political and cultural pluralism, diversity.
And variety in the media is desirable ends in
themselves.
26. Digital broadcasting
Digital broadcasting is the practice of using
digital data rather than analogue waveforms to
carry broadcasts over television channels or
assigned radio frequency bands. It is becoming
increasingly popular for television usage
(especially satellite television) but is having a
slower adoption rate for radio.
27. Satellite broadcasting
Satellite television is television programming delivered by
the means of communications satellite and received by
an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic reflector
generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as
household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either
in the form of an external set-top box or a satellite tuner
module built into a TV set. Satellite TV tuners are also
available as a card or a USB peripheral to be attached to a
personal computer. In many areas of the world satellite
television provides a wide range of channels and
services, often to areas that are not serviced by terrestrial
or cable providers.
29. Garnham Says...
“…risk derives from the fact that audiences
use cultural commodities in highly
volatile and unpredictable ways, often in
order to express that they are different
from each other”
30. Our Own Habits
Nearly 30,000 albums were released in the USA in
1998, of which fewer than 2% sold more than 50,000
copies.
Due to such high popularity in music during this period
(perhaps even more so now), people are more
inclined to buy music by artists and bands that are
already well recognised. This means when new
musicians with new styles of music come into the
scene, they may find it harder to gain recognition if it
doesn’t match a large audiences expectations.
31. Recent Music
However, during recent times. People have
began to like and listen to styles of music to
differentiate themselves from other people.
Ranging from dubstep to the re-introduction
of reggae. Due to this, it means that producing
new music for a profit can become harder;
‘risky business’.
32. Films
Similar to music, films that get released are
regualrly judged on previous works by either the
actors, directors or sequels. A good example is
the release of the new James Bond film, ‘Skyfall’.
A large majority of viewers of the film will have
seen the film due to the previous Bond films and
possibly the actor. Not to mention the fact it was
released on Bond’s 50th anniversary. Seemingly a
very ‘unrisky’ film. However, taking away the
anniversary and people involved with the film, its
success would have been completely different.
33. Minimising Risks
Horizontal integration within media buys up
competition, whereas vertical integration
lowers production costs. Multisector and
multimedia integration allows for cross-
promotion.
Larger companies are able to spread risks in way
that smaller companies are unable to do.
35. PRIVACY LAW
Privacy in English law is a rapidly developing area of English law that
considers in what situations an individual has a legal right to
informational privacy, that is to say the protection of personal (or
private) information from misuse or unauthorized disclosure. Privacy
law is distinct from those laws such as trespass or assault that are
designed to protect physical privacy. Such laws are generally
considered as part of criminal law or the law of tort. Historically,
English common law has recognized no general right or tort of privacy,
and was offered only limited protection through the doctrine of breach
of confidence and a "piecemeal" collection of related legislation on
topics like harassment and data protection. The introduction of the
Human Rights Act 1998 incorporated into English law the European
Convention on Human Rights. Article 8.1 of the ECHR provided an
explicit right to respect for a private life for the first time within English
law. The Convention also requires the judiciary to "have regard" to the
Convention in developing the common law.
36. The European Convention on Human
Rights (ECHR)
ECHR is an international treaty to protect human
rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe.
Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed
Council of Europe, the convention entered into
force on 3 September 1953. All Council of
Europe member states are party to the
Convention and new members are expected to
ratify the convention at the earliest opportunity.
37. Licensing act 2003 and LA
They licensing act 2003 and LA have been
prepared by the Department for Culture, Media
and Sport in order to assist the reader of the
Act. In April 2000 the Government published an
act on reforming alcohol and entertainment
licensing set out proposals for modernizing and
integrating the alcohol, public entertainment,
theatre, cinema, night café and late night
refreshment house licensing schemes in both
England and Wales.
38. Official Secrets Act 1989
Secrets 1 – Security and Intelligence
An offence of disclosing information, documents or other articles relating to security or intelligence.
Secrets 2 – Defence
An offence of disclosing information, documents or other articles relating to defence. This section
applies only to crown servants and government contractors.
Secrets 3 – International relations
An offence of disclosing information, documents or other articles relating to international relations. This
section applies only to crown servants and government contractors.
Section 4 - Crime and special investigation powers
This section relates to disclosure of information which would assist a criminal or the commission of a
crime. This section applies only to crown servants and government contractors.
Section 5 - Information resulting from unauthorised disclosures or entrusted in confidence
This section relates to further disclosure of information, documents or other articles protected from
disclosure by the preceding sections of the Act. It allows, for example, the prosecution of newspapers or
journalists who publish secret information leaked to them by a crown servant in contravention of
section 3. This section applies to everyone.
39. Libel Law
There are two versions of defamation, libel and
slander. Libel is when the defamation is written
down (including email, bulletin boards and
websites), and slander is when the incident
relates to words spoken. In the UK, if someone
thinks that what you wrote about them is either
defamatory or damaging, the onus will be
entirely on you to prove that your comments are
true in court.
40. The Race Relations Act
The Race Relations Act 1976 was established by the
Parliament of the United Kingdom to prevent
discrimination on the grounds of race.
Items that are covered include discrimination on the
grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic and national
origin in the fields of employment, the provision of goods
and services, education and public functions.
The Act also established the Commission for Racial
Equality with a view to review the legislation, which was
put in place to make sure the Act rules were followed.
41. The Broadcasting Act 1990
This broadcasting act has to some extent been superseded by the Government's White Paper on Communications, because anything taken
from that paper will be turned into a new Act of Parliament. However, this Act began the first steps to deregulation in British Broadcasting
and reversed restrictions imposed on ownership of ITV franchises. The main points of the 1990 Act were:
• This act required all ITV franchises to be put up for sale and to be awarded partly on financial grounds.
• New ITV regional franchises mandated to give 25% of their production to independent producers.
• ITV network centre established to commission programmes from the franchise holders on to the national ITV network.
• Independent Television Commission set up to regulate all TV services in the UK, with the exception of the BBC.
• For first time Channel4 to sell own advertising and ITV monopoly on advertising sales was lost.
• Channel 5 was last conventional terrestrial TV channel to set up in 1997 before digital explosion, to provide same strand of
programming at the same time every day, each week.
• TV licence is a tax on all owners of a TV set. Fee set by government and to be renewed by an Act of Parliament.
• Corporation's right to be funded by licence fee renewed, but situation insecure.
• BBC set up internal market as Producer Choice, where producers must also be managers and shop around for cheapest facilities rather
than accept those providing by corporation itself.
• Discusses different ways of paying for TV viewing as things are changing, ie. pay per view and subscription.
• The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament, often regarded by both its supporters and its critics as a quintessential
example of Thatcherism. The aim of the Act was to reform the entire structure of British broadcasting; British television, in particular,
had earlier been described by
42. Effects of the Act
An effect of this Act was that, in the letter of the law, the television or
radio companies rather than the regulator became the broadcasters,
as had been the case in the early (1955-1964) era of the Independent
Television Authority when it had fewer regulatory powers than it
would later assume.
In Television
In television, the Act allowed for the creation of a fifth analogue
terrestrial television channel in the UK, which turned out to be
Channel 5, and the growth of multichannel satellite television. It also
stipulated that the BBC, which had previously produced the vast
majority of its television programming in-house, was now obliged to
source at least 25% of its output from independent production
companies.
