The document discusses different structures and ownership models in the media sector: - Private ownership means companies work independently but retain all profits, though they risk going bankrupt if they incur debt. - Public service organizations like the BBC are funded by taxpayers, allowing them to offer many channels but relying on continued public funding. - Multinational companies operate in multiple countries but risk damaging their reputation if they fail in one market. - Conglomerates own various media companies across TV, radio and publishing to profit from different sectors but are difficult to manage. - Horizontal and vertical integration, cross-media convergence, synergy, and other models combine aspects of ownership and production.

1. EXPLAINING THE
STRUCTURE AND
OWNERSHIP OF THE
MEDIA SECTOR
By Alex Clare

2. Private Ownership
• Private ownership such as Sky Sports and MTV, which means
that they work on their own. Advantages of this is that they
do not have to share the profit with anyone. But a
disadvantage is that if the company is in trouble and gets into
debt then they have no one to help them out of debt so the
company could go bust.

3. Public Service
• Public service is the complete opposite of private owned
company's. Company's like the BBC work with the public. The
public pay for the company's through their taxes. Advantages,
because everybody is paying for the BBC there are a lot of
channels because they have to have a show for everybody to
watch. Disadvantage is if the public stopped paying the BBC
they would go broke

4. Multinational
• Multinational company’s such as Sky and Virgin serve more
than one country. For example Virgin broadcast to England
and America. Advantages are that company's earn a lot more
money. The disadvantages are that if a company doesn’t work
out and goes bust in several country's then it will have a bad
rep in those country's, loosing a lot of customers

5. Independent
• This is a company that works on their own, for example Apple.
The advantages are that Apple get all the profits from the
products they sell. The disadvantages are that they cant link
up with other company's. E.g: Windows.

6. Conglomerate
• Conglomerate is when a company owns more
than one company in different sectors of the
media industry, TV, Radio and publishing.
• Advantages they can make a profit from a lot
of different things. Disadvantages are it could
be very hard to manage so many different
sectors.

7. Horizontal Integration
Horizontal companies such as, Simon Cowell, he works along
with ITV. They work together, rather than Simon Cowell working
for him or IVT working for Simon Cowell. This helps them brand
their company, making their company stronger.
The advantage to this is that if they don’t do as well as they
thought, it wouldn’t affect them as much as a company working
on their own.
The disadvantage is that they have to share the money between
the two companies, so they do not get as much money

8. Vertical Integration
• Vertical integration such as Apple. They are a company that
work on their own and produce more than one kind of
product. Advantages are they keep all profits from products
but if they fall in to debt then they don’t have anyone backing
them to get them out of debt.

9. Cross Media divergence
Cross media divergence is when there is a range of media
platforms integrated into single piece of technology. Like a Play
Station 3, it can also be a blue-ray player, so it has two uses.
The advantage to this is that their audience will see that they are
getting more than just a game console. This will help increase
their selling rates.
However the disadvantage is that if they focus on two things
their focus on the main thing, the game console, may not be as
good as is could be.

10. Synergy
• Synergy is when a company promotes and sales a product. For
example, the Batman films have brought out games and toys
to constantly advertise the film and the characters. This has
found to help film sales. The advantages are that the film is
constantly advertised and will hopefully increases film sales.
People such as, Walt Disney was the founder of this in the
1930’s, he let adverts use Mickey Mouse and use him in
products too.