Definitions Of Markets And Ownerships.

Ownership.
The conglomerate is the company at the top, that owns a number of different companies. It's at the top of the hierarchy. News Corp would be a conglomerate.

A subsidiary is the smaller companies underneath the large conglomerate, such as 20th Century Fox being owned by News Corp.

A monopoly is when one company owns the majority of the market. Microsoft were once accused of having a monopoly because they were the only company you could really buy a computer from during the 00s. There is no open market and competition, and therefore the company can charge whatever they'd like for their products.

An oligopoly is where just a few companies own the majority of the market - such as the large big six film studios owning 95% of the television and film market in America.

An open market is where there is a more competitive and fairer market with lots and lots of different companies available for consumers to choose from.


Vertical ownership is where all stages of production are kept within the company. Sony, for example, come up with the idea, plan, create, edit and distribute the films they make, and they manage the entire process of the film without other companies getting involved. They can also use Sony software and Sony equipment to film and edit the films, and so everything was made by Sony themselves. Most media conglomerates are set up this way. Benefits of this would be that the idea would be held within the company and maintain control and copyrights of the film. They also wouldn't have to wait for another company to complete parts of the film making, and communication may be easier within the company. The company would receive all the profits for the film too, however, if the film is received badly, they also have to take all of the losses. They also end up producing a lot of similar films so there could be less diversity within the film company.

A horizontal ownership is where production is split between several companies. This is how most independent film studios are set up. One person may come up with the idea and sell the script to a company, who will film it and then give it to an editing house to edit it, and then pass it onto a distribution company to get it out in the cinemas/on DVDs. These films could possibly be more diverse and creative as its not the same people creating the films every time like vertically owned companies do.

Some companies can also be a hybrid of these two models of ownership.


Funding.
Public television stations - such as the BBC - are funded by the public by them paying for their television licences which is not optional.

Private stations are funded by either the government or by people choosing to have a subscription to the station, and therefore paying optionally to receive the service. Executive producers could also fund films and television shows. Adverts on television channels also help to fund the television station. Product placement is allowed in America, and this is where companies pay for their product to feature heavily in the show.

Sponsorship is where a company pays to have their product(s) displayed before and after the show/film and during the breaks and intervals.

Independent film companies could earn money by taking part in film festivals that give cash prizes to winners.



A statute is something set out by the government. For example, the BBC needs to broadcast a certain amount of news, education and entertainment shows because the public are legally required to pay to contribute towards the channel and so it needs to contain a large variety of programmes to make up for it.