Media conglomerate

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A media conglomerate describes companies that own large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet.

1 Terminology
2 Examples
3 Criticism of consolidating media groups
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Terminology

A conglomerate is, by definition, a large company that consists of divisions of seemingly unrelated businesses.

It is questionable whether media companies are unrelated, as of 2007. The trend has been strongly for the sharing of various kinds of content (news, film and video, music for example). The media sector is tending to consolidate, and formerly diversified companies may appear less so as a result. Therefore the term media group may also be applied. It has not so far replaced the more traditional usage. crosoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44.28 billion and 76,000 employees in 102 countries. It develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices.[5][4][2] Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, its best selling products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software. These have all achieved near-ubiquity in the desktop computer market, approaching fulfillment of Microsoft's original goal, "A computer on every desk and in every home, running Microsoft software."[6] Microsoft possesses footholds in other markets, with assets such as the MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia. The company also markets both computer hardware products such as the Microsoft mouse as well as home entertainment products such as the Xbox, Xbox 360, Zune and MSN TV.[5]

Originally founded to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800, Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s.[1][7] The company released an initial public offering (IPO) in the stock market, which netted several of its employees millions of dollars due to the ensuing rise of the stock price.[8][9][10] Throughout its history the company has been the target of criticism, including monopolistic business practices — the U.S. Justice Department, among others, has sued Microsoft for antitrust violations and software bundling.[11] Known for what is generally described as a developer-centric business culture, Microsoft has historically given customer support over Usenet newsgroups and the World Wide Web, and awards Microsoft MVP status to volunteers who are deemed helpful in assisting the company's customers.[12][10]

[edit] Examples

Some of the largest media conglomerates include:

AT&T
Berlusconi Group
Bertelsmann
Canwest Global
CBS Corporation
Comcast Corporation
General Electric
Hearst Corporation
Lagardère Media
Liberty Media
News Corporation
NHST MediaGroup Norges Handels og Sjøfartstidende
Organizações Globo
Grupo PRISA
Sony
Time Warner
The Times Group (distinct from Times Newspapers of News Corportation)
Viacom (owned by National Amusements)
Vivendi
The Walt Disney Company

[edit] Criticism of consolidating media groups

Critics have accused the larger conglomerates of dominating media, especially news, and refusing to publicize or deem "newsworthy" information that would be harmful to their other interests, and of contributing to the merging of entertainment and news at the expense of tough coverage of serious issues. They are also accused of being a leading force for the standardization of culture (see globalization, Americanization), and they are a frequent target of criticism by partisan political groups which often perceive the news productions biased toward their foes

In response, the companies and their supporters state that they maintain a strict separation between the business end and the production end of news departments.