MM3 - Media Ownership 

Media ownership has undergone significant consolidation over the past few decades, with a few corporations dominating much of the global and national media landscape. Bagdikian (1983) highlighted this trend in the United States, where in 1983, 50 corporations controlled the news media. By 1992, this number had decreased to 22 companies, which owned and operated 90% of the U.S. mass media, including newspapers, magazines, TV, radio stations, books, records, movies, videos, and photo services. Bagdikian pointed out that if the U.S. media were owned by separate individuals, there would have been approximately 25,000 owners at this time. However, by 2017, media ownership had further consolidated to just six major corporations: Comcast, Disney, 21st Century Fox, Time Warner, Viacom, and CBS.

These conglomerates function as umbrella companies, each owning a multitude of subsidiaries that are recognizable as separate entities. For example, Disney owns Marvel, Pixar, and National Geographic, while Time Warner owns Warner Brothers and HBO. This trend illustrates the concentration of media ownership rather than a decline in media companies. Additionally, these corporations have increasingly bought up internet providers, social media networking sites, and digital media content to consolidate their ownership further.

A similar pattern of concentration can be observed in British media, particularly in the newspaper industry. According to Curran (2002), this trend has been ongoing since the early 20th century. In 1937, four press barons—Lord Beaverbrook, Lord Rothermere, Lord Camrose, and Lord Northcliffe—owned one in every two national and local newspapers sold in the UK. By 2015, the number of significant owners had only slightly increased to seven. However, these companies had also diversified their holdings.

For instance, News Corp, owned by Rupert Murdoch, controls The Times, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday, and The Sunday Times. Similarly, DMG, historically linked to Lord Rothermere, now owns the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, the Metro, and 54 regional newspapers. Northern & Shell, owned by Richard Desmond, publishes the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star, and OK! Magazine, among others. The Telegraph Group, owned by the Barclay brothers, controls The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph. Only two national newspaper groups are controlled by companies rather than individuals: Trinity Mirror, which owns the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Sunday People, the Daily Record, and 150 regional newspapers, and the Guardian Media Group, which is run by the Scott Trust and owns both The Guardian and The Observer. Despite the slight increase in the number of press owners, a small group of people still disseminates a significant amount of information in the UK.

The concentration of ownership extends to British broadcasting as well. Here, we must distinguish between public and private ownership. The BBC, as a Public Broadcasting Corporation, is run by a board of trustees and funded by the government, so it is not considered a commercial entity and is therefore excluded from discussions of private ownership. In the realm of private, terrestrial commercial TV, the major players are ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5. The satellite and cable TV market is dominated by Sky, Virgin Media, and BT TV. Each of these companies owns a variety of channels. For example, ITV operates ITVX, ITV2, and ITVBe; Channel 4 runs More4, and Channel 5 has Five USA. Sky owns Sky Movies and Now TV, further illustrating the concentration of media ownership in the UK.