Who Controls the Media?
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Parent Company General Electric
$100.5 billion
1998 revenues
Time Warner
$26.8 billion
1998 revenues
The Walt Disney Co.
$23 billion
1998 revenues
Viacom
$18.9 billion
1998 revenues
News Corporation
$13 billion
1998 revenues
Background GE/NBC's ranks No. 1 on the Forbes 500. Prior to its merger with NBC and an alliance with Microsoft, GE specialized in electronics. The peacock owns many New York sports team. It also owns or has equity stakes in many popular websites, including Snap.com and iVillage. The largest media corporation in the world, Time Warner owns film and music production companies, theme parks, sports teams, magazines, websites and book publishers as well as Turner Broadcasting With its 1995 merger with Capital Cities/ABC, Disney has become a fully-integrated media giant. In addition to its theme parks, the company profits from retail outlets, magazines, book publishers, websites, motion pictures, sports teams, TV, cable, radio, music and newspapers. Viacom's purchase of Paramount, CBS and Blockbuster Video enables them to use cable, television, movies, comic books, theme parks, music publishing and book publishing to cross-market their products. Broadcasting alone brings in over $6 billion in revenues. CEO Rupert Murdoch's style has inspired respect and fear, and it has also made his multinational ventures in publishing, television and satellite services very successful. The company owns 20th Century Fox, the New York Post, the London Times, TV Guide, many stadiums, the LA Dodgers and five New York sports teams.
Networks Owned NBC
includes programming, news and more than 13 TV and radio stations
TURNER BROAD-
CASTING
includes sports teams, programming, production, retail, book publishing and multimedia
WB
Television Network
ABC
includes ABC Radio, ABC Video and ABC Network News
CBS
includes stations, CBS Radio, CBS Telenoticias and CBS Network News
UPN
includes programming and TV stations (50%)
FOX
includes programming and stations
Cable Interests Owns 25-50% of the following:
A & E (with Disney and Hearst)
American Movie Classics (25%)
Biography Channel (with Disney and Hearst)
Bravo (50%)
Bravo International
CNBC
Court TV (with Time Warner)
Fox Sports Net
History Channel (with Disney and Hearst)
Independent Film Channel
MSG Network
MSNBC (50%)
National Geographic Worldwide
News Sport
Prime
Prism (with Rainbow, a subsidiary of Cablevision, and Liberty Media, a subsidiary of TCI)
Romance Classics
Sports Channel Cincinnati, Chicago, Florida, New England, Pacific, Ohio, Philadelphia
HBO (75%)
Cinemax
HBO Direct Broadcast
Court TV (33% with GE)
TBS Superstation
Turner Classic Movies
TNT
Cartoon Network
Comedy Central (37.5% with Viacom)
Sega Channel
OVATION (50%)
Women's Information Television (WIN) (partial)
TVKO (75%)
4 regional all-news channels
CNN
CNN/SI (with Sports Illustrated)
CNNfn (financial network)
CNNRadio
Headline News
Sportsouth
CNN International
CNN Airport Network
Disney Channel
Disney Television (58 hours/week syndicated programming)
Toon Disney
Touchstone Television
A&E (37.5% with Hearst and GE)
Lifetime Network (50%)
ESPN (80% with Hearst)
ESPN2 (80% with Hearst)
ESPN Classic (80% with Hearst)
ESPN West (80% with Hearst)
ESPNews (80% with Hearst)
Buena Vista Television
Biography Channel (with GE and Hearst)
History Channel (37.5% with Hearst and GE)
Classic Sports Network
E! (35%)
Nickelodeon
MTV
M2: Music Television
VH1
Showtime
Nick at Nite's TVLand
Paramount Networks Comedy Central (50% with Time Warner)
TNN: The Nashville Network
Movie Channel
FLIX
All News Channel (50%)
Sundance Channel (45%)
Midwest Sports Channel
CBS Telenoticias (30%)
Home Team Sports (66% with News Corporation)
Fox Family Channel (50%)
Fox News Channel
fx (50% with TCI's Liberty Media)
fxM (50% with TCI's Liberty Media)
Fox Sports Net (25% with TCI, GE and Cablevision)
The National Geographic Channel (50%)
FIT TV Partnership
Regional networks, including TV Guide Channel and Fox Sports New York
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Other Major Players:
AT&T (TCI) - Recently acquired by AT&T, TCI's hold on cable, internet and local phone services contributed to $7.6 billion in 1997 revenues. TCI is the second-largest US cable television system provider, and it has 10% ownership of Time-Warner/Turner. The company owns all or part of USA Network, Sci-Fi Network, E!, Court TV, Starz! and Starz! 2, Black Entertainment Television, BET on Jazz, BET Movies/Starz! 3, CNN, TNT, Headline News, Prime Sports Channel, The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel, QVC, Q2, Fox Sports Net, The Travel Channel, Prevue Channel, Animal Planet, The Box, Telemundo, International Channel, Encore, MSG Network, Action Pay-per-view, and the Home Shopping Network.
Sony - Sony's main media interests, earning $9 billion in 1997 sales, are in film and television production, movie theaters and music.
Universal (Seagram) - In addition to Universal Studios, with its production facilities and theme parks, the company owns the USA and Sci-Fi cable networks.
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Parent Company General Electric
$100.5 billion
1998 revenues
Time Warner
$26.8 billion
1998 revenues
The Walt Disney Co.
$23 billion
1998 revenues
Viacom
$18.9 billion
1998 revenues
News Corporation
$13 billion
1998 revenues
Background GE/NBC's ranks No. 1 on the Forbes 500. Prior to its merger with NBC and an alliance with Microsoft, GE specialized in electronics. The peacock owns many New York sports team. It also owns or has equity stakes in many popular websites, including Snap.com and iVillage. The largest media corporation in the world, Time Warner owns film and music production companies, theme parks, sports teams, magazines, websites and book publishers as well as Turner Broadcasting With its 1995 merger with Capital Cities/ABC, Disney has become a fully-integrated media giant. In addition to its theme parks, the company profits from retail outlets, magazines, book publishers, websites, motion pictures, sports teams, TV, cable, radio, music and newspapers. Viacom's purchase of Paramount, CBS and Blockbuster Video enables them to use cable, television, movies, comic books, theme parks, music publishing and book publishing to cross-market their products. Broadcasting alone brings in over $6 billion in revenues. CEO Rupert Murdoch's style has inspired respect and fear, and it has also made his multinational ventures in publishing, television and satellite services very successful. The company owns 20th Century Fox, the New York Post, the London Times, TV Guide, many stadiums, the LA Dodgers and five New York sports teams.
Networks Owned NBC
includes programming, news and more than 13 TV and radio stations
TURNER BROAD-
CASTING
includes sports teams, programming, production, retail, book publishing and multimedia
WB
Television Network
ABC
includes ABC Radio, ABC Video and ABC Network News
CBS
includes stations, CBS Radio, CBS Telenoticias and CBS Network News
UPN
includes programming and TV stations (50%)
FOX
includes programming and stations
Cable Interests Owns 25-50% of the following:
A & E (with Disney and Hearst)
American Movie Classics (25%)
Biography Channel (with Disney and Hearst)
Bravo (50%)
Bravo International
CNBC
Court TV (with Time Warner)
Fox Sports Net
History Channel (with Disney and Hearst)
Independent Film Channel
MSG Network
MSNBC (50%)
National Geographic Worldwide
News Sport
Prime
Prism (with Rainbow, a subsidiary of Cablevision, and Liberty Media, a subsidiary of TCI)
Romance Classics
Sports Channel Cincinnati, Chicago, Florida, New England, Pacific, Ohio, Philadelphia
HBO (75%)
Cinemax
HBO Direct Broadcast
Court TV (33% with GE)
TBS Superstation
Turner Classic Movies
TNT
Cartoon Network
Comedy Central (37.5% with Viacom)
Sega Channel
OVATION (50%)
Women's Information Television (WIN) (partial)
TVKO (75%)
4 regional all-news channels
CNN
CNN/SI (with Sports Illustrated)
CNNfn (financial network)
CNNRadio
Headline News
Sportsouth
CNN International
CNN Airport Network
Disney Channel
Disney Television (58 hours/week syndicated programming)
Toon Disney
Touchstone Television
A&E (37.5% with Hearst and GE)
Lifetime Network (50%)
ESPN (80% with Hearst)
ESPN2 (80% with Hearst)
ESPN Classic (80% with Hearst)
ESPN West (80% with Hearst)
ESPNews (80% with Hearst)
Buena Vista Television
Biography Channel (with GE and Hearst)
History Channel (37.5% with Hearst and GE)
Classic Sports Network
E! (35%)
Nickelodeon
MTV
M2: Music Television
VH1
Showtime
Nick at Nite's TVLand
Paramount Networks Comedy Central (50% with Time Warner)
TNN: The Nashville Network
Movie Channel
FLIX
All News Channel (50%)
Sundance Channel (45%)
Midwest Sports Channel
CBS Telenoticias (30%)
Home Team Sports (66% with News Corporation)
Fox Family Channel (50%)
Fox News Channel
fx (50% with TCI's Liberty Media)
fxM (50% with TCI's Liberty Media)
Fox Sports Net (25% with TCI, GE and Cablevision)
The National Geographic Channel (50%)
FIT TV Partnership
Regional networks, including TV Guide Channel and Fox Sports New York
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Other Major Players:
AT&T (TCI) - Recently acquired by AT&T, TCI's hold on cable, internet and local phone services contributed to $7.6 billion in 1997 revenues. TCI is the second-largest US cable television system provider, and it has 10% ownership of Time-Warner/Turner. The company owns all or part of USA Network, Sci-Fi Network, E!, Court TV, Starz! and Starz! 2, Black Entertainment Television, BET on Jazz, BET Movies/Starz! 3, CNN, TNT, Headline News, Prime Sports Channel, The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel, QVC, Q2, Fox Sports Net, The Travel Channel, Prevue Channel, Animal Planet, The Box, Telemundo, International Channel, Encore, MSG Network, Action Pay-per-view, and the Home Shopping Network.
Sony - Sony's main media interests, earning $9 billion in 1997 sales, are in film and television production, movie theaters and music.
Universal (Seagram) - In addition to Universal Studios, with its production facilities and theme parks, the company owns the USA and Sci-Fi cable networks.
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