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In the early 1980s, roughly fifty different companies owned 90% of American media. By
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1992, that number had dropped to less than two dozen, and in recent years, that same
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90% has fallen to just Six major conglomerates. Although various mergers and layers of external
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control make this an inexact number. Most of the “Big Six” hold interests in film
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production, cable and broadcast television, news, sports, music, and online streaming.
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So, who exactly controls the media?
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As of 2015, the largest media company in the world by revenue is Comcast. According to
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the SEC, in 2014, they reportedly made nearly $69 billion dollars. Like the other conglomerates,
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Comcast owns nearly every step in media production and distribution. In fact, Comcast is the
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single largest cable provider on earth. Content is created through subsidiaries like NBCUniversal,
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which is then broadcast over TV and the Internet through Xfinity. Comcast is also a major internet
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service provider, covering more than half of all US broadband customers. Even online
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streaming giant, Hulu, is jointly owned by three of the Big Six.
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The next largest conglomerate is The Walt Disney Company, with reportedly roughly $48
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billion dollars in revenue. Disney has holdings in theme parks, movie studios, and diverse
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television networks, such as ABC, A&E and ESPN. They also own a number of legacy companies
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like Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, and Lucasfilms of the Star Wars franchise.
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The third of the “Big Six” is 21st Century Fox, which emerged in 2013 as a spin off of
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Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. Today, Fox makes about $32 billion dollars a year,
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and is predominantly focused on film and television, including Fox News Channel, which made nearly
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800 million dollars in ad revenue in 2014.
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The last independent conglomerate is Time Warner, with revenues of about $27 billion
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dollars. In the 1990s they were the largest media company in the world. But an unsuccessful
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merger with AOL at the peak of the dot-com bubble made them lose nearly $100 billion
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dollars in 2002. Since then, AOL and Time Inc, as well as Time Warner’s entire cable
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division have become separate companies. Because they are now unrelated, Time Warner and Time
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Warner Cable are the fourth and fifth largest media companies in the world, according to
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Finally, the last two are CBS and Viacom. In 2013 they reported about $14 to $15 billion
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dollars in revenue each. They used to be a single company controlled by National Amusements,
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a movie theater chain. Today, although they are individually held, National Amusements’
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owners have enough stock in both to effectively dictate control. So, in a way, there aren’t
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even six conglomerates, but five! Or maybe there are seven?
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Some, including former Time Warner’s former vice chairman Ted Turner, have said media
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conglomerates have become oligopolies, and that they stifle innovation. But others point
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out that they also can provide a greater global reach for smaller and newer companies.
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In fact, I work for one of those newer companies, Fusion, which is partially owned by ABC-Disney.
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Check out my mini-documentary about independent citizen journalists in Brazil challenging
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Rio’s police brutality. Don’t forget to like and subscribe to TestTube News, and make
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sure to check out my channel Timcast. Thanks for watching and see ya next time!