Media Ownership and Funding

Public Service Broadcasting (PSB)

In the UK the term 'Public Service Broadcasting' (PSB) refers to broadcasting which is made for the public and will benefit rather than  for solely commercial concerns. It came bout in 1924-26 in the BBC when they were undecided between not wanting to be commercial and not wanting to be run by the government, this would make the BBC look like a form of propaganda. 

The BBC are an example of Public Service Broadcasting.

Commercial Broadcasting

Commercial Broadcasting refers to the broadcasting of television and radio programs by corporate media which is privately owned as opposed to government funding and ownership.  

ITV and Channel 4 are examples of Commercial Broadcasting

Corporate and Private Ownership

There are two types of owner ship: Corporate and Private, Corporate ownership refers to allowing communication as a public service, and treating audiences as citizens rather than consumers. Private ownership on the other hand provides for the purpose of making profit.

'McDonald's' is an example of Corporate ownership, an example of Private ownership would be 'Duck commander', duckcommander.com.

Global Companies

A global company or multinational company is a company which has spread it's product all over the world, but the company itself is managed from its home country.

An example of a Global company would be 'Nike'

Concentration of Ownership

Concentration of ownership is a process where fewer and fewer companies or individuals own and control shares of the mass media

For example 6 companies own roughly 90% of the worlds media, therefore this means that they each have a conglomerate company . This is where a large company owns alot of other smaller companies so that they have a larger coverage.

Below is a picture showing examples of large ownership's and what they own:




Vertical Integration

This is known as expanding a business by owning products in different sectors. An advantage of vertical integration is the way in which it can improve efficiency in companies which is done by a decrease in transport costs. A disadvantage of vertical integration would be that merging companies will have less economies of scale because most of the production is at different stages of production. 

Horizontal Integration or Monopolization

This simply means buying rival companies which are in the same sector. An example of this would be 'Disney', they have many different sectors, e.g they merged with 'Pixar'

Sources of Funding

License Fee:

A licence fee is paying a certain amount of money to be given the permission/access to legally watch television. An example of a licence fee is BBC, this allows you watch all BBC programmes, radio and online services. 

Subscriptions:

A subscription is paying a fee in advanced to receive a certain service. An example of a subscription is 'SKY', SKY for a certain amount of money per month get to use a range of exclusive channels. Those that use subscriptions such as SKY, also have the ability to choose their package deal so they're not paying the full price for packages which they do not use, such as Sky Movies, Sky Sports etc.

One Off Payment:

One off payments are things such as a free-view box or a DVD, so once you have payed a one off payment for a DVD or a free-view box you have to  pay nothing else (there are no monthly payments or contracts involved)

Pay Per View:

This is where you have to pay a certain amount of money for a single viewing, an example of this is renting films on Xbox, once you have payed you can watch that film for the time allocated until it is removed from your account. Wrestling is also another example of this.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship is a way in which a business can bring their brand or products to the attention of the public/audience, by sponsoring a television show/channel, for example, 'McCain wedges' Sponsors Film 4 films. 

Advertising:

Advertising is like sponsorship, because its to do with a business bringing their brand/product/service to the attention of the public/audience. The amount of money which a business would have to pay to advertise will depend on the type of audience which it is aimed at. For example, if the audience is richer, it will cost the company more to advertise. 

Product Placement:

This type of funding is paying a company a certain amount of money for placing a product inside a film to advertise the product. An example of this is in 'Back to the Future 2' where Michael. J Fox or known in the film as Marty Mcfly  holding a pair of Nike trainers

Private Capital:

Private Capital or Financial Capital is money used by entrepreneurs or businesses to buy what they need or to help get there business up and running or to provide there services to the part of the economy which it applies to, e.g retail, banking etc.

Crowd Funding:

Crowd-funding is a source of funding which helps beginners or individuals which have gathered a good concept/idea, however cannot afford the fund to create the product, e.g Films, books, or any other type of media production. An example of a film which has been crowdfunded would be 'Get Lamp'.

Development Funds:

This type of funding funds/covers a large amount of the costs needed in a media production, although it cannot fully fund the entire production. And example of this would be BFI Funding of Lottery.