The big six - media industry

The big six are the main companies which own the media worldwide. These six companies are made up of ;
viacom
Disney
Newscorp
CBS
GE
Time Warner

In the post i will be discussing each company and their sources of income.

Viacom

Viacom is an american based global company which own a majority of the entertainment industry. They brodcast to over 160 countries through the use of  television,the internet,mobile platforms and motion pictures. They own a range of assests such as;

viacom international,Paramount pictures,MTV films,Nickelodean movies,Comedy central,Logo,BET,Spike,TV Land, jr.,MTV,VH1,mtv2,TR3s,CMT,Palladia,Game trailers,Neopets and MTV new media. 

All in all they have a net worth of $14.914 billion in the U.S.

Disney

Disney is another multinational company based in the united states. They have a vast monopoly in the media industry ranging from theme-parks to television broadcasters. They are renown for there cartoons created by the founder Walt Disney. However, they also own many television networks such as ; 

ABC, ESPN, Disney channel soapnet ABC, ABC Family, ABC Kids, Walt Disney Distribution, Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, Disney Channel, ESPN, Jetix, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Walt Disney Television Animation, Walt Disney Records, Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Miramax Films, ABC Studios, Playhouse Disney, Disney Consumer Products, Pixar, Soapnet, Disney Interactive Studios, Muppets Holding Company, Disney Store, Toon Disney, New Horizon Interactive, and Hollywood Records.

All in all they have an annual revenue of around about $35 billion.

Newscorp

Newscorp is a multi-national company owned by Rupert Murdoch  He inherited the company from his father and expanded it by buying other assets such as the sun newspaper. Newscorp operates in USA, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Canada, Latin America and Europe. Due to the vast amount of companies the company owns it has a huge impact on the media industry. This means it has a knock on effect on the way the general public perceive things. Newscorp has a total net worth of $7.6 billion.

CBS

CBS (Columbia broadcasting system) are a broadcasting company stationed in the U.S. In terms of television broadcasting they are the second largest in the world,the first being BBC. The company broadcasts to CBS broadcasts in, USA, Europe, Africa, middle east, UK, Ireland,  Australia, New Zealand and Italy. 
The various companies which they own are ;


Columbia Records, Publishing companies, Musical instrument division, Film Production, Home Video (MGM/CBS), Gabriel Toys(video game market), Viacom(broadcasting), CBS radio.

The owner of CBS (Sumner. M Redstone) has a total net worth of $4.4 billion.

GE

GE (General Electric) covers a large amount of media across the world. They mainly operate the company NBC which they own 80% of. NBC is a leading entertainment company which owns most of the highest viewed t.v shows broadcasted. They also own a large amount of other businesses such as GE energy and universal pictures. They have a total net worth of about $230 billion.

Time Warner

The Time Warner company operate in various sectors of the media industry. These sectors ranging from industrys such as film,television and publishing. Although, in the year 2000 AOL bought Time Warner for $164 billion. Now AOL own  of 55 % of Time Warner's stocks leaving the time Warner share holders with a stake hold of 45 %. The company has a total net worth of around about $46 billion.

Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch is at the top of the food chain in terms of media in the United Kingdon. He is CEO of the company News Corp, which is one of the big six. News Corp is the second largest media institution in the world. So you can imagine how much power he has over the uk alone. Rupert Murdoch first began in australia. His carrer started after the death of his father. He took the family business 'News limited' and turned it into a huge success in australia. Eventually he started business in the UK. This lead him into owning assets such as the sun and News Of The World. Due to the his high profile and astronomical amount of money Rupert murdoch has much sway in the world of politics. For instance he is a Labour Party supporter. Due to this his newspapers tend to lean towards promoting the party and their ideals. After the Thatcher era Murdoch supposobly built a close relationship with Tony Blaire. Being the leader of the labour party Tony Blaire was promoted in Murdochs newspapers. Many people think this close relationship he has with politicion effects the outcomes of elections massively. Overall Ruport Murdoch is a key high profile person in the U.K media industry. The media has the power to change peoples opinions and make a huge influence on society. Being at the top of the media food chain, Ruport Murdoch is probably one of the most infuention figures in the UK.