The process of conglomeration of the media industry

Introduction

The process of media conglomeration has led to the regrouping of multinational companies, which has generated power of considerable proportions. This means that these companies have control of the local and international market. Their control over the market has been accelerated with the launch of satellites and other developments in the media, such as in the field of digital press, digital music and digital videos.

One of the main problems is related to the effects of the western media; particularly the American media, in other cultures, as they continually dominate the international market. This topic raises questions about the diversity of options, quality and competition.

With the development and scope of satellite technology, it can be argued that the local culture of many countries, particularly the underdeveloped ones, has become the main victim as a result of this type of media domination, in a world of faster global communications. . Local programmers and film production in underdeveloped countries have suffered greatly because international companies sell their media products at such a low price that local producers cannot compete with them.

From the above, we can see that we have underdeveloped countries that depend almost entirely on cheap Western programs to fill the time on their television screens. The irony is that money was made available to television companies in these underdeveloped countries so that they could buy the products of the American media rather than the help needed to produce their own shows.

The global market

With the launch of satellite communication systems, the global market assumed different dimensions. Suddenly, the world became much smaller than it used to be, smaller in the sense of mass media reach and access, so the phrase ‘global village’ became the expression of the day that the media used regularly when they wanted to refer to the media. world as a whole.

As a result, each nation’s market became the market for any nation possessing the latest technology in commercial satellite communications. This situation brought all the old Western media products back to life, especially American products.

Sales in this situation increased at an incredible rate, that is, they sold all the old shows and movies to many African and Asian countries that no one in the West wanted to see.

In this new era of communication, there is a huge market, a market to fill the time in all the television channels of the world: the beginning of the conglomerate market. The underdeveloped world has nothing to compete with this. Producing movies or your own shows is too expensive compared to what is available on the international market. Therefore, it is not surprising to see an American soap opera made more than 20 years ago on the television of a small African country.

Large international companies are getting bigger every day as the number of their spectators around the world increases. Western media corporations control the entire international market, which is one of the main problems related to media conglomeration.

A positive argument for the conglomeration process is that free markets will bring competition, consequently making the diversity of media products a reality for all customers around the world. That’s what the owners of large corporations, like Mr. Murdoch, believe.

Local people would prefer to see a reflection of their own daily life on their television channel, rather than what is or was happening in far away places (eg a high proportion of Zimbabweans watched ‘Root’). It seems that the danger in a situation like this is that the people of that African country, and especially the new generation, see Western media production as a model that should be copied in their own daily lives. The local culture, which must be protected, is gradually destroyed.

Power and control

The power (and control) exercised by the conglomerate is an important issue, as it affects the opportunity to speak. Fair competition between businesses and freedom of expression in a democratic society is an important factor for progress within any culture. Unfortunately, this is not the case for Western media products, meaning large corporations want other countries to depend on their products.

Access to the media is therefore limited to a few companies and consequently the choice is limited. For example, the local producer in an underdeveloped country will always find it difficult to launch his new product, and even if he succeeds in launching it, the financial gain, in some cases, will hardly cover the cost. Therefore, there is an argument in favor of the diversity and choice of media products, that is, it is important not to have in any country the saturation of any media product, as is the case with the current situation of the saturated market of US media production.

When it comes to the music industry, the market and the power to control it again is the main problem. The $ 30 billion industry generates its revenue from the huge international market. For example, a Michael Jackson album ‘Thriller’ sold more than 40 million copies, which consequently produced a profit for CBS of more than $ 60 million. The Japanese ‘Sony’ saw that there was an opportunity for their hardware industry in this market, so when the CBS company decided to sell their record division, they (the Japanese) bought it for $ 2 billion. The ‘sale’ meant a new door that was opened for more sales for Sony, that is, with their new technology at that time, for example, CDs, software, etc., they can sell the music again in a new format. From the previous acquisition, large corporations in the music industry copied Sony’s action by buying market shares of other smaller music companies. The latest music business, ‘Virgin’, was sold to EMI Thorn for $ 500 million. Therefore, there are few large corporations that control the music industry around the world, such as Thorn-EMI, Sony, Philips / Polygram, Matsushita / MCA, Time Warner, and Bertelsmann / BMG.

The aforementioned companies have penetrated the world market and have a general monopoly on this market, which consequently, as mentioned in relation to the film and television industry, brings with it a limitation in consumer choice.

The printing industry (publications)

Regarding the printing industry, that is, publications such as newspapers, magazines and books, statistics show that between 1985 and 1995 the number of media products and distribution systems has increased markedly. However, this does not mean that these new products have been successfully established on the market. Many of the new releases at the time, such as News on Sunday, The Sunday Correspondent and The Post, could not survive the competition and consequently closed. Many critics believe that the closure of several newspapers was the result of Murdoch’s price war. For example, the News Corporation account for 1994 indicated a loss of over £ 45 million in the UK alone. However, earnings at BSKyB rose to over £ 186 million. News Corporation also suffered a drop in earnings outside the UK, but at the same time saw a rise in earnings from TV and movies. Murddoch tried to increase the sale of his newspapers, which means turning away readers from newspapers like the Daily Telegraph and The Independent. He lowered the price of The Times newspaper and also introduced fancy bingo, bringing in more sensational stories in the Sunday Times (the fake Hitler Diaries), all of this had limited success.