POTENTIAL PRIVATISATION OF THE BBC

The BBC is a public service that has been around since 1922 and has a significant reputation, so the potential privatisation has been an ongoing dispute. Any changes to the company will have an impact on the general public, employees and the government.

Pros: 

• No TV licence fee
• More money for the company itself
• Ofcom regulation will make it less biased
• Advert-free

Cons:

• Won't be unique
• Will lose a sense of it's history
• Ofcom regulation will reduce freedom
• Advertisements

People are up in arms about just how big the BBC is and how it seems to rule the UK's Television industry, so when issues such as unequal pay and politics shine a spotlight on the company, the potential privatisation discussion arises again. 

Conglomerate: The Walt Disney Company

ABOUT THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY

The Walt Disney Company, commonly known and shortened to Disney, are a mass media conglomerate who produce, distribute and exhibit primarily TV and Film. 

Founded by Walt Disney and Roy O Disney in California in October 1923, they are the second largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. 

The company started out as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, and established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before venturing into live-action film production, television, and theme parks. 

Taking on its current name in 1986, it began expanding to theater, radio, music, publishing, and online media which has lead to it's global success and maintained relevance.

Disney is best known for the products of its film studio, The Walt Disney Studios, which is now one of the largest and best-known studios in American cinema and has arguably ruled the childhoods of kids across the world.

WHAT DO THEY OWN? 

As one of the top six leading conglomerates in today's industry, often referred to as part of "The Big Six", Disney are not owned by any other company and nobody gets a share of their profit, which allows them to branch out and continuously expand what they own.

As you can imagine, they have a breathtaking amount of subsidiaries including; Disney Enterprises, The Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Theatrical, The Walt Disney Company India, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, The Muppets Studio, Disney-ABC Television Group, Radio Disney, UTV Software Communications, Maker Studios and 80% of ESPN Inc, 50% of A+E Networks and 32% of Hulu. 

Evidently, cross-media ownership is their strongest aspect and are the reason they are one of the world's leading media conglomerates. 

Other than Comcast who surprisingly beat them to the number one spot, Disney hold a monopoly over independent companies because they have the profit to be able to purchase more and claim more. 

For example, Maker Studios was an independent company who Disney purchased for $500 Million, and Maker already had a lot of success through YouTube. However, Disney need to make sure they stay relevant and therefore purchased something with ties to a very new and modern aspect of the media industry and with a crucial teen/young adult demographic. 

Disney employs the use of both vertical and horizontal integration. Vertical integration is where the production company owns the companies that produce, distribute and exhibit the films which Disney does, and they also receive all of the profit. Horizontal integration is where production companies can buy out other companies to distribute and exhibit their productions which is what Disney have done with Marvel Entertainment in a $4.24 Billion takeover. The general rule is that acquiring bigger companies like Marvel and Lucasfilms won't directly affect these companies' products or change them in any way shape or form but it is instead about the money aspect. 

Their purchase of Lucasfilms lead to a seventh instalment of the franchise which was released in December 2015 and further films have been scheduled, bringing another huge franchise back to life in the modern day with a fresh take on the story. 

HOW IS DISNEY DIVERSIFIED? 

Similar to cross-media ownership, diversification means that a company expands and branches out into different areas of the media industry. 

Disney is a prime example of a company that has diversified and they make plenty of money from things other than films, television and radio.

Disney have so much to their company that people forget about; it's not all about the films. They also have: 

• Toys & merchandise (Pop Vinyls, stuffed animals, clothing)
• Events (Disney On Ice)
• TV (Disney Channel)
• Resorts (including cruise ships)
• Games (Disney Infinity)
• Films (Pixar)

Surprisingly, only 49.2% of Disney's revenue comes from the media aspect of the business with a massive 31.3% coming from the multiple theme parks they have in the US, Europe and Asia with another opening in June of 2016. 

These parks are a huge aspect of Disney's reputation and kids worldwide dream of going on holiday to experience the magic that it brings and meet their favourite characters. 

One of the less successful aspects of the company is the interactive sector, including Disney Infinity which was actually discontinued this year in an attempt to make budget cuts and free up money for other things.

Consumer products are also a huge aspect although obviously don't bring in anywhere near as much profit as the media and the parks.

In most big cities, you'll find a Disney store, and the ones in huge tourist spots go all out with the decor to make kids feel like they're somewhere filled with the classic Disney magic that they grew up believing in. For example when I went to the Times Square store, the entrance had props to make you feel like you were actually in Frozen and there were Peter Pan and Tangled paintings all up the walls on the stairs to tie in the classics with the new generation of films. These stores are, as you would expect, filled with Disney merchandise. This includes merchandise for Marvel and Star Wars and ranges from clothing and lunch boxes to collectable figures and blankets.

WHO IS IN COMPETITION WITH DISNEY?

Disney being part of 'The Bix Six" means that their only competition is the other five leading media conglomerates; News Corporation, Time Warner, Viacom, CBS Corporation and the one that overtook them, Comcast. 

They have some competition from DC Comics due to owning Marvel, another comic book based company, but in recent years these two companies, or the fans at least, hold mutual respect and so a lot of it is about figuring out how both can exist and make a profit at the same time.

Independent: Optomen

ABOUT OPTOMEN

Optomen is an independent television production company with Optomen Television Ltd founded in 1988 in the UK and Optomens Production Inc in 2002 in the US. 

They have headquarters in both London and New York and produce shows for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky1, Good Food and Discovery in the UK and Fox, HBO, A&E, Discovery, TLC, PBS and Food Network in the US. 

Optomen's parent company is All3Media, who acquired them in August 2010 for £40 million along with the New York-based part of the company and One Potato Two Potato which is a joint venture with Gordon Ramsay. 

Food appears to be their main focus, with Gok Wan and The Hairy Bikers having their own shows, diet based programmes and good connections with Good Food and Food Network.

Their relationship with Gordon Ramsay has been so successful that they created One Potato Two Potato, a company which is focused on producing content involving Ramsay and his family for international broadcasters since it was established in 2008. 

All of Gordon Ramsey's shows including Kitchen Nightmares, Costa Del Nightmares and Hotel Hell, are produced by Optomen/One Potato Two Potato and seem to bring in most of it's success and recognition. 

WHAT TYPE OF ORGANISATION ARE THEY?

Optomen are a private independent company and they make a profit by selling their programmes to broadcasters. 

They have won an Emmy and three BAFTAS among other awards, which is a result of the success of their food-based shows. 

Without a celebrity chef like Ramsay, they probably wouldn't be known in the industry. 

HOW ARE OPTOMEN STRUCTURED, ORGANISED AND MANAGED?

Optomen UK have five permanent members of staff, USA have six and One Potato Two Potato have four, with the CEO overseeing all three parts. 

They have also published books to correspond with specific chefs and shows, ultimately leading to yet more recognition and boosting profits. 

Broadcaster: Channel 5

ABOUT CHANNEL 5

Channel 5 is a British television network which was launched in 1997. Between 2002 and 2011, it was branded as Five until Richard Desmond purchased it in July 2010 and announced his plans to invest more money in programming and return to the name Channel 5 with immediate effect. 

In May 2014, media conglomerate Viacom acquired it for £450 million. 

Although it operates solely in the UK rather than in other areas of Europe like Sky, this hasn't stopped Channel 5's success and reputation for bringing audiences some great shows, including imports from the US. 

You can access Channel 5 on both Sky and Freeview, making it easily accessible for anyone. 

It's home to Neighbours and Home & Away, the two biggest Australian soaps and having them on the same channel means that there is less rivalry between the shows and viewers aren't torn between which one to watch at the same time. 

On top of the "base" channel, just like Sky, Channel 5 also has its own channels consisting of 5 Star, and 5 USA.

5 Star provides dramas, soap operas, films and popular factual and lifestyle shows whereas 5 USA is focused solely on dramas, films, sports and comedy from the US only. 

Channel 5 is also known as the home of Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother which brings them a huge flood of loyal fans each time a new series begins. With Chicago PD, The Mentalist, The Hotel Inspector, Once Upon A Time, Under The Dome, Dallas, the NCIS franchise and the CSI franchise, there are plenty of popular shows to keep audiences occupied as well as the typical "trashy" British shows about benefits and debt collection. 

My5 is what was once known as Demand 5, and is Channel 5's catch-up service. You can access all of their shows online which is great for those who don't have Sky subscriptions and would rather use Freeview only. However, if you do have Sky, you can access My5 in Sky's catch-up service straight from your TV if you don't want to do it online. 

Also available are Channel 5+1 which is an hour behind the usual Channel 5 broadcasting schedule, and Channel 5+ 24 which is a whole 24 hours behind so viewers may not need to use a catch-up service.

WHAT TYPE OF ORGANISATION ARE THEY? 

Channel 5 are privately owned but Viacom is committed to recognising that it has public obligations and that public broadcasting is a huge part of the UK television industry and Channel 5's history. 

They make all of their money from advertising, including competitions linked to shows like Big Brother, Home and Away and Neighbours, and do not gain anything from the TV license system as all of that goes to the BBC. 

HOW IS CHANNEL 5 STRUCTURED, ORGANISED AND MANAGED? 

Channel 5 is a broadcaster which means that they commission programmes from independent production companies, therefore they don't have presenting, production, technical or studio employees. 

However, out of the 201-500 employees mentioned on their LinkedIn page, they do have commissioning editors for each genre who set out to find the right shows for the channel. Each commissioning editor has a section on the Channel 5 site in which they state what it is that they're looking for in a programme, whether it be a whole season, a one-off episode or a two-parter. 

The employees also include talent such as Farrah Abraham and various models and actors who have been involved in shows for channels owned by Viacom. Abraham has worked on Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5 itself, and also on Teen Mom on MTV which makes her an official employee until her main shows end.

Broadcaster: Sky

ABOUT SKY

Sky plc, formerly known as British Sky Broadcasting or BskyB, is a European company that provides internet, phone and mainly television services. With headquarters in London, Sky operates in Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy and is Europe's biggest leading media company and largest pay-TV broadcaster.

It was founded in November 1990 by the merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting, and as of 2015 has 21 million customers. Despite this media conglomerate being seemingly independent, 21st Century Fox own 39% of Sky. 

To use their services and watch the 240+ channels they provide, you have to pay a monthly subscription fee which varies massively depending on the TV packs you choose to access. For example, my family pays £22 a month for the Family package which includes everything except Sky Movies and Sky Sports. 

The Movies package is an extra £18 a month which deters a lot of customers, so Sky will often offer incentives such as free Movies for six months if you introduce a friend, but this is why so many people use nothing but Netflix these days. 

However, Sky Movies does now offer a Buy and Keep service on Movies too, meaning you can pre-order the latest films for the same price you'd pay for a DVD and then when it's released in stores, it will be available on your Sky box and you'll be sent a copy without having to do anything. 

There are 11 movie channels in total, including a dedicated Disney one, which all feature different genres. Before Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released in cinemas, there was a dedicated Star Wars channel and occasionally a Harry Potter channel will pop up. 

One of the biggest advantages of Sky is having Sky's own channels; Sky Living, Sky Atlantic and Sky 1, which mostly feature shows from the US which are a huge success. For example, Atlantic is known as the "Home of HBO" which is an American TV channel featuring some of the biggest shows of our time like Game of Thrones. 

If Sky didn't have such big shows to offer their customers, Freeview would take over since there is no cost. It's the incentives, the extras and the range that keeps Sky customers hooked. 

Another thing people love about Sky is the boxsets service, meaning you can watch entire seasons of your favourite shows if you miss them live or forget to record them. This is extremely useful and again rivals Netflix. 

The planner is where your recorded shows go, with a deleted folder in case you hit the wrong button or a family member sneakily tries to get rid of your show from the system, and you can pause and rewind live TV so you don't have to stay glued to the screen at all times. 

WHAT TYPE OF ORGANISATION ARE THEY?

Sky are privately owned and are not controlled by a government. They are a profit-making company which means that they can choose what their profit is spent on and where it goes, plus they are commercially funded which means that they gain a profit from the advertisements they show. 

It's clear that Sky has a big profit from the fact that they manage to get shows like Game of Thrones, 24 and Modern Family on their own channels.

HOW IS SKY STRUCTURED, ORGANISED AND MANAGED? 

Sky employs over 30,000 employees and as previously mentioned, has 21 million subscribers as well as using horizontal and vertical integration.

Vertical integration means that the production company owns the companies that produce and distribute the shows and films, such as Sky Living and Sky Atlantic. 

Horizontal integration is where production companies can buy out other companies in order to distribute and exhibit their productions. This is how Sky broadcasts so many other channels such as ITV, BBC, E! and MTV.

Sexually Explicit Content

As the demand for sexually explicit content in the media grows, it could be argued that it's all been taken a step too far. It's very easily accessible, with a quick Google search for 'pornography' returning thousands of results that need to be hidden away from young audiences. It's not just the internet, though. You see such content in magazines such as Nuts and if you turn to page 3 of The Sun, you are greeted with a half naked woman. Is it really appropriate to sell these products in a supermarket where young children are exposed to it? 

Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades is a British-American erotic film and is one of the most controversial productions of recent times. It is adapted from a trilogy of books which were controversial enough without the need to display it all on the big screen. Anastasia Steele is a college graduate who ends up involved in a BDSM relationship with a young entrepreneur, Christian Grey. It sparked a lot of controversy over the fact that a lot of Grey's actions could be classed as abuse rather than BDSM which is characterised by a safe, playful arrangement between two consenting people.

I was shocked to see people's responses in which they defend his actions, and people on social media were hyped up over the books (which I personally thought were just mediocre) and the explicit trailers for the film. I know a lot of people who were very excited upon the release of the first movie but upon actually viewing it, were disgusted over how the world of BDSM was portrayed. It's sending out the wrong message to audiences, a lot of whom may think that his actions were acceptable and justified, just because they were being shown on a screen.

The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street is another film that received a lot of criticism. It's an American biographical black comedy film, adapted from a memoir by Jordan Belfort, and recounts his career as a stockbroker in New York City and how his firm Stratton Oakmont engaged in corruption and fraud on Wall Street, ultimately leading to his downfall.

It constantly glamourises the use of drugs and sex, focusing on prostitutes and men's sexist treatment of women. To make matters worse, the film was hugely successful and won awards which again send the wrong message to audiences. The content of this film, and of Fifty Shades, should not be considered 'normal' by any means and definitely shouldn't be so easily accessible to younger generations who are so easily influenced by the mass media. 

Pornography

Porn stars are also glamourised, and people seem to think that everyone they have some form of relationship with is going to look and act like one. It falsely represents sex and relationships, and a lot of young people watch explicit videos on their laptops and phones without any restrictions, and are then lead to believe that this is what sex is like for everyone. Sure, for some people it is, but for a lot of people it isn't so x-rated. Everyone thinks that being a porn star would be ideal because you get so much money so easily, but audiences fail to realise that there are huge consequences about putting yourself online like that. Once again, the mass media is normalising sexually explicit content.