1998). The complexity of economic activities involved in media business can be well demonstrated in works by Alexander (1998), Doyle (2002), etc. However, for the purpose of this study, media economics is largely confined to the conglomeration of U.S. media, and the media conglomerates’ export of film and television programs.
In the U.S., the last decades of the 20th century will be remembered as ones of expansive media growth. Not only was the number of media outlets available to the public via cable, satellite, and the Internet greater than ever, but the media companies themselves were growing at an unprecedented pace. In 1983, the largest media merger to date had been when the Gannett newspaper chain bought Combined Communications Corporation-owner of billboards, newspapers, and broadcast stations-for $340 million. In 1999, Viacom and CBS merged at an unprecedented $38 billion; this record didn’t hold long before AOL and Time Warner reached a deal at $111 billion to form AOL-Time Warner in 2000.
These unparalleled mergers and acquisitions led to the formation of an oligopoly of global media conglomerates (Albarran, 2002; Demers, 1999). These companies, also called megamedia (Alger, 1998), or transnational media corporations (TNMC) (Gershon, 1997), are multi-divisional companies. Beyond sheer scale, one of the key differences in today’s media companies is the wide variety of media they comprise.
Today’s media giants are likely to be involved in almost all aspects of the英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】 media: publishing, television, film, music, the Internet, and more. It is in sense these companies are called conglomerates (Gershon, 1997).
本文来自：英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】 |
论文编号：
org200805190733571498 
