Ownership.

Convergence/cross media - Two or more types of media coming together e.g. Kick Ass - comic & film, TRON - Daft Punk soundtrack

Synergy - Different elements of a company working together to promote related products e.g. The Boat That Rocked soundtrack & film, Paramount Pictures, Film 4

Concentration of media ownership - The process by which an increasingly smaller number of companies own most media outlets e.g Big 6 Studios

Cross-media ownership - When a company which produces two or more types of media

Conglomerate - A large parent company which owns a range of smaller companies

Subsidiary - Smaller companies owned by a parent company

Oligopoly - When the market is dominated by a smaller number of companies

The Big Six film studios dominates the US film industry: (largest to 6th largest)

• Walt Disney Pictures
• Universal Pictures
• 20th Century Fox
• Paramount
• Columbia Pictures
• Warner Brothers

Together they control 90% of media.

Implications of this ownership structure

• US domination is crushing British film industry
• Everyone else potentially can only make indie/niche films as they don't have the money to make films with wide appeal/ 4 quadrant pictures

Film market in the UK is dominated by US products.

18 out of the top 20 most successful films at the UK Box Office were made by the Big 6 Studios.
75% of the total UK Box Office is accounted for by US films.

Institutions used in British Film Industry:

• Independent companies
• TV
• Government bodies - UK Film Council
• Co-productions with Hollywood Studios