Getting to grips with the TV and Film industry.

Twentieth Century Fox Television.


Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, otherwise known as 20th Century fox, is one of the six major American film studios, as of 2011.The studio is located in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and is a subsidiary of Rupert Murdochs News Corporation. The company was created in May 31st, 1935, the company was the result of a merger of the two companies Fox Film Corporation which was founded in 1915 and Twentieth Century pictures which was founded in 1933. The merger was decided by Joe Schenck and Fox management, along with help from Spyros Skouras who was the manager of Fox West Coast theatres, he also later went on to become the president of the new company. Twentieth Century was the senior partner in the merger, despite it being a much smaller company than Fox. At first it was assumed the company would be called Fox Twentieth Century, however it was actually called 20th Century because despite having Schenck and Zanuck, the company was deemed more profitable and had more talent. The new company was called The Twentieth Century Fox - Film Corporation and began trading on may 31st, 1935. Some of the most popular Television shows were produced by 20th Century Fox, for example; American dad, Family guy and the simpsons. All three of these shows are shown in the UK on a daily/weekly basis. Fox brings out many different types of films every single year, from comedies like Whats Your Number? to worldwide known films such as the famous cartoon Avatar. 20th Television is Fox's syndication division. 20th Century Fox Tevelision is the studio's television production division. There was also huge controversy this year over the phone hacking scandal involving Rupert Murdoch and closing down one of the most popular newspapers in the UK, people worried that if it had affected the newspaper, then could it affect 20th Century Fox, upto now.. it hasn't affected it. However the company as a whole has taken a financial hit. In the longterm this could mean fewer new movies from both 20th Century Fox and art-film division Fox Searchlight.

Getting to grips with the TV and Film industry.

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British broadcaster which was first aired in 1982. It is a cross- Media company as it has different sectors in Television programmes, Music and Radio. It is a publicly owned television company, it is owned by Channel 4 Television Corporation. In 2010, Channel 4 became a UK wide TV channel for the first time. Channel 4 was created to add a fourth television channel to the UK. Channel 4 was added to our channels, along with BBC’s two services and the commercial broadcasting network, ITV. Channel 4 has a remit in which it must fulfil certain public service obligations such as demonstrating creativity; appeal to culturally diverse society; exhibit a distinctive character, as well as an obligation to provide programmes for school and a substantial amount of filming outside of Greater London. As channel 4 is an organisation, it is known as Channel 4 Television Corporation (C4C) however this form is more recent than the station itself as it used to be known as Channel Four Television Company Limited. In the beginning of the 1980's, the government decided a drastic change was needed in the television industry, so this then went on to be written into Broadcasting Act 1990. This meant the closing down of IBA, hence the Channel Four Television Company. During Channel Fours formative years, funding came from the ITV Companies, in return for their right to advertise their products/channels in their region on the fourth channel. However nowadays Channel Four pretty much pays for itself by things such as; on air advertising, programme sponsorship and the sale of any programme content that the channel owns the rights of, such as overseas sales and video sales. Channel Four also have rights to use funds from their other channels such as Film4 and E4. However these activities actually turned out to be loss making - In 2005 the extent of this cross - subsidy was around £30 million. The funding method changed when the Broadcasting Act 1990 was formed, the new company was given the ability to fund itself, at the time this was thought of as a 'safety net' which guaraunteed the minimum income if the revenue was to fall too low. In 2007, due to funding difficulties, Channel Four sought government help and was granted a payment of £14 million over a period of six years - the money would have come from the television license fee and would have been the first time the money would have been given to any television company other than the BBC, This plan was abandoned by The Secretary of State and Culture, Media and Sport, Andy Burnham.

Bauer Media.

Bauer Media.

The Bauer Media Group is a large publishing company based in Hamburg, Germany. The Bauer Media group is a multi-national media company. It operates in countries such as Germany, USA, Spain, France, Austria and so on. Altogether Bauer Media group operates in 15 countries worldwide. The company was founded in 1875. It has been privately owned by the Bauer family for four generations.  Bauer started in the United Kingdom with the launch of Bella magazine in 1987 and H Bauer publishing became Britain’s third largest publisher. Bauer Media was formally called Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG, abbreviated to HBV and now usually shorted to H. Bauer. Bauer Media was firstly a small publishing company, now it’s known worldwide. The Bauer Publishing Group comprises 282 magazines worldwide in 15 countries, as well as TV and radio stations. Bauer expanded even more in the UK with the purchase of EMAP consumer media EMAP radio in 2008 to become the UK’s biggest publishing group. The companies continue to trade as H Bauer Publishing. H Bauer brands include women’s magazines such as Take a Break, that’s life! Bella, TV choice and Total TV guide, as well as several puzzle magazines. Bauer Media gained a lot of attention when they launched Take A Break in 1990 as this then went on to be a market leader. Their other magazines such as That's life and Bella are also equally as successful. TvGuide has been the number one best selling magazine in the UK since Febuary 2008. Q – a magazine and music channel branded by Bauer Media started out as a magazine published monthly in the UK. It was originally going to be called Cue, but the name was swiftly changed in case it was mistaken for a Snooker magazine. In 2010, Bauer caused controversy with its attempt to impose a new contract on all photographers and writers, which takes away their copyright and off – loads liability for libel or copyright infringement from the publisher onto the contributor. Bauer Media also owns/ half owns a number music channels. Bauer Media Group has a 50% stake in the British television company, Box Television, the other half owned by Channel 4. Box Television produces several popular music television channels, such as; 4music, Q TV, Kiss TV, Kerrang! TV, the Box, Magic TV and Smash Hits TV. Personally I hadn’t heard of Bauer Media, however I had heard of their music channels so know that their audience is late teens as the programs and music featured on the channels are things that interest me and my age group.

News Corporation.

News Corporation is run by Rupert Murdoch; it was created in 1979 as a holding company for News Limited. News Limited was also created by Rupert Murdoch from the assets he inherited in 1952. News Corporation is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations), with secondary listings on the Australian Securities Exchange. It is a multi-national media conglomerate. In 1969, Murdoch took over News Of The World and launches the London Sun. Rupert Murdoch first made an impact in America in 1973 when he purchaed the San Antonia Express - News. Soon after this purchase, he founded Star magazine, then in 1976 he went on to buy the New York Post. He was starting to make a name for himself in the U.S. On the 4th of September 1985, Rupert Murdoch lost his Australian Citizenship as he became a naturalized citizen as only U.S citizens were permitted to own American television stations. In 1983, Sky, the first satellitte television network launces. In 1985, Murdoch purchased 20th Century Fox media studios and a year later, he also purchased six television stations owned by Metromedia. These six stations later went onto form the nucleous of Fox Broadcasting Company which was found on the 9th of October, 1986.  In 2005, News Corporation  purchased News Corp. Digital Media so they could have all of their companies advertised on one website, altogether. It is the second largest media conglomerate in terms of revenue as of 2011, and the world’s third largest in entertainment. Molded under the watchful eye of Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation continues to evolve and serve as a model to for the modern vertically integrated media conglomerate. Rupert Murdoch is obviously adamant that there is no bias in Fox News Channel. However News Corporation is extremely right wing as Rupert Murdoch is for war as we see in the times, the sun etc and so on. By his opinion being in all of his newspapers, sooner or later the readers, his audience, will see what he’s saying so much that they will probably start to believe it themselves, because they’ll think if it’s in all the newspapers then it must be right. They are limiting and controlling what we see and hear. If people don’t like what you are saying, if they disagree, your words won’t be published or listened to. Since early on, Fox News channel, everything is all one sided. Fox has become a central hub of the conservative’s movements. The stories they agree with will usually be repeated and promoted a lot more; the one’s they disagree with will be dismissed. Personally I think if News Corporation was less right wing, and actually aired/published people's different opinions on matters then the newspapers etc would appear less controlling.

Structure on Ownership of the Media Sector

I am going to be writing about the two companies, Bauer Media and News Corporation.