Media ownership and funding

Ownership

Public service Broadcasting (PSB)

These are TV programmes which are directly broadcast to the public benefits and not just for commercial benefits. One common example of this can be the BBC. The programmes that are broadcast include news, arts programmes and religious broadcasts. The public service broadcasting is not funded by the government.  There are other channels that also have PSB regulation however they are not the as PSB regulated as the BBC. For example the ITV also offers a few hours of religious programs every week.
Ofcom's regulations mean that certain TV and radio broadcasters are obliged to include a specific amount of public service broadcasts as part of their licence to broadcast.


Commercial Broadcasting

Commercial broadcasting is all based on money, it exists to make profit. Pretty much this type of broadcast sells its audience to advertisements. This type of broadcasting is normally privately owned corporate media as opposed to state ownership. This is one of the most dominant mode of broadcasting in the UK.
Example of commercial broadcasting can be Channel 4 and also I.T.V and many more.




Corporate and Private Ownership
These two are really different ownerships. Corporate ownership is listed as a public company and private ownership is owned by an individual. Corporate ownership involves the creation of a legal identity separate from those of its owners. While an individual may own all the shares of a corporation, he or she is not personally responsible for it. Having two different types of ownerships (corporate and Private) may lead to firms trying to make high profit due to completion. This will lead to no interest from the public.
Global companies
This is when a firm is involved with business in different countries instead of just one. The firm is making profit in more than one country. Global companies are there to market products to larger audience and exploiting tax differences.
Here are some examples of global companies (not specifically media related):

Concentration of Ownership
This simply refers to the amount of stock owned by an individual investor. We tend to think because there are so many channels there is a big diversity the media, however that is not the case. Six companies own 90% of the world media.
This is good in a way because it simply cuts of competition between companies (monopolisation).
Synergy - (cross platforms / support / advertising)


Vertical integration (owning stuff in different sectors)

This is when a firm owns stuff in different sectors. A company owns other companies in all other sectors of media industry. For example the company owns the Exhibition, the distribution and also the production. The reason this is done is to keep all the profit in a single company.
An example of this would be "Warner Brothers".





Horizontal Integration/monopolization
This is kind of similar to vertical integration but instead the company would buy other rival company in the same sector. A common example of this would be Disney buying Pixar studios to prevent competition.

Sources of Funding

The Licence Fee
TV's licence is the best way for a person to pay for what they are viewing on their TVs. The fee will cover a wide range of TV channels, radio and online content. The licence fee is good way of funding for many companies. An example of this would be the BBC. They receive most of their incomes which rounds to 3.7 billion, from costumers paying an annual fee of £145.50 to view programmes on their TVs. This fee is set by the British Government and agreed by Parliament.

Subscription
Subscription is a kind of win win situation, it simply is add on channels where costumers will pay in order for the channel to be broadcasted.  To view these channels you must be prepared for extra monthly bills. Common example of this would be the Sky Sports and Sky Movies.

One-off payment to own product


These would be free viewing box sets. An example of this could be a blu ray. They simple allow the users to view a certain amount of free viewing channels for only one purchase.







Pay per View

This service works by the costumers paying an extra single fee on top of their monthly fee in order to access a specific programme once each payment. There are all sorts of things people tend to pay per view. The most common ones are latest movies, sports, concerts and adult contents. A common example of a sporting event that is pay per view is wrestling.



Sponsorship


 Sponsorship means to support someone or something financially or through a provision of products. Sponsorship in media is when a programme is sponsored by a manufacture. For example "Coronation Street" which is sponsored by "Compare the Market".









Advertising
Advertisements is also used as a way of funding for some channels. This is done by buying the audience through adverts. The numbers of audience bought will depend on how many viewers the channel has and also the spending power of the audience. Two channels that commonly use adverts as a funding method are ITV and Channel 4.
Here is an old example of advertising (Fairy Liquid)

Product Placement
Product placement is when the company decides to place the product inside the text. Sometimes the product can also be found in films for promotional values. A common example of a film with lots of products placement would be "James Bond". In all the films collection he has done all sorts of product placements varying from transports, watches and drinks.
An example of a watch product placement from James Bond:


Private Capital
This is simply a private investment. It is when individual investors raise money for themselves. This has no external funding. These sorts of investments will usually require a load of paper work in order to secure the funds.

Crowd-funding



This is normally the kick starter. It is another way of raising your finances but this is done in a different form. This is done by asking a small amount of finance to a large number of people from the crowed.






Development Funds
This is a financial aid given in some countries for certain film production. An example of this would be the BFI, lottery funding for new film makers. They use the lottery to support those who are developing films in their productions and distribution.

Other
As you can see there are many ways of funding for productions. There are more ways other than those listed above. For example you can also be funded by "banks". The way this would work is by asking for a loan from the bank. Another method of funding could be your own "private investor". This would work by simply investing your own money shares.