Ownership and Funding

Ownership concepts: 


Public Service Broadcasting

This is mostly associated with the BBC, which introduced TV licensing as a method to pay for their services. The Director General of the BBC John Reith (1922) said that the BBC was a "public service, rather than public exploitation", and the TV license was to avoid commercialism, which was considered vulgar, and accusations of propaganda should they receive government funding. This is why there are no adverts on the BBC, as it was supposed to be morally and spiritually good for it's audience, stating its purpose was to "inform, educate and entertain". In this case, the audience is who the company serves.

Commercial Broadcasting 

In contrast, these companies sell their audiences to advertising. Users often pay subscriptions to companies, such as Sky, for more viewing than regular freeview. They gain most of their money from companies who wish to advertise during or between shows. However, there are companies such as Netflix, which allow viewers to watch content without adverts, and makes its money from the monthly payment of its viewers. 

These companies can also use sponsorships from other companies as a way of advertising, e.g. Comparethemarket sponsors Coronation Street on ITV. There is also the opportunity for product placement, which is a subtle way to advertise a product, as a viewer will see a character using a product and subconsciously wish to own it, e.g.  Aston Martin in the James Bond franchise, Sony products in The Amazing Spiderman. 

Corporate and Private Ownership 

Private ownership:

•  The broadcasting company is owned by a small group of people and the profit goes to the owners or the shareholders, such as ITV. Another example is Virgin Media, which is privately owned by Sir Richard Branson, and is aimed at making money for their shareholders. 

Corporate ownership:

• Publicly owned by the stater not the government, which doesn't make money for itself, such as the BBC. There may be shareholders who own the rights and shares to a company, but they are not responsible or liable for it. The company represents the company, not the shareholders and is able to develop or dismiss contracts, sue or be sued etc. 

Global Companies 

These are companies that operate across the world, often known as media conglomerates. These companies own a high percentage of the media, and span over several companies.

The concentration of ownership from these conglomerates means that they take over smaller, independent companies to increase their profit. For example, when Disney bought out Lucasfilm for the Star Wars franchise. 

Vertical Integration

This is when production companies buy out distributors and cinemas to increase their profit, and to prevent other companies from making profit from their produce. 



Horizontal Integration 

This involves companies buying other companies within the same sector (production companies buying other companies) or pushing other companies out of business to increase profit.



Funding is also gained from:

• One off payments to own a product, such as DVDs, Blu-Ray, merchandise etc. After a film or a TV show is released in store a person can purchase they're own version of it. Also, to gain a following for a franchise, the production company will release merchandise around the time of the release, or work with other companies to create promotional packs of products (e.g. Wonder Woman lipsticks with a purchase of a woman's razor). This provides funding whilst also allowing the producers to see how popular a franchise is. 

• Crowdfunding websites, such as gofundme, allow anyone to campaign to raise money towards an independent film, as members of the public can donate money if they're interested, and the campaign may catch the eye of a private investor who could also donate. This allowed movies such as Blue Mountain State to be funded, and raised $1,911,827 to create a movie to follow up the cancelled TV show. 

• Development funds, such as charities or the lottery, which have funded films such as St. Trinians and Girl with the Pearl Earring.  The lottery chooses to fund British films to promote our culture and industry, as we are very much dominated by American film and culture.