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Media Giants

With the question of how the United States has influenced the global communication market, I think we have to look at two of the largest media conglomerates: Time Warner and Disney. Both have beginning origins in U.S., and have transformed into global media super powers. There isn’t even one company that can contest with what Time Warner and Disney have produced and the amount of media that they control. In the early 1990s, these franchises have generated 15 percent of their income from outside the United State. Within seven years each company’s foreign income had grown between 30 and 25 percent (McChesney). Both of these media conglomerates are expected to do a majority of their business outside the United States within the next decade. Time Warner and Disney own a plethora of different media outlets. Film, television, cartoons, radio, and even literature all have been affected by these two media giants. With the progress they’ve made, surely they will continue to develop their global media reach even further.

Time Warner is the largest media corporation in the world. It was formed in 1989 by Time Inc. and Warner Communications (McChesney). As early as 1996, the company’s moves foreshadow it going completely global, establishing at the time over 200 subsidiaries worldwide. That same year 2/3rds of Time Warner’s income came directly from the United States, and since then it has slowly decreased (McChesney). In the mid 1990’s, the company’s global growth rate was 15 percent, and is expected to increase even further to close to 30 percent (McChesney). Here in Bowling Green, we recognize Time Warner as a cable provider, but cable only contributes 10 percent of the company’s income. Music brings in close to 20 percent, and rest of Time Warner’s income is brought in by video and film (McChesney). Within film, the company owns over 1,000 movie theatres outside of the United States (McChesney). They own HBO International which is the leading subscription television channel in the world. It reaches over 35 different countries, and when asked about the channel’s global expansion, President Jeffery Bewkes replied with the phrase, “manifest destiny” (McChesney). Along with HBO, Time Warner also owns CNN. Like HBO, CNN has made moves to reach people on a global scale. With 10 satellites reaching over 200 different countries, the channel has reached a mass audience. It also contributes different languages such as Hindi, Japanese, French, and Arabic (McChesney). CNN even launched a Spanish-language service in Atlanta, for its consumers in the Latin America Region. By merging with Turner, Time Warner has become the largest library of film, television, and cartoons in the world (McChesney). We can only suspect the company will grow even more in the future, to harden its grip on its global media power.

Disney has always been a very well-known company. People often associate Disney with its many cartoons and theme parks. But in the early 1990’s the company changed all that, it decided to focus more on its films and television programs (McChesney). In 1995, Disney showed the world that it was taking this idea very seriously by purchasing Capital Cities/ABC for $19 billion. This is the one of the biggest acquisition deals in business history (McChesney). With the addition on ABC, the company gained a national broadcasting network and global media. Since that deal Disney now generates 31 percent of its income from broadcasting, and 23 percent from its theme parks and creative services (McChesney). With the addition on ABC, the company gained a national broadcasting network and global media. Disney has made markets deals with other global companies such as McDonalds and Mattel. In early 1995, Disney made the announcement that it want to take its current foreign market income at 23 percent, and increase it to 50 percent within the next 5 years. Two areas that do very well on a global scale are Disney’s animation and entertainment. The company chose to expand its global reach of family programs by creating the Disney/ABC International Television. This department helped to create advertising that targeted children, while promoting those shows on the regular Disney channels. It has introduced the Chinese language to its shows and is hoping to elevate to Spanish, French, and German. Another of Disney’s purchases that has done wonders for the company is ESPN. When bought, ESPN gave Disney access to 3 cable channels, a radio network with over 420 affiliates, and one of the most accessed websites in the world (McChesney). ESPN broadcasts over 165 countries, in 21 different languages, 24 hours a day. Both ESPN and ABC have clearly given Disney an even farther reach into global communications.

As the future of Unites States as a global media influence is questioned, I strongly believe that as time progress, so will the continuation of U.S. media influence on the globe. With what Time Warner and Disney have accomplished, other companies will likely follow suit. Clear Channel, Viacom, News Corporation, and Sony are companies that are currently influencing global media along with Time Warner and Disney. These large corporations are getting their hands on smaller companies throughout the world, which causes the United States media power to spread very fast. Although the United States is covering a lot of ground, I believe this causes people to want to be more independent and look for other sources of media. For example, it is very easy to say that U.S. national news is very mundane and leaves out many important issues. This may cause an individual to look for another source of media, such as BBC. As media giants continue to force themselves, I believe more people will fight against them and get media from a different source.

McChesney, Robert."The Global Media Giants". Fair. 3/7/09 .