Corporate interests influencing politics, cable entertainment masquerading as news, and left or right leaning journalists are the single most destructive force in society.
How difficult is it to report facts, not opinions or speculative drivel . The polarization of this NATION is a by product of Corporate involvement in policy decisions.
Remember, the most influential cable networks, newspapers, etc. are controlled by the same recycled corporate interests.
The next time you turn on the television, be mindful of who is bankrolling the information.
Who Controls the Media?
| Parent Company | Networks Owned | Cable Interests |
| General Electric $100.5 billion 1998 revenuesBackground: GE/NBC’s ranks No. 1 on the Forbes 500. Prior to its merger with NBC and an alliance with Microsoft, GE specialized in electronics. The peacock owns many New York sports team. It also owns or has equity stakes in many popular websites, including Snap.com and iVillage. |
NBC includes programming, news and more than 13 TV and radio stations |
Owns 25-50% of the following:
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| Time Warner $26.8 billion 1998 revenuesBackground: The largest media corporation in the world, Time Warner owns film and music production companies, theme parks, sports teams, magazines, websites and book publishers as well as Turner Broadcasting |
TURNER BROAD-CASTING includes sports teams, programming, production, retail, book publishing and multimediaWB Television Network |
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| The Walt Disney Co. $23 billion 1998 revenuesBackground: With its 1995 merger with Capital Cities/ABC, Disney has become a fully-integrated media giant. In addition to its theme parks, the company profits from retail outlets, magazines, book publishers, websites, motion pictures, sports teams, TV, cable, radio, music and newspapers. |
ABC includes ABC Radio, ABC Video and ABC Network News |
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| Viacom $18.9 billion 1998 revenuesBackground: Viacom’s purchase of Paramount, CBS and Blockbuster Video enables them to use cable, television, movies, comic books, theme parks, music publishing and book publishing to cross-market their products. Broadcasting alone brings in over $6 billion in revenues. |
CBS includes stations, CBS Radio, CBS Telenoticias and CBS Network NewsUPN includes programming and TV stations (50%) |
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| News Corporation $13 billion 1998 revenuesBackground: CEO Rupert Murdoch’s style has inspired respect and fear, and it has also made his multinational ventures in publishing, television and satellite services very successful. The company owns 20th Century Fox, the New York Post, the London Times, TV Guide, many stadiums, the LA Dodgers and five New York sports teams. |
FOX includes programming and stations |
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Other Major Players:
AT&T (TCI) – Recently acquired by AT&T, TCI’s hold on cable, internet and local phone services contributed to $7.6 billion in 1997 revenues. TCI is the second-largest US cable television system provider, and it has 10% ownership of Time-Warner/Turner. The company owns all or part of USA Network, Sci-Fi Network, E!, Court TV, Starz! and Starz! 2, Black Entertainment Television, BET on Jazz, BET Movies/Starz! 3, CNN, TNT, Headline News, Prime Sports Channel, The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel, QVC, Q2, Fox Sports Net, The Travel Channel, Prevue Channel, Animal Planet, The Box, Telemundo, International Channel, Encore, MSG Network, Action Pay-per-view, and the Home Shopping Network.
Sony – Sony’s main media interests, earning $9 billion in 1997 sales, are in film and television production, movie theaters and music.
Universal (Seagram) – In addition to Universal Studios, with its production facilities and theme parks, the company owns the USA and Sci-Fi cable networks.
http://www.nowfoundation.org/issues/communications/tv/mediacontrol.html
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