10 Companies Control 90% of the Information and Entertainment You Receive
Time Warner
1999 projected sales: $25 billion
Owns:
Time, Inc., which publishes 24 magazines, including Time, Sports Illustrated, People, Fortune, and Life.
Warner Music Group, including Warner Brothers, Atlantic, Interscope and Elektra Records.
Warner Brothers studios owns part of the Warner Brothers Television Network.
Time Warner is the largest owner of cable systems in the U.S., as well as owning such cable channels as CNN, HBO and Cinemax.
Walt Disney Company
Sales: $24 billion
Owns:
Walt Disney, Miramax, Castle Rock, Touchstone, Hollywood, and Buena Vista Film Studios.
ABC TV and radio.
Disney theme parks, stores, sports teams, record labels and book publishing houses.
Part of Lifetime, A&E and History cable channels.
Has interests in European TV networks.
Bertelsmann
Sales: $15 billion
Owns:
Music companies RCA and Arista.
Publishing houses, including Bantam and Doubleday.
Extensive European TV and radio holdings.
Viacom
Sales: $13 billion
Owns:
Paramount Pictures.
Blockbuster Video.
MTV, Nickelodeon and other cable channels.
UPN TV network.
Publishing houses, including Simon & Schuster and Pocket Books.
News Corporation (Headed by Rupert Murdoch)
Sales: $10 billion
Owns:
20th Century Fox.
Fox broadcasting network, the Fox News cable channel.
25 magazines including TV Guide and The Weekly Standard.
132 newspapers including the New York Post and the London Times.
HarperCollins books.
Sony
Sales: $9 billion (media only)
Owns:
Sony Worldwide/SW Radio.
Sony Pictures.
Columbia Tri-Star Pictures and Columbia Records.
Tele-Communications, Inc.
Sales: $7 billion
Owns:
TCI cable systems.
Liberty Media and MacNeil/Lehrer Productions.
Has interests in many cable channels including Discovery Channel, E!, Home Shopping Network, QVC, Court TV and Black Entertainment TV.
Universal (Seagram - Subsidiary of the Seagram beverage company)
Sales: $7 billion
Owns:
Universal Pictures.
Universal Records.
Half-owner of USA Networks.
PolyGram (Phillips - Parent company is a Dutch electronics firm)
Sales: $7 billion
Owns:
PolyGram music and films.
NBC (General Electric - Parent company produces consumer electronics, as well as being a major manufacturer of military hardware and nuclear power equipment)
Sales: $5 billion
Owns:
NBC TV network, CNBC, MSNBC, and is part-owner of the History Channel.
Time Warner
1999 projected sales: $25 billion
Owns:
Time, Inc., which publishes 24 magazines, including Time, Sports Illustrated, People, Fortune, and Life.
Warner Music Group, including Warner Brothers, Atlantic, Interscope and Elektra Records.
Warner Brothers studios owns part of the Warner Brothers Television Network.
Time Warner is the largest owner of cable systems in the U.S., as well as owning such cable channels as CNN, HBO and Cinemax.
Walt Disney Company
Sales: $24 billion
Owns:
Walt Disney, Miramax, Castle Rock, Touchstone, Hollywood, and Buena Vista Film Studios.
ABC TV and radio.
Disney theme parks, stores, sports teams, record labels and book publishing houses.
Part of Lifetime, A&E and History cable channels.
Has interests in European TV networks.
Bertelsmann
Sales: $15 billion
Owns:
Music companies RCA and Arista.
Publishing houses, including Bantam and Doubleday.
Extensive European TV and radio holdings.
Viacom
Sales: $13 billion
Owns:
Paramount Pictures.
Blockbuster Video.
MTV, Nickelodeon and other cable channels.
UPN TV network.
Publishing houses, including Simon & Schuster and Pocket Books.
News Corporation (Headed by Rupert Murdoch)
Sales: $10 billion
Owns:
20th Century Fox.
Fox broadcasting network, the Fox News cable channel.
25 magazines including TV Guide and The Weekly Standard.
132 newspapers including the New York Post and the London Times.
HarperCollins books.
Sony
Sales: $9 billion (media only)
Owns:
Sony Worldwide/SW Radio.
Sony Pictures.
Columbia Tri-Star Pictures and Columbia Records.
Tele-Communications, Inc.
Sales: $7 billion
Owns:
TCI cable systems.
Liberty Media and MacNeil/Lehrer Productions.
Has interests in many cable channels including Discovery Channel, E!, Home Shopping Network, QVC, Court TV and Black Entertainment TV.
Universal (Seagram - Subsidiary of the Seagram beverage company)
Sales: $7 billion
Owns:
Universal Pictures.
Universal Records.
Half-owner of USA Networks.
PolyGram (Phillips - Parent company is a Dutch electronics firm)
Sales: $7 billion
Owns:
PolyGram music and films.
NBC (General Electric - Parent company produces consumer electronics, as well as being a major manufacturer of military hardware and nuclear power equipment)
Sales: $5 billion
Owns:
NBC TV network, CNBC, MSNBC, and is part-owner of the History Channel.