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Report: The content industry

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WORLD-INFOSTRUCTURE > THE CONTENT INDUSTRY > THE BIG FIVE OF COMMERCIAL MEDIA

The Big Five of Commercial Media

After a number of mergers and acquisitions five powerful media conglomerates lead the world's content production and distribution. They operate on an international basis with subsidiaries all around the globe and engage in every imaginable kind of media industry.

Table: The World's Leading Media Companies

Media Company	1998 Revenues (in US$)	Property/Corporate Information
AOL Time Warner (US)	26,838.000.000*	http://www.timewarner.com/corp/about/timewarnerinc/corporate/index.html
Disney (US)	22,976.000.000	http://www.disney.com
Bertelsmann (GER)	16,389.000.000	http://www.bertelsmann.com/facts/report/report.cfm
News Corporation (AUS)	12,841.000.000	http://www.newscorp.com/public/cor/cor_m.htm
Viacom (US)	12,100.000.000	http://www.viacom.com/global.tin

(* Revenues of Time Warner only (merger with AOL took place in January 2000)

browse Report: The content industry
		The Concept of the Public Sphere ...
-3		Centralization of the Content Industry
-2		Highlights on the Way to a Global Commercial Media Oligopoly: 1980s
-1		Highlights on the Way to a Global Commercial Media Oligopoly: 1990s
0		The Big Five of Commercial Media
+1		AOL Time Warner
+2		Extract of AOL Time Warner’s Content Production and Distribution Holdings
+3		Disney
		... Digital Commercial Content

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RESEARCH MATRIX

Neighboring rights
Copyright laws generally provide for three kinds of neighboring rights: 1) the rights of performing artists in their performances, 2) the rights of producers of phonograms in their phonograms, and 3) the rights of broadcasting organizations in their radio and television programs. Neighboring rights attempt to protect those who assist intellectual creators to communicate their message and to disseminate their works to the public at large.