E-Mail Post To A Friend
Email a copy of 'Who Owns What on Television?' to a friend
Loading ...
51 comments to "Who Owns What on Television?"
-
Max Power
July 7th, 2008 at
3:53 am
Don’t get me started on the zionists
-
albert
July 7th, 2008 at
4:55 am
i think that Noggin is not a Disney station but a Viacom one
-
Camillo Miller
July 7th, 2008 at
5:17 am
At least they’re not owned by the Prime Minister, like here in Italy…
-
davedonelson
July 7th, 2008 at
7:02 am
You can now add The Weather Channel to GE’s portfolio, although the deal has not yet closed.
-
CheeseDuck
July 7th, 2008 at
9:00 am
GAH I HATE VIACOM
-
larry
July 7th, 2008 at
9:13 am
No mention of the Discover Channels or Science channels. Who owns them???
-
Gerry
July 7th, 2008 at
10:02 am
Same with radio: Clear Channel owns 80% of the US radio stations (and they also own the biggest concert venues, too so they can tell you what you’ll go see.)
-
Jose
July 7th, 2008 at
10:27 am
I’m sure that GE does not own the Hallmark Channel.
-
Eden
July 7th, 2008 at
10:41 am
I agree about Noggin. They run a lot of Nick Jr programming (Dora, Backyardigans, Yo Gabba Gabba) and no Disney programming. The Disney preschooler programming runs on Disney Channel and, on occasion, Toon Disney. I don’t think Disney owns Noggin or they’d use it to run their programming, not Viacom’s.
-
Thomas
July 7th, 2008 at
11:44 am
At least Viacom has some decent channels. The only thing News Corp has going for it is the National Geographic channel.
-
RM
July 7th, 2008 at
11:46 am
I´ve always wanted to know this. Thanks
-
Jimbo
July 7th, 2008 at
11:47 am
GE-NBC also owns Direct TV service.
-
Alex
July 7th, 2008 at
12:32 pm
Yes - you’re right about Noggin, albert and Eden. That was my mistake, it’s fixed now. Also thanks to Tanya Van Court for emailing me.
As far as I know, Direct TV is owned by John Malone’s Liberty Media (It used to be partly owned by News Corp until Redstone sold/swapped the shares).
Larry, Discovery Channel is owned by the John Malone’s Discovery Communication. This company also owns Animal Planet, TLC, and the Science Channel.
-
Alex
July 7th, 2008 at
12:36 pm
Hallmark Channel is owned by Crown Media Holding in the United States (they are controlled by the Hallmark Company which makes the cards). Internationally, however, it is owned by NBC Universal Global Networks, which in turn is owned by GE.
-
The Manticore
July 7th, 2008 at
12:41 pm
It still says Noggin in the Disney blurb
-
BuriedCaesar
July 7th, 2008 at
12:52 pm
What about the Food Network, HGTV and several others? Owned by Scripps…
http://www.scrippsnetworks.com/
Someone above asked about Discovery Channel and Science Channel. All those, and several others (including TLC, Animal Planet) appear to be under the auspices of an LLC by the name of “Discovery Communications” - couldn’t determine if it was owned by any other entity.
-
Rony
July 7th, 2008 at
12:52 pm
What’s the big deal? These are *publishing* companies –just like the ones that publish books. Are we going to say that a handful of companies control what we read?
-
wendell
July 7th, 2008 at
1:10 pm
Doing a comprehensive review of Big Media Ownership is a major undertaking and not without some risks and difficulties. That said, some errors I’m aware of:
A&E, the History Channels, Biography and Crime & Investigation are all owned by a ‘joint venture’ of NBC/U, ABC/Disney and Hearst (the newspaper/castle people).
Hearst also owns 50% of Lifetime, Real Women & LMN.
Sundance Channel WAS a ‘joint venture’ of CBS, NBC/U and Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute, but was recently sold, lock, stock and Redford, to Cablevision.
Cablevision also owns AMC (the Mad Men channel), WE, the Independent Film Channel and lots of local cable companies on the East Coast.
Yes, Hallmark Channel outside the U.S. is owned by NBC/U, but I believe most programming decisions are made by the Crown Media/Hallmark people and NBC is mostly distributing. When you get outside the US, things get confusing with various big players distributing or repackaging other big players’ properties and lots of partnerships. I suggest avoiding anything outside the U.S. for clarity’s sake.
Glad you mentioned Liberty Media, DirecTV and the Discovery Channel(s). Not as well known but big enough and well positioned to be a player in this game. Also the people behind BBC America (which complicates the International situation further)
One other lesser cable player worth noting is Scripps Networks, which brings us HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living and Great American Country, and until a few days ago, was part a company that owns a bunch of newspapers and local TV stations and syndicates Dilbert and other comics. (I think it split like CBS and Viacom split, but I’m not sure)
And hey, Paramount Pictures should be included in the “owned by Viacom” mix (with Paramount TV now a part of CBS, making the CBS/Viacom ’split’ more complicated - or suspicious).
Anyway, again, a good feature on a tough subject.
-
Alex
July 7th, 2008 at
1:22 pm
True, wendell - for this post, I counted partial ownership and joint ventures as “ownership.” Technically, these TV channels are owned by holding corporations who are in turn owned by another holding corporation and so forth … but behind all the commotion stood only a few companies.
-
wendell
July 7th, 2008 at
1:29 pm
But still, even if it looked wrong, wouldn’t it be more right to have A&E and its related channels under both GE and Disney (since they own equal shares)?
-
wendell
July 7th, 2008 at
1:41 pm
Yes, I am being annoyingly pedantic, which is what happens when you drift into certain subject matters for me.
I also get annoying on the subjects of Webcomics, old Animated Cartoons, Babylon 5 and regional fast food chains (Jack in the Box is NOT affiliated with Carl’s Jr. and the next person to say so gets their arse kicked).
DISCLAIMER: I am an occasional paid contributor to the Entertainment section of MSNBC.com, but the website is managed by the Microsoft half of the joint venture so I am allowed to write snarky things about “Deal or No Deal”.
-
Josh
July 7th, 2008 at
1:48 pm
..initially, that octopus makes absolutely no sense. I wish it was dead.
-
kasia
July 7th, 2008 at
3:03 pm
wow, I didn’t even know most of these channels even existed…
-
Jason
July 7th, 2008 at
3:19 pm
Noggin is in the Nickalodeon suite of channels under Viacom.
-
Alex
July 7th, 2008 at
7:10 pm
Noggin is fixed now, and I should’ve known this because it’s my toddler’s favorite-est channel (she loves Jack’s Big Music Show!)
-
gonzilla
July 7th, 2008 at
8:34 pm
Wow. great info. It would be also nice to see the links of the internet and radio. And what about the CW, listed under TimeWarner and CBS? Who gets the blame for Smallville and the praise of Supernatural?
-
Kiskotora
July 8th, 2008 at
7:56 pm
> Are we going to say that a handful of companies control what we read?
Yes. The media concentration is the same, but the companies are different. Take a look at some library books. Publishing giants like Simon & Schuster, Penguin etc. are the book publishing equivalents of The News Corp. and Time Warner. It’s the same deal, simply different players.
-
Alex
July 8th, 2008 at
11:30 pm
You’re right gonzilla - CW is co-owned by CBS and Time Warner.
Wendell is right about A&E - I’ve changed the text, but don’t have time to edit the picture right now.
-
Rob / Bob
July 9th, 2008 at
2:33 am
I think it would be far more important to focus on where we get our ‘news’ but that would involve newspaper, radio, tv. In the end the companies we depend upon in order to know what is happening in the US and world worries me more than where I get my mythbusters from.
and most importantly, if you are going to tell us that only a few companies control what we see, you really need to provide more input on the smaller alternatives…
b
-
Alex.G
July 9th, 2008 at
2:46 am
Even if it is obvious by reading it, nowhere in the title or in the intro can you see that this article will be talking about american TV.
American TV is not TV in general, go abroad sometimes.
How typical.
-
ans
July 9th, 2008 at
3:18 am
another good read on this
http://blog.t1production.com/where-have-the-tv-viewers-gone -
Bob S
July 9th, 2008 at
4:53 am
Six behemoths, nine behemoths, who cares! Programming sucks, has never recovered from the writer’s strike. The writers went away and have been replaced by Mrs. Jones’ seventh grade English class. And then we have PBS, which seems determined to bore then entire country to death. Channels seem more intent on filling time than producing entertainment.
-
Darragh
July 9th, 2008 at
5:00 am
Hey, this post hit the Digg front page!
I hope the server keeps!
-
Veronica
July 9th, 2008 at
5:19 am
to all the conspiracy theorists I tell you:
this is nothing, it is a normal behavior in a capitalist market, when there is interest and money to make, people who can afford the venture will be lured to invest in it.
As I would do in anything in life, that interest me or can make me profit.
example: if I am a kindergarden owner and I’m making a profit and I’m interested in this business and have the capital to invest in new ones or new ways to care for toddlers/children.
I’m sure I’ll be accused of trying to brain wash children and control the world and blah blah blah, you know the rest……this is aimed at the first comment. -
DarKnyht
July 9th, 2008 at
6:30 am
You forgot ion Television, ionLife, and Qubo which are partially owned by NBC Universal.
-
JInny Woods
July 9th, 2008 at
7:13 am
Must be nice being king.
http://www.FireMe.To/udi -
rob frost
July 9th, 2008 at
7:28 am
@Veronica.. so, you already know about Disney mind control?
-
terry
July 9th, 2008 at
8:03 am
????????????
?????????????????
?????????????????
??????????????????Copy/Paste
?????????????????? IF U THINK
??????????????? VIACOM SUCKS -
terry
July 9th, 2008 at
8:04 am
ahh, it didn’t work, looks good on YouTube and in MySpace bulletins though.
-
John Decker
July 9th, 2008 at
8:37 am
all owned by jews!
-
G Love
July 9th, 2008 at
8:45 am
For the Walt Disney Company, you should also note that they own the top ABC affiliates around the country. WABC in NY, KABC in LA, WLS in Chicago, KGO in SF, WPVI in Philly, and KTRK … plus 4 more in smaller markets.
-
Brian Doherty
July 9th, 2008 at
9:32 am
Why do a couple of people claim ownership by Jewish people? It would be interesting to see the percentage ownership by Jewish people/companies and compare that to the percentage of Jewish people.
-
busynothings
July 9th, 2008 at
9:44 am
I thought that the A&E Networks (A&E Network, The History Channel, The Biography Channel, History International, The History Channel en Español, Military History Channel , Crime & Investigation Network) were actually jointly owned by ABC, Inc., The Hearst Corporation, and NBC Universal.
-
Gaycheck
July 9th, 2008 at
11:19 am
No one owns PBS or NPR!
-
brent
July 9th, 2008 at
1:19 pm
meh, im not surpirised man, there are only so many hours or should i say half hours of the day anyhow, they probably need several channels to put out there newer and popular shows and also channels for experimental shows, so it may seem corrupt but probably its just the natural way of the industrial growth which is to expand yet keep ownership of all subsidiary comapnies. i wonder if i spelled that right oh well.
-
Chris Taylor
July 9th, 2008 at
5:14 pm
Veronica. Your right this is normal for a capitalist environment alas we are NOT SUPPOSED to be living in a purely capitalist environment. We are a constitutional republic with strict LIMITATIONS that are supposed to be in place specifically to PREVENT this type of out of control capitalism from even occurring. Alas our politicians are bought and paid for and our population more and more apathetic and uneducated.
The result is the laws in place to PREVENT this from happening are being removed 1 by 1 which is allowing more and more pure capitalism to take hold. 50+ years ago this would have been impossible to do legally.
-
noodleman
July 9th, 2008 at
8:49 pm
Re: Clear Channel.
It does not own 80% of the US radio stations. It may seem so but to believe that for fact would be a gross error. There are more than 12,000 radio stations licensed in the US; Clear Channel owns around 1200 of them.
-
urdun
July 10th, 2008 at
5:11 am
dont act so surprised! what u see read and hear in media IS CONTROLLED and has been. do u really think there is an intention of improving the human condition, come on people wake up! the only intention there is to allow the elite of earth to remain elite and the rest of us, the mases remain blinded by our ignorance.
-
Jesse Nix
July 14th, 2008 at
5:13 pm
I think it is a good thing to have a few people ruling. It’s better than a monarchy!
-
StalkyTheFish
August 3rd, 2008 at
1:18 pm
This is exactly why you can’t buy cable channels a-la-carte. These companies impose an all-or-nothing rule in their carriage contracts to jack up the “potential viewership” numbers to advertisers on their lesser channels. ESPN is the most expensive basic cable channel out there, but if you’re not a sports enthusiast, just try saving a couple bucks by excluding it from your cable package.
-
Claude Gelinas
November 11th, 2008 at
11:30 pm
This is an awesome article, a real eye-opener!
Thanks for doing the research for us.
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT
-
Your purchase helps support the blog - Thank you!
