1. Firm Strategy, structure & rivalry As for February 2018 only 5 major conglomerates owned the whole motion picture industry in California: Walt Disney, Time Warner, NBC Universal, Sony and Viacom, making of this a very consolidated industry, which has even been criticized saying that "The big fish are eating each other, and soon there may only be one left" due to the recent acquisition of 21st Century Fox by the giant Walt Disney (VanDerWerff, 2017). However, mergers and acquisitions activities between big media conglomerates are closely watched by the government, moreover AT&T's plans to acquire Time Warner has been blocked by an antitrust lawsuit issued by the US Department of Justice stating that the merger "would weaken competition and hurt consumers" (Repko, 2017). Streaming services introduced by Netflix and Amazon have boosted competition in the motion picture industry, driving a race for more sophisticated productions in the industry, CEO's of Amazon and Netflix have stated that there's still space for more competitors (Laskus, 2017). Moreover, Apple has recently turned its eyes into Los Angeles to establish their motion picture production showing interest in acquiring LA's iconic studios where 'The Matrix' film was produced and are planning to invest more than US$ 1 billion in original content in 2018 and have just hired two …show more content…
Mayer as an organization to benefit the film and motion picture industry in Los Angeles (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 2015). The first Academy Awards ceremony (known as "The Oscars") was held in 1929 in Roosevelt Hotel's Blossom Room, located in Hollywood area, with 270 attendees, on next year's awards a Los Angeles radio station did the first live broadcast for the ceremony. In 1969 The Oscars were broadcasted worldwide for the first time, giving a big push for the industry at international
Vertical integration in studio system The term "vertical integration" refers to the structure of a marketplace, which is integrated (rather than segregated) at a variety of crucial levels. In the case of the motion picture industry, the studio system established a market in which the studios owned production facilities, distribution outlets, and theaters. In other words, the studios controlled every level of the marketplace from the top down, from production to exhibition. "Vertical integration" began in the 1910s and inspired the postwar consolidation of the studio system as national distribution companies, such as Paramount merged with production companies, such as Famous Players and Lasky and subsequently began purchasing theater chains. All of the major studios in Hollywood (Paramount, MGM, Warner Bros., etc) owned theater chains; the minors, Universal, Columbia, and United artists, did not.
Time Warner Corporation has numerous subsidiaries which are moving media materials across media boundaries. They are doing this in numerous ways, based on synergies and joint ventures. For example some of these include gaining more access to cable lines by a joint venture with US West, and merging with AOL. They are also using a tactic called co-development as properties are knitted together by sister companies both interested in profiting off of them. This is a type of synergy because it occurs within one media conglomerate itself, and it encourages cross-media activity between the two sister companies. Time Warner can place some of its music on its television shows or movies, or write about its musicians in their magazines. The theory is that these different media would help promote one another and sell more records, more advertising,more tickets, and then certainly more revenue.
The Walt Disney Company and Pixar Animation Studios Inc. were two of the largest movie and entertainment studios. Disney owned and operated an unparalleled portfolio of theme parks classic movies and characters. Pixar was the leading creative and technological computer generated imagery (CGI) studio but lacked extensive product offerings and distribution channels. At the time of the merger agreement, Disney’s traditional hand-drawn animation films were declining in popularity with the introduction of CGI films. Meanwhile, Pixar possessed the creative and technical resources that Disney lacked, but was unable to profit from characters and films after movie ticket and DVD sales, which were typically one-time purchases. Additionally, the production and distribution contract between Pixar and Disney was rapidly approaching its expiration. Instead of renewing the contract, the two companies decided to merge with the intention of capitalizing on ...
new broadband technology. Therefore, the restrictions enforced by the FTC are to ensure that a full range of content and services by non-affiliated Internet Service Providers is available to subscribers, to prevent discrimination by AOL-Time Warner to other non-affiliated Internet Service providers, to provide a full range of content and services and to lessen competition in the market for broadband Internet Service Provider service. The FTC restrictions state that first AOL-Time Warner must make at least one non-affiliated cable broadband service available on Time Warner's cable systems before AOL itself begins offering its service. Second, AOL-Time Warner cannot interfere with content that it has restricted to deliver to subscribers of its cable
Television, the phone, and the internet. These inventions have uniquely shaped the 20th century and have led to the 21st century being known as the age of information. These services are the primary ways we communicate, express ourselves, and reach out in our ever increasing global world. In the United States, these services are provided by a number of different firms, chief among them is Comcast, being the largest provider of Cable and internet in America, and a large telephone provider. Next to it stands Time Warner Cable, the second largest provider of cable in the United States. The decision for Comcast to buy Time Warner Cable for forty-five billion dollars in 2014 has led to many criticizing the merger, calling it a monopoly. Others have called the whole cable system an oligopoly. For it to be a monopoly or an oligopoly, it would have to fit their respective categories. The merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable would not create a true monopoly, but would give it significant market power because it has monopoly resources and can be considered a natural monopoly. It will also further its power in a market dominated by oligopolies. People argue that it is not a danger to Americans for this merger to happen, but when one looks at the practices Comcast already uses, it paints
It allows opportunities to combine the performance of certain activities, thereby reducing costs and capturing economies of scope. This is done by acquiring IP that is underexploited or unused by the owner. They have opportunities to transfer their skills, technology, or intellectual capital from on business to another. This is yet again done through media networks, parks and resorts, and also their studio entertainment. All of which allow them to go globally. Along with the opportunity to transfer skills and technology, they can use their brand name across multiple product or service categories. This is seen in the multiple IP networks, studio entertainment, multiple resorts and parks that are all around the world, and lastly, in their consumer products that were ranked number one in 2011 for being the largest licensor of character-based merchandise in the world. Value chain match-ups seen in primary activities are inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, the marketing/sales, and service. All lead to support activities such as technology, human resources, and general administration. Opportunities for skills transfer is seen in the media networks, parks and resorts,studio entertainment, and consumer products. Disney Company can share iconic Marvel characters in their parks/resorts, movies, and consumer products, due to buying the IP to Marvel and it does not stop at just Marvel ABC and ESPN are also involved.
The most important part of Disney’s long-term success is due to its key strategic choices and incorporation of various diversification strategies. Disney created value mainly through “vertical integration” of its business lines, especially through the concept of forward integration. For example, Disney integrated production of movies and the final distribution in cinema’s or on television, especially through its acquisition of ABC in 1995 (1, p.6/7). Through this acquisition, Disney was able to extent its boundaries quickly and gain access to a wider lev...
Growing from a small provider of a few thousand, the company has grown to be a massive conglomerate encompassing far greater than simply cable services. Now owning NBC Universal, Comcast exerts great power within the market, employing a variety of strategies to expand itself and remain profitable. When it attempted to merge with Time Warner cable, several strongly opposed when considering the massive power it already possessed. In addition, growing sentiment against cable providers has resulted in the reduction of subscribers. Despite this, Comcast is in a high period of expansion within the business cycle. However, it should remain cautious of the changing environment of how consumers obtain television
On December 14, 2000, the Federal Trade Commission approved the planned merger of AOL and Time Warner after both companies pledged to “protect consumer choice” both now and in the future. The AOL Time Warner merger was approved by the Federal Communications Commission on January 11, 2001, and is the biggest merger in corporate history, then estimated at a total market value of $350 billion. The merger created a ‘powerhouse’ of new and traditional media. AOL Time Warner has led the union of the media, entertainment, communications and Internet industries. Throughout the years the face of media and entertainment industries has changed drastically as a result of increased technology. The popularity of newspapers gave way to other forms of media and entertainment such as magazines, television, cable, music, and most recently the Internet.
The entertainment industry holds the immense potential for growth and development. The industry is constantly evolving and Walt Disney emerge as a global leader and recognized as the world’s second largest media conglomerate in the terms of revenue after Comcast. The Walt Disney Company is a multinational entertainment conglomerate headquartered at California, United States. The company integrated its products into five target segments are as follows: (1) Media Networks (2) Parks and Resorts (3) Walt Disney Studios (4) Disney Consumer Products (5) Disney Interactive. The company has strong diversified product portfolios and generate high returns and revenues from all the target segments but the media networks contributes
Over the last few years, the pressures emanating from international competition, financial innovation, economic growth and expansion, heightened political and economic integration, and technological change have all contributed to the increased pace of mergers and acquisitions.
Through the ratio analysis, we can conclude that Disney is a stable company, keeping up with industry trends and up to par with industry averages. Although at times it can seem that Disney is a risky and unstable company, those conclusions are false since the unstableness has come through decisions which will better establish Disney’s position on the market. Although Disney’s competition, namely CBS, is on a similar standing as Disney when comparing ratios, Disney will manage to remain the largest media conglomerate in the USA and one of the best corporations in the world.
I reason, the idea of their conglomerate is referable to a monopoly. Disney can actually control every aspect of the creation process to the marketing process of a product. For example, Disney’s most recent film Star Wars was a box office success and part of its success is due to the conglomerate that Disney’s. Everything from airing commercials to promoting products or services on its networks and websites is feasible, in regards to their structural network/conglomerate. The concept of media integration and cross promotion Disney has it down to
The idea inspired Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph, and then they founded Netflix in Scotts Valley, California in 1997 (Netflix, 2014). The company comes into play by developing a subscription-based streaming platform for movies and television shows. Unlike the traditional movie rental businesses such as Blockbuster and Redbox, Netflix’s innovation offers service via Internet, and it does not have any physical stores but instead delivers DVDs through postal mail in the U.S. Since then, Netflix has become the world’s leading internet television network with constant growth of customers to over 48 millions members in more than 40 countries in the North America, Europe, and the Latin America (Netflix, 2014). In this analysis, the main focus is examining the current market environment for Netflix. It identifies the type of market structure that Netflix is currently competing. The analysis also expands on the competitions, product differentiation, pricing strategy, and measuring the level of easy entry-and-exit.
In this paper, I would like to analyze Netflix’s distinctive strategies based on their competitive advantage and how it covers from its strategy mistakes in the high threat industry as well as give some viable suggestion for the future development of the company.