Who owns the companies that peddle hate speech that passes for news and provides "entertainment"?

[omega minimo]

http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/ge-timeline.asp

» Advance Publications Corporate Timeline
» Disney Corporate Timeline
» General Electric Corporate Timeline
» News Corp. Corporate Timeline
» Time Warner Corporate Timeline
» Viacom Corporate Timeline

WHO OWNS WHAT
General Electric Corporate Timeline

1870s

1878 - Thomas Edison forms Edison Electric Light Company

1890s

1892 - Edison General Electric Company merges with Thomson-Houston Electric Company to create General Electric Company

1897 - Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company formed by Guglielmo Marconi

1900s

1901 - Emile Berliner and Eldridge Johnson form the Victor Talking Machine Company

1906 - David Sarnoff begins working at American Marconi

1910s

1917 - U.S. Government begins using GE produced aircraft engines

1919 - Radio Corporation of America (RCA) is created. RCA is formed after the U.S. Government gives control of the wireless industry back to the public sector following World War I. RCA gains the assets of American Marconi and becomes the controlling body of the patents belonging to General Electric, Westinghouse, United Fruit and AT&T

1920s

1926 - National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) formed. Sarnoff sees the potential of a nationwide network of radio stations and gets RCA, GE and Westinghouse to invest in the acquisition of WEAF in New York City and WJZ in Newark - NBC's "Red" and "Blue" networks respectively -as the flagship stations for the new NBC Radio network

1927 - NBC Radio broadcasts the Rose Bowl to nationwide audience

1929 - RCA purchases Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, NJ for $154 million and begins manufacturing radios and phonographs

1930s

1932 - Due to concerns of a growing monopoly, GE and Westinghouse sell off stake in RCA

1939 - NBC introduces television broadcasting at the World's Fair in New York City

1940s

1941 - Federal Communications Commission releases its Report on Chain Broadcasting. The report is critical of the growth of broadcast networks and proposes that NBC sell off one of its two networks - NBC Red & NBC Blue

1941 - NBC receives first license for a commercial television station

1943 - After losing court battles with the FCC over the demand to divest one off its networks, RCA sells of NBC Blue Network to Edward Noble, lifesavers candy creator. Network eventually becomes ABC

1950s

1954 - NBC has first color telecast of Rose Bowl parade. Very few people actually see the telecast because there are not that many color sets in use

1960s

1966 - RCA purchases Random House

1970s

1973 - RCA purchases Ballantine Books - becomes part of Random House

1980s

1980 - RCA sells of Random House to S. I. Newhouse's Advance Publications

1985 - GE acquires NBC as part of a $6.3 billion for RCA

1986 - - GE sells RCA's music division to Bertelsmann

1989 - CNBC is formed

1990s

1996 - MSNBC is launched. Cable news network is a joint partnership between GE and Microsoft

1997 - CNBC Asia and Europe are formed.

1999 - GE gains 32% stake in Paxson Communications and its PAX TV network

2000 - Present

2002 - Telemundo Communications Group is acquired for $2.7 billion in a deal with an investment group that includes Sony and Liberty Media. In a separate deal, Bravo Network is acquired from a deal with Cablevision and MGM for $1.25 billion

2003 - Deal announced between GE and Vivendi Universal to create NBC Universal. In the deal, GE acquires Vivendi Universal's entertainment holdings which include theme parks and Universal Pictures' movie and television studios, and three cable channels (NYT 10/9/03)


http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/viacom-timeline.asp

WHO OWNS WHAT
Viacom Corporate Timeline

1910s

1912 - Adolph Zukor founds the Famous Players Film Corp

1916 - Famous Players becomes Paramount Pictures becomes Famous Players-Lasky Corp.

1916 - Westinghouse engineer Dr. Frank Conrad begins experimental radio broadcasts from his home in Pittsburgh

1920s

1920 (November 2) - Westinghouse's KDKA in Pittsburgh begins scheduled radio programming with the Harding-Cox Presidential election returns

1924 - Richard L. (Dick) Simon and M. Lincoln (Max) Schuster form Simon & Schuster. First publication is a cross word puzzle book.

1928- William S. Paley purchases the Columbia Broadcasting System for $400,000. Paley first became interested in the radio business after purchasing advertising time for his La Palina Cigar company.

1930s

1935 - Famous Players-Lasky Corp. becomes Paramount Pictures after bankruptcy and reorganization.

1937 - Edward R. Murrow and William L. Shirer do a radio news program which eventually becomes The CBS World News Roundup

1938 - CBS buys American Record Company, owner of the Columbia Phonograph label. CBS renames the division Columbia Record Corp.

1940s

1941 - CBS launches the first commercial black & white television broadcast

1949 - Department of Justice announces the Paramount decree which forces the film studios to sell off their movie theaters

1950s

1954 - Sumner Redstone takes control of National Amusements Inc. (NAI), a chain of movie theaters

1960s

1961 - Murrow resigns from CBS

1964 - CBS purchases the New York Yankees

1966 - Diversified conglomerate, Gulf + Western, buys Paramount Pictures. Gulf + Western is owned by Charles Bluhdorn

1968 - CBS teams up with a Japanese company to form CBS-Sony Records

1970s

1970 - FCC's Fin-Syn ruling limits the financial interest television networks can have in syndicated programming. As a result, Viacom is formed after CBS spins off its television programming arm

1973 - CBS sells Yankees to George Steinbrenner

1980s

1981 - Dan Rather replaces Walter Cronkite as anchor on the CBS Evening News

1981 (August 1) - MTV is launched

1985 - Ted Turner makes a takeover attempt on CBS. Loew's president, Laurence Tisch, buys a 25% share in CBS to block Turner's takeover. Loews is a multi-national conglomerate with interests ranging from tobacco to insurance. Jesse Helms and Ivan Boesky also make unsuccessful bids for CBS.

1985 - First Blockbuster Video store opens in Dallas

1986 - Tisch becomes CEO of CBS

1987 - Redstone becomes Chairman of the Board of Viacom after NAI buys a majority interest in it

1987 - CBS sells its entire book publishing division for $500 million

1987 - Wayne Huizenga, who made his money in the waste business, buys Blockbuster

1989 - Gulf + Western changes its name to Paramount Communications

1990s

1990 - Paley dies of a heart attack at age 89

1994 - Viacom acquires Paramount Communications for $10 billion. Viacom was in a bidding war for Paramount with USA Networks.

1994 - Viacom acquires Blockbuster Video from Huizenga for $8.4 billion

1995 - Viacom sells Madison Square Garden and its related properties to Cablevision, and ITT for $1 billion

1995 - Viacom sells its cable systems to John Malone's TCI

1995 - (November) - CBS is sold to the Westinghouse Corporation for $5.4 billion

1995 (January 16) - UPN network hits the television airwaves

1996 - Redstone becomes Viacom's CEO

1996 - Westinghouse/CBS buys Infinity radio broadcasting and outdoor advertising group for $4.7 billion. This deal is mainly a result of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which heavily deregulated the media industry and allowed a company to significantly increase the amount of radio stations it could own.

1997 - CBS buys American Radio Systems chain

1997 - Viacom deals its educational, professional and reference publishing businesses to Pearson for 4.6 billion. Viacom retains Simon & Schuster.

1997 - Westinghouse changes name to CBS and sells its hardware and manufacturing operations

1999 - CBS buys King World Productions, leading television program syndicator, for $2.5 billion

1999 - Infinity buys Outdoor Systems billboard group for $8.3 billion.

1999 (September, 7) - Viacom and CBS announce merger. The $50 billion deal, the largest media merger of the time, comes one month after the FCC gives approval to duopolies. The new Viacom has 33 television stations which eclipse the FCC's 35 % ownership cap. The cap is based on the amount of stations one company owns that reach 35% or more of the nation's television households.

2000 - Present

2001 - United States Court of Appeals, DC Circuit gives Viacom temporary approval to exceed the 35% ownership cap

2001 - Viacom completes $3 billion deal for BET Inc.

2002 - Viacom completes acquisition of KCAL-TV (Los Angeles) from Young Broadcasting Inc. for $650 million. The deal forms a Viacom duopoly in Los Angeles raising the number of markets where it owns two broadcast stations to eight.

2003 - Infinity Broadcasting owns and operates 185 radio stations, second in size to only Clear Channel Communications. Viacom Outdoor is the largest outdoor advertising entity in North America. Viacom Television Stations Group owns and operates 39 TV stations.


2004 - After years of internal battles with Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone, Mel Karmazin, resigns as the company's chief operating officer. Karmazin was formely the president and CEO of CBS

© 2007 Columbia Journalism Review at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism

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http://www.thenation.com/special/bigten.htmlhttp://www.thenation.com/special/bigten.htmlvvvvvhttp://www.thenation.com/special/bigten.htmlvvv

http://www.freepress.net/content/ownership

The U.S. media landscape is dominated by massive corporations that, through a history of mergers and acquisitions, have concentrated their control over what we see, hear and read. In many cases these giant companies are vertically intergrated, controlling everything from initial production to final distribution.

These charts are derived in part from information gathered by Columbia Journalism Review’s Who Owns What? site, one of many excellent resources on the web regarding media ownership. Learn more about media ownership »

Select a chart:  The Big 8   Cable   TV   Print   Telecom  

2005 revenues: $157.2 billion
General Electric media-related holdings include television networks NBC Universal and Telemundo, Universal Pictures, Focus Features, 38 television stations in the U.S., and cable networks such as MSNBC, Bravo and the Sci Fi Channel.

Visit the General Electric homepage »
Television networks: NBC Networks, Telemundo.Cable: A&E, History Channel (part), NBC Entertainment, NBC News, NBC Sports, NBC Television, NBC Universal, CNBC (Arbia, India, Asia, Europe), MSNBC, Bravo, Mun2TV, Sci Fi Channel, Sundance Channel (part), Trio, Telemundo, USA, Universal HD, and Weather PlusProduction and distribution companies: NBC Universal Television Studio, NBC Universal Television Distribution.38 Television stations in 23 markets, owned under the “NBC Universal” division. These include NBC affiliates, Univision affiliates, and a small number of independents. (A current list resides here)International Channels: 13eme Rue (France), 13th Street (Germany), Calle 13 (Spain), Sci Fi Channel UK, Studio Universal (Germany), Studio Universal (Italy), Universal Channel (Latin America), CNBC Asia, and CNBC Europe.Programming: NBC Network News, The Today Show, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, Dateline NBC, Meet the Press, Early Today, CNBC, Squawk Box, Mad Money, Tim Russert, CNBC World, CNBC Arabia, CNBC-India TV-18, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Rita Cosby: Live and Direct, Scarborough Country, A&E , The History Channel , The Sundance Channel Production: NBC Universal (80% ownership): Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Rogue Pictures. Universal has production agreements with Imagine Entertainment, Jersey Films, Tribeca Films, Shady Acres, The Kennedy/Marshall Company, Playtone Company, Strike Entertainment, Type A Films, Depth of Field, Stephen Sommers and Working Title Films (Europe)Distribution: Universal Studios Home Entertainment.Magazines: SciFi MagazineCNBC.com, MSNBC.com, NBC.com, iVillage, Scifi.com, msn.com, and telemundo.comMilitary Production: Manufactures and maintains engines for the F-16 Fighter jet, Abrams tank, Apache helicopter, U2 Bomber, Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV), A-10 aircraft, and numerous military equipment including planes, helicopters, tanks, and more.Parks: Universal Studios Theme Parks and Resorts (Orlando, FL; Hollywood, CA; Costa Durada, Spain; Universal City, Japan).Consumer Products: NBC Stores, ShopNBC.Other:

* GE Consumer Finance (provider of credit services to consumers, retailers and auto dealers in over 35 countries).
* GE Commercial Finance: GE Capital Aviation Services, GE Commercial Equipment Financing, GE Corporate Financial Services, GE Structured Finance Global Energy Unit, GE Fleet Services, GE Healthcare Financial Services, GE Real Estate, GE Vendor Financial Services.
* GE Advanced Materials (engineering of thermoplastics, silicon-based products and technology platforms, and fused quartz and ceramics).
* GE Consumer & Industrial (appliances, lighting, and Industrial Systems).
* GE Energy (technology for the oil and gas, power generation and energy management industries, including nuclear).
* GE Healthcare (diagnostic and interventional medical imaging, information and services technology).
* GE Infrastructure (comprised of GE Water Technologies, GE Silicones, GE Superabrasives, and GE Quartz, commercial aviation financing, and serves various industries including cosmetics, semi-conductors, oil drilling, construction and telecommunications).
* GE Insurance (insurance and investment products for businesses and individuals).
* GE Transportation (serving the aviation, rail, marine and off-highway industries with jet engines for military and civil aircraft, freight and passenger locomotives, motorized systems for mining trucks and drills, and gas turbines for marine and industrial applications).

---------------

http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/

CJR's online guide to what major media companies own:

Advance
American Media, Inc.
Belo
Bertelsmann
Cablevision
CanWest Global Communications
CBS
Cisneros Group of Companies
Citadel Broadcasting
Clear Channel Communications
Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.
Comcast
Copley Press Inc.
Corus Entertainment
Cox Enterprises
Cumulus
Disney
Dow Jones & Company
Emmis Communications Corp.
Entercom Communications
E.W. Scripps
Fisher Communications
Freedom Communications
Gannett
General Electric
Hachette Filipacchi
Hearst Corporation
Journal Register Company
Landmark Communications
Lee Enterprises
Liberty Group Publishing
Liberty Media Corp.
LIN TV Corp.
McGraw-Hill
Media General
MediaNews Group, Inc.
Meredith
McClatchy Company
Morris Communications Corp.
News Corporation
New York Times Co.
Pearson
Primedia
Reed Elsevier
Rogers Communications
Sinclair
Sony
Standard Radio
Stephens
Time Warner
Tribune Company
Viacom
Vivendi Universal
Vulcan
Washington Post Co.
Young Broadcasting

[PDJane]

1. Excellent post, thank you.

This amalgmation is proceeding here too; there will be one major radio carrier for the entire country.

[omega minimo]

2. Big Brother Broadcasting?

[durtee librul]

3. Can someone please tell me whatever happened to the

Sherman Anti-trust law? If I am not mistaken, that law prevented both vertical and horizontal monopolies did it not?

[Up2Late]

8. Reagan scrapped it back in the 1980's I'm fairly sure.

Lots of good law were scrapped with little notice back then.

[oldgrowth]

9. And Clinton's 1997? Telecommunications Act

Among the changes were that a single company could own up to 45% of a market as well as the removal of restrictions on newspaper and TV station ownership in the same market.
http://www.media-democracy.com/site/c.jwKTJ8NYJxF/b.1716489/k.AF26/Massive_telecom_bill_failed_to_deliver_new_era_US_critics_say.htm

[Up2Late]

10. That came after this (which only added fuel to the fire)

DEREGULATION

<http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/D/htmlD/deregulation/deregulation.htm>

When applied in the United States this general concept describes most American electronic media policy in the past two decades. Largely a bi-partisan effort, this fundamental shift in the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) approach to radio and television regulation began in the mid-1970s as a search for relatively minor "regulatory underbrush" which could be cleared away for more efficient and cost-effective administration of the important rules that would remain. Congress largely went along with this trend, and initiated a few deregulatory moves of its own. The arrival of the Reagan Administration and FCC Chairman Mark Fowler in 1981 marked a further shift to a fundamental and ideologically-driven reappraisal of regulations long held central to national broadcasting policy. Ensuing years saw removal of many long-standing rules resulting in an overall reduction in FCC oversight of station and network operations. Congress grew increasingly wary of the pace of deregulation, however, and began to slow the FCC's deregulatory pace by the late 1980s.

Specific deregulatory moves--some by Congress, others by the FCC--included (a) extending television licenses to five years from three in 1981; (b) expanding the number of television stations any single entity could own grew from seven in 1981 to 12 in 1985 (a situation under consideration for further change in 1995); (c) abolishing guidelines for minimal amounts of non-entertainment programming in 1985; (d) elimination of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987; (e) dropping, in 1985, FCC license guidelines for how much advertising could be carried; (f) leaving technical standards increasingly in the hands of licensees rather than FCC mandates; and (g) deregulation of television's competition (especially cable which went through several regulatory changes in the decade after 1983).

Deregulatory proponents do not perceive station licensees as "public trustees" of the public airwaves required to provide a wide variety of services to many different listening groups. Instead, broadcasting has been increasingly seen as just another business operating in a commercial marketplace which did not need its management decisions questioned by government overseers. Opponents argue that deregulation violates key parts of The Communications Act of 1934--especially the requirement to operate in the public interest--and allows broadcasters to seek profits with little public service programming required in return.

American deregulation has been widely emulated in other countries in spirit if not detail. Developed and developing countries have introduced local stations to supplement national services, begun to allow (if not encourage) competing media such as cable, satellite services, and videocassettes, and have sometimes loosened regulations on traditional radio and television. Advertising support along lines of the American model has become more widely accepted, especially as television's operating costs rise. But the American example of relying more on competition than regulation also threatens traditional public service broadcasting which must meet increasing competition for viewers by offering more commercially-appealing programs, usually entertainment--rather than culture-based.

-C. H. Sterling

[omega minimo]

13. Thanks for that Up2Late! " fundamental and ideologically-driven"

"fundamental and ideologically-driven" -- this is the story of how we got here........

:hi:

[KharmaTrain]

15. Welcome To Telcom '96

This isn't a "monopoly" according to the FCC...or so they say. The laws were softened under Raygun and all but eliminated during Clinton with another round still pending in front of the FCC. It almost passed 2 years ago.

It's time to for the long-awaited and promised revision of Telcom '96...it was supposed to have been done by our beloved repugnican congress in 2002. Someone needs to give the House Democrats a push on this one.

[omega minimo]

17. Plus the attempts to pass a rating system that is MANDATORY

where products without the ratings sticker would be illegal. Verboten.

[Up2Late]

18. Let's try to resist placing the blame of President Clinton for Telecom '96, that was Newt's doing...

...during his "Contract on America" push, while at the same time, they bullied and distracted the public with a lot of Bogus "Whitewater/Monicagate" BS.

It's all linked to the same GIANT RW Conspiracy which has destroyed the America I once knew.

[omega minimo]

19. The media buried it. Congress passed it. Clinton signed it.

:thumbsdown:

[Cleita]

4. K&R!

Good work!

[omega minimo]

14. .

hi Cleita

[femrap]

5. K & R....

no wonder I don't watch much TV.

Great Post....great info. TV could have been used as such a great educational and informative device....but that is not the case. Just try getting something on TV that 'works' the mind...it's fucking impossible.

Why isn't 'Democracy Now!' on where Imus is not? One fucking hour of Truth. That is just too much to ask...isn't it?

[omega minimo]

12. Have you checked out local/cable/community media in your area?

Maybe you could learn to do a show

and call it

"One Fucking Hour Of Truth"

:rofl: :yourock:

[The River]

6. Great Resource

Thank You


PS K&R

[entanglement]

7. Nice thread, Omega

:hi:

The corporate media is a major enabler / cheerleader of RW atrocities; and one reason is that the control of the MSM is in the hands of a parasitic few with an incestuous relationship with the ruling class. Indeed, they ARE the ruling class, in some sense.

[omega minimo]

16. Wonder if the parent companies of Imus' shows also sell the "nappy headed" rap music

that we are all supposed to shift the blame to? ;)

[Judi Lynn]

11. Such useful links! Thank you. n/t

[cosmicdot]

20. from Jim Hightower's book ... re GE

There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos (1997)

page 120

Whatever else this monolith might be, one thing it damn sure is not left wing. One chronicler of the company observed it was "so obsessed with conservatism that it was not unlike the John Birch Society." GE, you might remember, is the outfit that sponsored Ronald Reagan as host of the 'General Electric Theater' television series in the fifties. In addition, Reagan was directly on GE's payroll as its PR spokesman for eight years, 1954-1962. His 'job' was to make radio broadcasts and travel the rubber-chicken banquet circuit, speechifying against commies, unions, corporate taxes, welfare, social security, and all things liberal. It was this sustaining sponsorship that made Reagan the voice and darling of right-wing Republicans, solidifying a core constituency that propelled him in to the governor's office in California and ultimately into the White House.

Lesson Number 14,367G(3)ii on How Politics Works, Entitled 'Sponsorship Has Its Privileges': once the Gipper was safely ensconced in the Oval Office, his old pals from GE came calling, and Reagan's Federal Communications Commission soon began loosening its regulatory grip on television licensing, including making a specific change that allowed General Electric to buy NBC. You see, GE is a convicted felon. Not once, but many times it has been convicted of such felonies as bribery, defrauding us taxpayers, and committing gross environmental and financial crimes. If you had such a rap sheet, you would not be deemed fit to hold an FCC license. But on December 10, 1985, the commission relaxed its fitness restrictions, ruling that felonies would count against a conglomerate buyer of media properties only if the company's top executive had been found guilty of the wrongdoing. The very next day GE waltzed through this tailor-made loophole and bought RCA, then the parent of NBC, for $6.2 billion.

[omega minimo]

21. Not a very good corporate "person"

thanks very much for that digusting info :hi: