Remember the last time you sat in front of a television, mesmerized? Media machines pump out content at unprecedented speeds  and utilize synergy (where companies work together for their benefit, think cross promotion) in order to increase their profits. Its all about the numbers.  Michael Eisner, chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company until 2005, was once quoted in a company memo saying that Disney is interested in making money, rather than culture or education for children. Media companies like Viacom, Disney,  and Time Warner are out for the good of the world themselves. In fact, the “Big 6″ companies (Disney, Time Warner, General Electric, News Corp, Viacom and Sony)  control most of all media consumed. While this consolidation and conglomeration are not necessarily bad it is defiantly important to keep in mind while consuming different media sources! If you ever watch an episode of 30 Rock on NBC (recently purchased by Comcast, formerly owned by GE) you have no question in your mind of the corporate ownership of the NBC, Tina Fey is always “sucking up” to their owners.

I personally find the industry incredibly interesting  so here are some interesting facts regarding the  industry that you might not have been aware of.

• Between 1948 and 1952 movie ticket sales deceased from 90 million a week to 51 million a week.
• The movie rating system(G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17) was introduced in 1968. The  names of the raters who work for  MPAA are kept confidential so they will not be influenced in any way. This angers film makers because an NC -17 rating means that the movie will not be shown in theaters. However, some film makers argue that if your film was made by a big production company there is a better chance it will get an R rating as opposed to NC-17. A great documentary was created about this issue, “This Film is Not Yet Rated“. Check it out!
• In 1983, the average cost of production and promotion of a movie was $16 million, today it costs $100 million. Don’t even cite inflation as a reason for the price hike, there isn’t that much inflation.
• When VCRs (VC-what?) were first being sold, Disney attempted to stop sales citing that selling tapes would decrease their profits. They were wrong. 50% of their profits came from sales of those exact tapes they tried to fight.
• Most corporate news companies follow the profit greed model, avoiding stories that would make advertisers mad, so advertisers won’t revoke their ads. Media Bias anyone?
• VNR’s ( Video News Releases) are made by public relations departments to make their client, most likely a drug company look good. These videos are then aired on television news passed off for actual stories to manipulate viewers. Click here to see some examples.

Bottom line? Always “consume” media  with a grain of salt. Really, everything is not always what it appears to be. Watch out … but please do enjoy!

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