Time Warner

·         List of companies they own and in which mediums:

 

o       Film:

§         Warner Brothers

§         New Line Cinemas

§         HBO Pictures

o       TV:

§         Warner Brothers Animation

§         Looney Tunes

§         Warner Brothers Television

§         HBO

§         AOL

§         TimeWarner Cable

o       Music:

§         Warner Music (WMG)

o       Games:

§         Time Warner Interactive Entertainment Games

 

Convergence is where different media platforms are owned by a conglomerate, and can be put together, and this gives conglomerates a big advantage over smaller companies. This is because they will have no competition from any other company, and they will gain a much larger amount of money, as the money will come from each different media platforms, and will all go to the conglomerate, as it has ownership over each platform. A good example of this is Time Warner, who owns some of the main media platforms, and they own subsidiary companies such as New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Animation, and DC Entertainment. Films can be made out of different platforms such as superhero magazines from DC/Marvel. They can do this by cross promoting, and make films such as The Dark Knight, Avengers Assemble, and so on. There will be very strong consumer awareness, and the consumers will be loyal and confident in buying the product, linking to the quality of the product assumed to be high in the consumer’s opinion. As mentioned before, cross promotion opportunities across mediums, known as synergy, are very high. If one business area is in decline, another will be in acceleration, whereas if a company only consists of a film business, which is in decline, it will be very hard to recover the situation, without another business there to help. However, there are some disadvantages, as the consumer has less choice to choose from. The business will require high quality business and financial management, so the company must employ trustworthy businessmen to keep the company on course. Smaller, independent companies will lose out, as they cannot compete with the immense diversification of much larger conglomerate.  There will be a lack of clear brand identity due to the business spread, which is convergence, and this may confuse the consumer, thus affecting sale of the product.