Interesting People mailing list archives
What media monopolies?
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 13:48:24 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: h_bray () globe com Date: August 26, 2005 10:50:54 AM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: What media monopolies? News Release | | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | | August 26, 2005 | | CONTACT: Patrick Ross or Amy| | Smorodin| | 202-289-8928| | | | | | Media Monopolies Are a Myth | | Thierer and English Cite Declining Market Capitalizations | | || WASHINGTON D.C. - If the stock market is any indication, the
| | argument that just a few large media conglomerates control the|| market for what we see, hear and read, is completely without
|| merit. So conclude Adam Thierer and Daniel English in the new
| | Progress on Point, "Testing 'Media Monopoly' Claims: A Look at| | What Markets Say," released by the Progress & Freedom || Foundation. In their paper, Thierer and English evaluate the
| | market performance of five large media outlets and deduce that| | declining stock value -- market caps down 52% over the last | | four years -- is a clear indication that the corporations | | could not possibly be acting as monopolies. | | | | According to Thierer, Director of PFF's Center for Digital || Media Freedom, and economist English, today's media market is
|| more diverse and highly competitive than ever before, a point
| | is illustrated by a 200 percent increase in the number of || media outlets over the past forty years. That competition is
| | reflected in the market performance of five of the largest | | media operators. "By looking at the performance of publicly || traded media firms and their stock over the past five years,
|| it is readily apparent that monopolists do not dominate this
| | marketplace," Thierer and English write. "Indeed, quite the | | opposite is true. Large, traditional media companies are || struggling to adapt to a very rapidly evolving media market."
| | | | The authors argue that if the media industry is truly || controlled by monopolies, investors would be clamoring to buy
|| media stock. "Our analysis reveals that these five firms have
|| lost a combined 52 percent of their value (in terms of market
| | capitalization) over the past five years, making it impossible|| to conclude that these firms possess excessive market power.
| | Simply stated, if this industry was 'monopolistic' or even || 'oligopolistic,' its top firms would not be losing that sort
| | of value." | | || Thierer and English also compare the stock performance of the
| | five large media firms with the so called "new media" || companies to further prove that older firms do not monopolize
| | the media market. "(T)he media marketplace is far more dynamic| | and competitive than critics imagine. If any of these firms || were 'monopolists,' they would go down in history as some of
| | the worst performing monopolists of all time. Not only have | | they failed to recoup 'excessive' profits, but haven't even | | been able to return to value of their stocks to pre-2000 | | levels. Further, at least in terms of stock market | | performance, they are being easily outpaced by 'new media' || companies such as Yahoo! and Google, who are stealing away an
| | increasingly large share of the advertising revenue pie." | | | | The issue of media monopolies is also explored in Media Myths:|| Making Sense of the Debate Over Media Ownership, authored by
|| Adam Thierer and recently published by The Progress & Freedom
| | Foundation. Media Myths debunks longstanding arguments in | | favor of aggressive regulation of media ownership. | | || The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented think
|| tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications
| | for public policy. It is a 501(c)(3) research & educational | | organization. ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- What media monopolies? David Farber (Aug 26)
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- What media monopolies? David Farber (Aug 27)