Essay: What impact does ownership have on the media institutions in the industry you have studied?

In the film industry which we have studied, looking at Cinema city and Odeon I would say that there is a significant impact on what ownership does to the institution. Ownership can have strengths but it can also have disadvantages and I think t has more disadvantages than advantages.

The main advantage of ownership is that all of the cinemas in the chain get all of the newest films out that the institution are showing, being a chain they get all the promotions and technology that all of the other cinemas get as well. Being in chain they also keep high in the market and keep up the completion between other institutions. The other advantage is that the profits are spread across the chain and they do not have to manage their profits, in some points of view this would be a disadvantage. So I would say that ownership does have a big impact on the profits side of the institution as well as keeping everything up to date and keeping the competition high.

The biggest disadvantage of ownership is that the cinemas are all controlled by the head office, all of the schedules and films that are shown are all nationally chosen not by the individual cinema. This ties in with the ability to keep up in the market and have the latest films because the majority of films across these cinemas are high budget Hollywood films. 50% of the top twenty in 2009 were from the USA, owners are becoming too obsessed with the big budget films from the USA, and this is called Hollywoodisation. Owners in chain cinemas are more focused on the profit than what the viewers/customers views are.

Ownership can be a burden, there are some independent cinemas that escape the impact of ownership, they can then choose their own schedule, manage their own profits and organise however they want. These independent cinemas usually become part of a network, networks have less of an impact than ownership but they help out and don’t ask for anything in return. Cinemas can also become a part of Europa; Europa funds institutions to show European films, this comes as a great advantage. Being part of Europa means that the cinemas have to show 23% that are European and in exchange they get payments. If they show more European films hey get increased payments.

Looking at owned institutions and then looking at institutions that are part of a network. I think that the ownership has the biggest impact because it changes companies around and they all rally under one head office. Everything that is to be decided is sent to them. Sometimes it can make institutions better, sometimes it can destroy them. It isn’t necessarily the best impact though. Being a part of a network and being independent doesn’t have a huge impact like ownership but it does help out the institution more.

So in conclusion I would say that ownership has a large impact but isn’t always in the institutions best interest and can ruin the business depending on the aims of the business.