Complete and Utter Control

The Walt Disney Corporation has two very successful outlets: ABC and ESPN. These are their main media outlets for broadcasting. Disney also has an eponymous network that has found some success (Hannah Montana). Just this week, ESPN announced that beginning in 2011 it will have exclusive television, radio, and digital broadcasting rights to the college football BCS games. This gives Disney huge control over sports in general. ESPN is already a massive company on its own having recently moved Monday Night Football from ABC to ESPN and rather than having a separate ABC sports division, sports broadcast on ABC is now referred to as ESPN on ABC. ESPN now broadcasts college football every night of the week aside from Monday, in which they have Monday Night Football, so it's rather moot. This control puts all other media outlets at a huge disadvantage.

Sports are big business in this country at all levels. Whether it's the professionals or collegiate, we live and breathe in this country on sports. Saturdays and Sundays during the fall are dominated by Americans watching football. I can safely say this because I have done my research for most of life on both of these days. Disney's move puts all other networks at a disadvantage. While Fox for example still broadcasts major sporting events such as the World Series, NFC football games, the occasional Super Bowl, and right now the BCS, Disney's coup further tightens their grip on sports and the advertising that goes along with it. CBS broadcasts college football (the SEC), college basketball including the NCAA tournament, and AFC football games, yet the wide variety of sports now in the hands of Disney/ABC/ESPN is staggering. Let's run through the list: NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS, college football (bowl games as well), college basketball, other college sports, and let's not forget the top sports news program ever conceived, Sportscenter. The real question is, what does this have to do with politics? A lot more than one would think. 

With increased control over the sporting world, the control spills over to advertising. Disney can control the price and what types of ads it will allow on the air. Due to their large audience for sports spanning multiple networks, advertisers are willing to pay top dollar for the sports fans attention. What else is interesting is ESPN's broadcasting of the BCS. While ESPN is a cable network that is seen in 98 million homes across the country, people are used to seeing major sporting events on local television. Access is easier for the viewer and for the broadcaster they reach a larger audience. The Rose Bowl will still be broadcast on ABC reaching far more than the 98 million ESPN reaches, yet the other BCS games, including the title game will be seen on cable only. Now for most of us, we can simply say, sucks for those who don't have cable. However, think about the control that Disney now has simply through sports broadcasting, it's staggering. Football fans made a big enough stink after Disney moved Monday Night Football from local television (ABC) to cable (ESPN). 

What makes this conversation interesting is how controlled our media truly is becoming. While not due to government regulation, (although the FCC went nuts after the 2004 Super Bowl) some might call into question why so few companies control most of the media we see. The aforementioned Disney Corporation is among an elite few companies that own a bulk of the major television channels, both local and cable. GE/Universal owns, Universal Studios, NBC and all related networks. Viacom owns CBS, MTV, VH1 and Paramount Pictures to name a few. News Corp owns Fox (TV & film) and all of its affiliates. Other major media outlets include Sony and Time Warner. These few companies make the decisions that affect how millions of people receive information and entertainment and with the right amount written on a check can decide exactly what you watch, when you watch it, and how you watch it. And you were worried about the government controlling your life. With the huge success of the Internet and its continued growth we are seeing these major corporations trying to get their hands on the Internet. News Corp for example now owns MySpace. Their reach is far and wide and will continue to groip. People in this country live, unfortunately around the television schedules set-up by these corporations. Devices like DVRs and Tivo have allowed for people to decide when they watch their programming and has put pressure on these corporations, yet little has changed. 

With the BCS soon to be a product of cable programming, the United States may very well see an increase in cable subscriptions so fans have access to the games they would have otherwise missed. Disney may very well simply be doing the bidding of cable companies nationwide, who are already screwing us royally with high costs and many headaches for us to simply consume entertainment. With only four major corporations controlling a bulk of the television and film production in the world, few are going to stand in their way. Over the years media control has become tighter as these companies have continued to eat up all different types of media. The BCS purchase is starting a scary trend that in essence could cause Americans to see something like cable television or HDTV as a mandatory utility, just a step below water and heating & air conditioning. 

These companies put out fairly rotten products in consumable media products and quite possibly have more control over Americans and their lives than any of us think. As the Internet and other digital media continue to grow, it'll be interesting to see how these corporations play a part in the development, ownership, and control of these outlets. We just always have to be mindful of what is out there and how to make sure our lives aren't dominated by some old grumpy guy in a 6300 dollar suit On that note I'm heading back to watching the Texas Tech/Oklahoma football game on ABC presented by ESPN owned by the Disney Corporation currently controlling 2/3 of the world..... until next time.