Media Institutions

What is a media distributor?A media distributor is an organization which own a category of media sectors ranging

from; television, radio and music, to art, print and magazines. This enables them to have a wide spread influx on the media market, therefore attracting newly developed products to be interested in the sectors of market which they are implemented in, enabling the media distributors to use their power over the market to introduce new products for example a new song, or in my case a new magazine. Because of the development in technology and increasingly social media, wide spread interest has become a much easier factor to new products and media distribution has only increased this and worked hand in hand. A media institution in conclusion covers the production, marketing, distribution and regulation of the product.

Here are some examples below of major media institutions:

• Bauer Media Group is a European-based media company, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany that manages a portfolio of more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations around the world. The portfolio includes print shops, postal, distribution and marketing services. Bauer Media Group has a workforce of approximately 11,000 employees in 17 countries. Bauer Media is a multi-platform media group, with locations across the UK. Following their purchase of Emap in 2007, The Bauer Media Group acquired a collection of media brands. This includes heat and Grazia as well as a radio portfolio of national radio brands such as KISS FM UK and Magic, and regional radio brands across major UK cities. In 2013, Bauer Media also acquired the Absolute Radio Group from Times of India. Bauer Media also broadcasts TV music channels including The Box TV, in a joint venture with Channel 4. In the UK Bauer Media is the sister company of H Bauer Publishing, who publish titles including Take a Break. Q started out as a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Originally it was to be called Cue (named after the act of cueing a record to play). However the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. The Q music brand has expanded to Radio and Television, with Q Radio and Q TV being music entertainment that specialises in indie, rock and alternative. Q also holds annual music awards in the UK, known as Q Awards. In spring 2010, Bauer caused controversy with its attempt to unilaterally impose a new contract on all photographers and writers, which takes away their copyright and off-loads liability for libel or copyright infringement from the publisher onto the contributor. 200 photographers and writers from Q and Bauer's other music magazines, Kerrang! and MOJO were reported as refusing to work under the new terms. Kerrang! is a brand that specialises in rock music. It originally began as a magazine and in 2004 Kerrang Radio was launched. A Kerrang TV channel also exists. As of 2005 all of Kerrang TV's programme content is music videos the majority of which is open scheduled for text requests from their playlist.

• The ITV Network is not owned or operated by one company, but rather by a series of licensees that provide a regional service while also broadcasting programmes across the network. Since 2016 the fifteen licences are held by two companies, with the majority held by ITV Broadcasting Limited, part of ITV plc. The network is regulated by the media regulator Ofcom who is responsible for awarding the broadcast licences. The last major review of the Channel 3 franchises was in 1991, with all operators' licences having been renewed between 1999 and 2002 and again from 2014 without a further contest. While this has been the longest period that the ITV Network has gone without a major review of its licence holders, Ofcom announced (following consultation) that it would split the Wales and West licence from 1 January 2014, creating a national licence for Wales and joining the newly separated West region to Westcountry Television, to form a new licence for the enlarged South West of England region. All companies holding a licence were part of the non-profit body ITV Network Limited, which commissioned and scheduled network programming, with compliance previously handled by ITV plc and Channel Television. However, due to amalgamation of several of these companies since the creation of ITV Network Limited (and given Channel Television is now owned by ITV plc), it has been replaced by an affiliation system. Approved by Ofcom, this results in ITV plc commissioning and funding the network schedule, with STV and UTV paying a fee to broadcast it. All licensees have the right to opt out of network programming (except for the national news bulletins), however many do not due to pressures from the parent company or because of limited resources. Prior to the affiliate system being introduced, STV would frequently (and sometimes controversially) opt out of several popular network programmes – such as the original run of the first series of Downton Abbey – citing the need to provide more Scottish content to its viewers. As a public service broadcaster, the ITV network is obliged to broadcast programming of public importance, including news, current affairs, children's and religious programming as well as party election broadcasts on behalf of the major political parties and political events, such as the Budget. The network also needs to produce accessible output containing subtitles, signing and audio description. In exchange for this programming, the ITV network is available on all platforms free to air and can be found at the top of the EPG of all providers. Since the launch of the platform in 1998, all of the ITV licensees have received gifted capacity on the digital terrestrial television platform. At present, the companies are able to broadcast additional channels and all choose to broadcast the ITV plc owned ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and CITV in their region. UTV and STV (formerly Scottish Television and Grampian Television) previously broadcast their own services – UTV2 in Northern Ireland and S2 in central and northern Scotland – until 2002, when they adopted the ITV plc channels. The broadcasters all make use of the Digital 3&4 multiplex, shared with Channel 4. ITV Encore launched on June 2014 and ITVBe launched in October 2014.

• Immediate Media Company Limited (styled as Immediate Media Co) is a combined publishing house containing the former assets of Origin Publishing,Magicalia and BBC Magazines. It was formed on 1 November 2011 and is owned by Exponent Private Equity. Immediate Media Co. publishes over 70 interest-based, multi-platform brands, maintains over 50 websites, and employs over 1100 staff in its offices in Hammersmith, London, Bristol, Redditch, Camberley and Manchester. Immediate is the current publisher of a diverse range of publications, including the Radio Times, Gardens Illustrated and BBC Top Gear Magazine. Tom Bureau - who has a background in digital media as well as traditional publishing - is Immediate's CEO. 60% of Immediate's profit is generated by the Radio Times, which is now spearheading the company's moves into online retailing.

• BBC Magazines - One of the components that formed Immediate was BBC Magazines, the magazine publishing division of BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC. The corporation had a long history of publishing magazines including the Radio Times which dates back to 1923. In 2007 BBC Magazines dropped plans to launch an international news-based magazine with the working title Newsbrief tied closely with the BBC's flagship current affairs programme, Newsnight. In late 2011 the BBC's magazine-publishing business was sold to Exponent Private Equity following the clearance by the Office of Fair Trading of the purchase. It is now part of the Immediate Media Company and BBC Magazines titles are published by Immediate under licence from BBC Worldwide.

• Magicalia Limited - another component that made up Immediate was Magicalia Limited, a digital cross-media publisher and platform provider, based in London, England. In late 2011 the assets of Magicalia were combined with those of Origin Publishing and BBC Magazines to form Immediate. Tom Bureau, CEO of Magicalia, became the Chief Executive of the new company. Magicalia was founded in 1999 as a digital-only publisher by entrepreneurs by Adam Laird and Jeremy Tapp with its inaugural website, bikemagic.com. In 2000, Magicalia started to help publishers create and publish their own websites, with clients such as Runner's World (Rodale). The following year, Magicalia started building ecommerce platforms for retailers who wanted to create an online presence. In 2006 Magicalia was acquired by Exponent Private Equity for £13m, which was closely followed by the acquisition of Encanta Media. Encanta published 9 special-interest magazines, and Magicalia wanted to create a cross-media strategy incorporating both print titles and online sites. Former CNET Networks UK MD Tom Bureau joined as CEO and Duncan Tickell as MD Publishing from Incisive Media.

• Future plc - in May 2014 Immediate announced its acquisition of Future plc's sport and craft titles in a £24 million deal, acquiring 130 staff. The sport portfolio included the websites Bikeradar.com andCyclingnews.com and the magazines Cycling Plus, Procycling and Mountain Biking UK. The craft titles included Love Patchwork and Quilting, Simply Knitting, Mollie Makes and the lifestyle brand The Simple Things.

• Hitched.co.uk - In January 2015, Immediate acquired Hitched.co.uk, a UK wedding planning brand, along with a staff of 18.

• Jewellery Maker - In November 2015 Immediate acquired its first television property, Jewellery Maker, a TV and online commerce platform, from the Genuine Gemstone Company, adding to its Crafts and Arts portfolio. Tom Bureau said that Immediate was looking to expand into TV, video and e-commerce. Jewellery Maker employed over 100 people at the time of its acquisition.

Which media distributor would be most competent for my magazine After analysis of the three media distributors in this PowerPoint and further

analysis of other media distributors I believe that Immediate Media co would best suit my magazine purely because of the wide spectrum audience which it applies to meaning that its magazine basis will expand further with another category which they have not yet ventured in to giving their audience more options as well as the fact that it broadens the horizons of the distributor the fact a new audience of people which could be introduced is an exciting prospect for magazine readers especially if they are interested in the genre of magazine which my product covers. Because there are no other magazines which match the genre of magazine my product is means that it has the ability to lead the market within that sector through this specific distributor. Also Immediate Media co work with a wide variety of social groups as well as gender and age groups which matches the generalist nature of my product because it can apply to more than one group of people as well as having a niche market, I believe this specific distributor enables my product to have some free roam within the market giving both a professional, interesting, laid back edge which more strict media distributors such as Bauer Media might construe.