Blackwell Reference Online

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Concentration of ownership in the media sector presents important problems for the cultural industries. First, concentration creates dominant positions for some players, which can affect the necessary pluralism of ideas in a society (→  Plurality ). From another point of view, there are strong pressures to allow strong players in a given market because of the growing trend toward globalization in cultural markets (→  Globalization Theories ). The digitization of the whole field of cultural production and technological convergence processes have also stimulated concentration (→  Competition in Media Systems ; Media Conglomerates ). As Sánchez Tabernero and Carvajal have specified, “concentration can be analyzed from the market viewpoint or from the perspective of the companies. In the first case, concentration increases when the position of dominance or influence of the main companies becomes stronger, the public's power of choice is reduced and when some ‘independent voices’ disappear. From the business point of view, concentration implies industrial growth of the communications groups” (2002a, 15). Economic centralization explains how a few players increase control of the means of production in a given society. From a critical perspective, the main danger with concentration is the trend toward oligopoly (i.e., when the market is dominated by a small number of companies) and ... log in or subscribe to read full text