The pros and cons of cross-media ownership by conglomerates

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These humongous-sized mammoths are able to use their size and ownership of a wide range of media to cross promote their films (and other media) across their wide media empires. The synergies of cross-promotion that can be created by these media organisations is mind-boggling. For 20th Century Fox's Avatar it resulted in the greatest 'word-of-mouth' ever generated for a big budget film and no doubt this helped the film become a blockbuster. (Fox with-holding the trailer from the summer and early Autumn also created an itch to see film and this also added to the 'word-of -mouth'.) Such are the benefits of cross-media ownership by these giant institutions.

To see examples of the range of institutional ownership click on Newscorp who own 20th Century Fox's "Avatar" as your starting point. How healthy is this trend for  audiences' choice of genres, access to news, using online media, etc.?
Click here for what the huge media conglomerates own

The Big Six Media Giants and Charts of What they Own

This website is perhaps THE most important site for understanding the extent, depth and ownership reach of the mammoth corporations who own the major film studios in Hollywood. If your case study is about a Hollywood studio and its films check out its ownership of film and other media - and CONSIDER the implications for audience choice, particularly for the type of genres and narratives that audiences are expected to "lap up". Do you consider the ownership of major film studios by so just a handful of multinational companies healthy or damaging for our society? How can miniscule British film companies survive in the teeth of such competition and ownership? What choices of genres and films do British film companies like Chanel 4's Film Four and Vertigo Films offer? Who, by the way, owns Virtigo Films? How are British films distributed when distribution is nearly all owned and controlled by American companies?

http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main