Who Owns the Media?

Chart: Telecommunications

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The U.S. media landscape is dominated by massive corporations that, through a history of mergers and acquisitions, have concentrated their control over what we see, hear and read. In many cases these giant companies are vertically intergrated, controlling everything from initial production to final distribution.

These charts are derived in part from information gathered by Columbia Journalism Review’s Who Owns What? site, one of many excellent resources on the web regarding media ownership. Learn more about media ownership »

Select a chart:  The Big Six   Cable   TV   Print   Telecom   Radio  


2006 revenues: $88.1 billion
Verizon is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the United States. It provides local and long distance voice services, wireless voice and data services, and broadband services.

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2006 revenues: $63.0 billion
AT&T is the largest telecommunications company in the United States and one of the largest in the world. It is the leading U.S. provider of local and long distance voice services. It also provides DSL broadband and wireless services and researches telecommunications technology.

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2006 revenues: $44.2 billion
Time Warner is the largest media conglomerate in the world, with holdings including: CNN, the CW (a joint venture with CBS), HBO, Cinemax, Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT, America Online, MapQuest, Moviefone, Netscape, Warner Bros. Pictures, Castle Rock, and New Line Cinema, over 150 magazines such as Time, Cooking Light, Marie Claire and People.

Time Warner services 17.9% of all cable subscribers, gaining 3.5 million subscribers from its joint aquisition of Adelphia with Comcast. Time Warner now has 14.4 million cable customers (plus 1.5 million held in partnership with Comcast).

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2006 revenues: $25.0 billion
Comcast is the largest cable company and the second-largest Internet service provider in the United States. It serves customers in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Comcast has 24.2 million cable subscribers, 14.7 million digital cable subscribers, 12.9 million high-speed Internet customers and 4.1 million voice customers. Comcast is also a joint shareholder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the owner of several sports teams.

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2006 revenues: $13.9 billion
Qwest Communications provides local and long-distance telecommunications and related services, wireless services, high-speed Internet, and data and video services in fourteen states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.)

Visit the Qwest Communications International Inc. homepage »


2006 revenues: $13.2 billion
Cox Enterprises, whose subsidiaries include Cox Cable, Cox Television and Cox Radio, controls 80 radio and 15 television stations, 43 newspapers, and several publishing companies. Cox also offers broadband Internet access and digital phone service; as of 2007 it had six million broadband customers and 2.3 million digital phone subscribers in the United States.

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2006 revenues: $7.7 billion
Advance/Newhouse holdings include Advance Publications, which publishes 25 daily newspapers in nine states, and magazine publisher Conde Nast. Advance/Newhouse also owns Bright House Networks cable operations, which serves 2.2 million subscribers. In addition, Advance/Newhouse has extensive online holdings, including CondeNet, concierge.com, epicurious.com, and style.com.

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2006 revenues: $5.9 billion
Cablevision holdings include Cable networks such as AMC, The Independent Film Channel, and WE: Women’s Entertainment; Madison Square Garden; and sports teams. As of 2007, it had more than 5.6 million cable customers and more than 2.2 million high-speed data customers. It controls 19% of the U.S. cable market.

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2006 revenues: $1.3 billion
Insight Communications is the ninth largest cable provider in the United States with 1.3 million subscribers, and offers broadband Internet access, DTV and digital phone services.

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2006 revenues: $1.2 billion
With 1.5 million subscribers in 23 states, Mediacom Communications Corp. is the nation’s eighth largest cable television company, offering high-speed Internet, digital phone and digital cable service, and local and long distance voice service.

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