Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
International Review for the Sociology of Sport
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Law, A.
Right arrow Articles by Kemp, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

The Global Sport Mass Media Oligopoly

The Three Usual Suspects and More

Alan Law

Trent University, Canada

Jean Harvey

Stuart Kemp

University of Ottawa, Canada

The current frenzy of megamergers and acquisitions creating giant media/entertainment conglomerates has been described in the sociology of sport literature as one of the key aspects of sport globalization processes now unfolding. In this literature three usual suspects are mostly pointed out: Disney, News Corp and AOL–Time Warner. This article argues that one must look beyond these in order to get a clearer picture of the emerging media/sport complex. By examining the corporate structure of six major media/entertainment conglomerates, this article reveals some of the intricacies of these holdings which unpack the ‘circuits of promotion’ being formed through media platforms and content convergence. Moreover, the analysis of these corporate holdings show how these competitors are also involved in several joint ventures that connect them together, thus forming a dense web despite their rivalries. The article concludes that unless democratic interventions are enabled at the national and global levels sport media consumers will remain easy targets of the global media/ entertainment oligopoly.

Key Words: conglomerates • globalization • mass media • oligopoly • professional sport

International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 37, No. 3-4, 279-302 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/1012690202037004025
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Television New MediaHome page
H. Kruse
Betting on News Corporation: Interactive Media, Gambling, and Global Information Flows
Television New Media, March 1, 2009; 10(2): 179 - 194.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Journal of Sport and Social IssuesHome page
M. M. Smith and B. Beal
"So You Can See How the Other Half Lives": MTV "Cribs"' Use of "the Other" in Framing Successful Athletic Masculinities
Journal of Sport and Social Issues, May 1, 2007; 31(2): 103 - 127.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Journal of Sport and Social IssuesHome page
J. L. Hanis-Martin
Embodying Contradictions: The Case of Professional Women's Basketball
Journal of Sport and Social Issues, August 1, 2006; 30(3): 265 - 288.
[Abstract] [PDF]