Managing in the Media

Chapter 1

The media industry – into the millennium

1.1 Summary

This chapter describes the historical and economic background to the film, broadcast television and non-broadcast media markets within the wider audiovisual industry. In essence, it is an introduction to the British audiovisual industry. Where appropriate, references to global models are made. We recognise that any attempt to categorise a media product is bound to raise questions of definition, so the terms used in this text are only used to provide boundary conditions for discussion. For example, for the purposes of this book, non-broadcast media include:

•  industrial and corporate video production

•  secondary sales of feature films and television programmes

•  training and education ...