Page 196 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

Hypercommerc al sm | 1

in this case, endings. By the end of 1998 the talented Gooding was pitching
Pepsi on TV spots, still in his Tidwell character.

mEDia ownErshiP: mErgErs, ConsoLiDaTion,
anD TighT DivErsiFiCaTion

No discussion of how media culture came to be hypercommercial is complete
without mentioning the role of corporate mergers and acquisitions, which took
place in two significant waves of consolidation in the 1980s and 1990s. Film
industry observer Thomas Schatz, documented the 1989 transformation of the
structure of the industry, when a total of 414 media deals worth over $42 billion
were struck, the most notable being the $14 billion merger of Time Warner. In
1995 another wave hit, setting a record of 644 mergers totaling $70.8 billion.
Along with Disney purchasing Cap Cities/ABC, Viacom’s buyout of Blockbuster,
and Westinghouse’s merger with CBS, the already massive Time Warner bought
Turner broadcasting in a $7.3 billion deal. Among other things, CNN, TNT, and
TBS gave the new company broadcast distribution for its vast media products of
film and TV series, resulting in the largest media library in existence. Changing
copyright ownership led to the mining of the past for commercial purposes, and
bits and pieces from old movies, characters and cartoons turned up everywhere
from ads to merchandise. Time Warner made spectacular profits with vintage
Looney Toons, the revenues for syndication and merchandising of Daffy Duck
and his friends reached $3.5 billion in 1996.
Media conglomeration has allowed the mega corporations to practice syn-
ergy, another key piece of the expanding commercial mosaic, in which corpora-
tions cross-promote their own stars, programs, and merchandise on their media
outlets. When Time Warner wanted to own the production and distribution of
its TV shows, it started its own TV network, WB. Because teens comprise the
biggest consumer market in the music industry, Dawson’s Creek was used to sell
the songs and artist signed to Warner Bros. record labels. Paula Cole’s, I Don’t
Wanna Wait, became a top 10 single after being featured as the show’s theme
song.
Synergy also provides the economic fuel that propels the trend toward huge
media franchises, including summer blockbusters. The primary requirement for
synergy is capital, which only huge companies have, first to produce the film
that forms the epicenter, then to provide the millions needed to drive the mar-
keting force behind it. These multipurpose entertainment/marketing machines
then create film franchises that become lengthy promotions for a vast array of
licensed tie-in and brand-name consumer products. One narrative can also lead
to movie sequels, TV series, music videos, and sound track albums, video games
and theme park rides, graphic novels and comic books. Indeed, the first giant
step in this direction was the Batman blockbuster. As industry writers like to
say, Warner is the Studio that Batman built. Batman was one of the first films
to utilize the whole machine of the company, from the marketing to the tie-ins
and the merchandising, all building up the momentum needed for international
distribution. Films are no longer singular narratives, rather, they are iterations