A side note here is that the Los Angeles WB station is KTLA Channel 5, which like many other WB stations, is owned by Tribune. Tribune also owns the Orlando Sentinel, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and the Chicago Tribune, and has tried to use the TV stations to promote the newspapers, and vice-versa, and shared news between the two. Currently, Tribune is considering offers that may result in the sale of some or all of the newspapers and TV stations and may result in the newspapers and TV stations in the same markets being owned by different companies. News Corp is now involved in this process.

Another side note I find interesting is that CBS owns KCAL Channel 9 in Los Angeles, which shares newsrooms with KCBS Channel 2, which is also owned by CBS, of course. So, CBS programs the CW on KTLA Channel 5, CBS on KCBS Channel 2, and KCAL Channel 9. It seems strange now that Disney had to sell KCAL Channel 9 in order to be cleared to buy ABC, which owns KABC Channel 7 in Los Angeles. The rules certainly have a relaxed in network and station ownership, and the regulators cite the increase in news and media entertainment alternatives for relaxing the restrictions on network broadcasting.

Speaking of network broadcasting… there have been enormous changes in radio, where CBS, NBC, and ABC all got their start, with ABC starting out as part of NBC. NBC pretty much got out of radio by the close of the 1980s. CBS has become one of the largest owners of radio stations and radio programming, right up there with Clear Channel (which, like CBS, also owns outdoor advertising such as billboards). In radio, “Infinity�? and “Westwood One�? mean CBS. ABC has been a comparatively smaller radio company, and Disney decided to go ahead and merge its ABC Radio assets with broadcaster Citadel. Radio has also been undergoing changes because digital broadcasting and websites now allow for alternate radio channels under the same station, and because of two major satellite radio companies with a growing subscriber base. The move of Howard Stern from CBS Radio to Sirius Satellite Radio in January 2006 – a month that has come up repeatedly in this series - left millions of morning radio listeners up for grabs, and prompted CBS to make several changes to station formats and programming. Both CBS and Clear Channel started stressing that their radio is “free�? radio. Already, however, satellite radio seems to be forming the kind of partnerships that broadcast television formed with cable television in terms of content, and consolidation of ownership may not be far behind either. There has been talk about merging the two satellite radio companies – XM and Sirius. Recently, CBS and Clear Channel have been selling off some stations, and Clear Channel recently agreed to be taken private.

The radio broadcasters almost had to consolidate, as they are also dealing with record companies that have become behemoths. This is another area where Disney is a smaller player. Unlike Disney, however, most record companies are not wholly owned subsidiaries of the corporations whose names they partially share. With Sony BMG, EMI, Warner, Universal, having so many signed acts, huge libraries, and seemingly countless labels, the price for their namesake companies (Sony and Time Warner, at least) has been a dilution of control. CBS, as I mentioned in the first column, is reviving the CBS Records label, a name that was lost in the Sony music crowd before it merged with BMG. Aside from Disney, CBS is the only major radio broadcaster that will own a prominent record company. Some analysts speculate that Disney may expand its music business by acquiring one of the four giants. Considering “Sony�?, “Warner�?, and “Universal�? are all names tied to rival film studios, such a move would be interesting from a brand perspective.

The record companies are experiencing dropping sales of physical CDs and an increase in the sale of downloadable music online. Apple’s iTunes and iPod, Microsoft’s Zune, and similar services and devices are completely changing the landscape. Some companies and artists have added extra features to their physical albums to create an incentive to buy them instead of just downloading.

We’ve covered a lot of territory, and we’re nearing the end of this review of recent history, but I would be neglectful if I didn’t talk about the major changes to the industry that is perhaps nearest and dearest to my heart, the stepchild of the entertainment industry - major theme parks. I also want to tie everything together while considering the future. However, I’ve yammered on long enough for now, so that will have to wait for the final installment of this series, which is coming soon.

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