Media Industry Glossary - Unit 6

AUDIENCE
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature, theatre, music or academics in any medium. Audience members participate in different ways in different kinds of art; some events invite overt audience participation and others allowing only modest clapping and criticism and reception.

ADVERTISING STANDARDS AUTHORITY (ASA)
The ASA is the UK’s independent association committed to maintaining high standards in advertising for the benefit of consumers, advertisers and society at large. They are responsible for investigating complaints and deciding whether or not an advertisement is in breach of the Codes. The Advertising Codes lay down rules for advertisers and media owners to follow. They include general rules that state advertising must be responsible, must not mislead, or offend, and specific rules that cover advertising to children and ads for alcohol, gambling, motoring, health and financial products.

BROADCASTERS AUDIENCE RESEARCH BOARD (BARB)

The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board is the organisation that compiles television ratings in the United Kingdom. It was created to replace a previous system, where the BBC and ITV companies compiled their own ratings. It is owned by the BBC, the ITV companies, Channel 4, Five, BSkyB and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. Participating viewers have a box on top of their TV which tracks the programmes they watch. BARB have approximately 5,100 homes participating in the panel. The box records exactly what programmes they watch, and the panellists indicate who is in the room watching by pressing a button on a remote control handset. The data is collected overnight and published as overnight ratings at around 9.30 the following morning for use by TV stations and the advertising industry.

BRITISH BOARD OF FILM CLASSIFICATION (BBFC)
The British Board of Film Classification is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and is responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom.The BBFC rates theatrically-released films, and rated videos and video games that forfeited exemption from the Video Recordings Act 1984, which was discovered in August 2009 to be unenforceable until the act was re-enacted as the Video Recordings Act 2010. Legally, local authorities have the power to decide under what circumstances films are shown in cinemas, but they nearly always choose to follow the advice of the BBFC.
BROADCASTING

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to an audience via radio, television, or other, often digital transmission media. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof.

COMPANY SIZE: MAJOR COMPANIES (TNC)
TNC Management Group, based in Morristown New Jersey, provides expertise and experience in project management, business analytics, and management consulting for the Insurance industry.

COMPANY SIZE: BIG TO MEDIUM SIZED

A Medium sized business or mid-sized business has under 500 employees in the US, 250 in the European Union and fewer than 200 in Australia. A Big sized business has under 1000 employees in the US, 500 in the European Union and fewer than 250 in Australia.

COMPANY SIZE: INDEPENDENT
A independant company is usually the same size as a big or medium company and so the number of employees is around the same.

CROSS MEDIA COMPANIES
Cross media marketing is a form of cross-promotion in which promotional companies commit to surpassing the traditional advertisements and decide to include extra appeals to their offered products. The material can be communicated by any mass media such as e-mails, letters, web pages, or other recruiting sources. This method can be extremely successful for publishers because the marketing increases the ad’s profit from a single advertiser. Furthermore, this tactic generates a good liaison between the advertiser and the publisher, which also boosts the profits.

HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION

In microeconomics and strategic management, the term horizontal integration describes a type of ownership and control. It is a strategy used by a business or corporation that seeks to sell a type of product in numerous markets. Horizontal integration in marketing is much more common than vertical integration is in production. Horizontal integration occurs when a firm is being taken over by, or merged with, another firm which is in the same industry and in the same stage of production as the merged firm, e.g. a car manufacturer merging with another car manufacturer.

INSTITUTION

An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given human community. Institutions are identified with a social purpose and permanence, transcending individual human lives and intentions, and with the making and enforcing of rules governing cooperative human behavior.

NEW MEDIA INDUSTRY

New media is a broad term that emerged in the later part of the 20th century to encompass the amalgamation of traditional media such as film, images, music, spoken and written word, with the interactive power of computer and communications technology, computer-enabled consumer devices and most importantly the Internet. New media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community formation around the media content.

NARROWCASTING
Narrowcasting is a catchall term used for communications such as radio or television signals that are limited to subscription customers or otherwise prohibited from being broadcast. Broadcasts are transmitted to the general public, available for any general receiver with the capability to capture the signal(s). Narrowcasting is directed to a particular audience via proprietary equipment and encryption, or by some other discriminatory means. One of the most common examples of narrowcasting is cable TV. The encrypted signals can only be viewed on a TV by first running through a descrambler provided by the cable company for a monthly fee. Another example of narrowcasting is satellite radio. Satellite radio is commercial-free radio, requiring a proprietary receiver or tuner. Satellite radio is also a paid subscription service, but narrowcasting doesn’t always involve a fee.

NATIONAL READERSHIP SURVEY (NRS)
The NRS provide estimates of the readership of Britain’s major newspapers and consumer magazines, showing the size and nature of the audiences they achieve. The survey covers some over 250 newspapers, newspaper supplements and magazines.

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS (OFCOM)
Ofcom regulate the TV and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms and mobiles, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate. The company makes sure that people in the UK get the best from their communications services and are protected from scams and sharp practices, while ensuring that competition can thrive. Ofcom operates under the Communications Act 2003. This detailed Act of Parliament spells out exactly what Ofcom should do they can do no more or no less than is spelt out in the Act. The Act says that Ofcom’s general duties should be to further the interests of citizens and of consumers. Accountable to Parliament, they are involved in advising and setting some of the more technical aspects of regulation, implementing and enforcing the law. Ofcom is funded by fees from industry for regulating broadcasting and communications networks, and grant-in-aid from the Government.

PRESS COMPLAINTS COMMISSION (PCC)
The Press Complaints Commission is an independent body which deals with complaints from members of the public about the editorial content of newspapers and magazines. Of the complaints received that are specified under the terms of the Code of Practice approximately two in three are about accuracy in reporting and approximately one in five relate to intrusion into privacy of some sort. All complaints are investigated under the editors' Code of Practice, which binds all national and regional newspapers and magazines. The Code which is drawn up by editors themselves covers the way in which news is gathered and reported. It also provides special protection to particularly vulnerable groups of people such as children, hospital patients and those at risk of discrimination.

PRIVATE OWNERSHIP

Private property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Almost anything may be private property, such as, real estate, homes, furniture, appliances, computers, factories, automobiles, land, lakes, capital, patents, copyrights, and even pets. It is distinguished from public property, which refers to assets owned by a state, community or government rather than by individuals or a business entity.

PUBLIC OWNERSHIP
Public property is property which is owned collectively by the people as a whole. This is in contrast to private property, owned by a individual person or artificial entities that represent the financial interests of persons, such as corporations. State ownership, also called public ownership, government ownership or state property, are property interests that are vested in the state, rather than an individual or communities.

PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING

In the United Kingdom the term "public service broadcasting" (PSB) refers to broadcasting intended for the public benefit rather than for purely commercial concerns. The communications regulator Ofcom, requires that certain television and radio broadcasters fulfil certain requirements as part of their licence to broadcast. All of the BBC's television and radio stations have a public service remit, including those that broadcast digitally.

REGULATORY BODY

A regulatory agency is a public authority or government agency responsible for exercising autonomous authority over some area of human activity in a regulatory or supervisory capacity. An independent regulatory agency is a regulatory agency that is independent from other branches or arms of the government. Regulatory agencies deal in the area of administrative law regulation or rulemaking. The existence of independent regulatory agencies is justified by the complexity of certain regulatory and supervisory tasks that require expertise, the need for rapid implementation of public authority in certain sectors, and the drawbacks of political interference.

SELF-REGULATORY BODY
A self-regulatory organization (SRO) is an organization that exercises some degree of regulatory authority over an industry or profession. The regulatory authority could be applied in addition to some form of government regulation, or it could fill the vacuum of an absence of government oversight and regulation. The ability of an SRO to exercise regulatory authority does not necessarily derive from a grant of authority from the government.

VERTICAL INTEGRATION
Vertically integrated companies in a supply chain are united through a common owner. Usually each member of the supply chain produces a different product or (market-specific) service, and the products combine to satisfy a common need. It is contrasted with horizontal integration.