Media and Communications: Introduction
Segments
Cable and Other Program Distribution
Companies broadcast television programs for free to the public and for cable subscribers. Broadcasts and programming, production, and post-production services are major sources of revenue.
Cellular and Other Wireless Telecommunications
Companies in this segment operate and maintain switching and transmission facilities in order to provide telecommunications services via airwaves.
Movies and Television Production
Companies in this industry primarily produce, or produce and distribute, television programs, television commercials, or videos.
Music
Companies in this industry produce, sell, and license musical recordings; they may also own and license musical copyrights.
Printed Media
Companies in this industry publish newspapers, magazines and other periodicals, books, directories, and mailing lists, as well as items such as calendars, greeting cards, and maps.
Satellite Telecommunications
Communications satellites are used to relay and amplify radio telecommunications signals via a transponder to create a communication channel.
Telecommunications Reseller
Companies in this segment purchase network access and capacity from telecommunications carriers and resell wired and wireless telecommunications services to businesses and households.
Wired Telecommunications Carriers
In this segment, companies provide services including local and long-distance calling, Internet access, and TV program distribution over fixed-line telecommunications networks.
The Media and Communications industry is Highly Concentrated. The production in this industry is dominated by a small amount of large firms that are able to shape the industry’s direction and price levels.
Primary Demand Drivers
- Purchases from businesses, telephone companies, cable companies, data communications providers, and TV and radio broadcasters
Profitability Drivers
- Technological innovation
- Ability to secure high-volume contracts from large customers
From the Blog 
In the United States, approximately 257.3 million people own and use a cell phone. Zoom out to the world as a whole and that number increases to 4.57 billion people. In both cases, the statistics are only expected to show increases as global income rises, interconnectedness becomes normalized across land and sea, and technology continues to advance at a rapid clip. Recently, the cell phone market in the U.S. made news when T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint was approved by a federal judge on February 11th, uniting the third and fourth largest players in the U.S. industry, respectively.
If you haven’t paid any attention to growing internet trends recently, you may be unfamiliar with the social media platform, TikTok. TikTok is a popular destination for short-form video creation through lip-syncing, dancing, and memes. Similar to the now-extinct Vine, TikTok features the same looping video function however adds a new layer of customization through the form of effects, filters, and sound overlays. Many of the application’s 800 million active users are teenagers, with the younger demographic being largely represented among TikTok’s top content creators.
Sources
- Hoovers (Date Accessed: 6/1/2017)