User:Robbyallen1/Mainstream media

Media mergers and concentration in the United States
Over time the rate of media mergers has increased, while the number of media outlets has also increased. This has resulted in a higher concentration of media ownership, with fewer companies owning more media outlets.

Some critics, such as Ben Bagdikian, assailed concentration of ownership, arguing that large media acquisitions limit the information accessible to the public. Other commentators, such as Ben Compaine and Jack Shafer, find Bagdikian's critique overblown.Shafer noted that U.S. media consumers have a wide variety of news sources, including independent national and local sources.Compaine argues that, based on economic metrics such as the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, the media industry is not very highly concentrated and did not become more concentrated during the 1990s and 2000s. Compaine also points out that most media mergers are not purely acquisitions, but also include divestitures.

One of the biggest mergers/acquisitions in the mainstream media world was Disney Acquiring 21st Century Fox and all of their assets. One of the main things that was accomplished with this merger was completing the rights to the rest of the Marvel movie franchise. Previously Disney did not have the rights to franchises such as X-men and certain Spider-man movie rights. With the acquisition they now do. 21st Century Fox was purchased for 71.3 billion dollars in March of 2019.