AQA A-Level Media Studies industries overview quiz quiz

A small independent production company that makes one media product at a time for niche audiences

A government broadcasting regulator that licenses and sanctions media companies across sectors

A large company that owns many media companies across different sectors

A single newspaper that is owned and run by one independent local proprietor

Owning several different companies that all operate at the very same single stage of the supply chain

Selling a company off to a direct competitor to reduce risk in a crowded and unpredictable market

Government control of the media through statutory ownership rules and a single regulating body

Owning more than one stage of the supply chain, such as production, distribution and exhibition

Narrow the range of voices and limit creativity

Increase the range of opinions and widen genuine diversity

Have no measurable effect at all on the diversity of voices

Eliminate the profit motive that drives commercial media firms

To increase artistic experimentation and take more creative risks with new formats

To manage the high risk of unpredictable products

Because regulators legally require the use of stars, genres and franchises

To deliberately reduce the size of their audiences and target smaller niches

To maximise advertising revenue for private shareholders

To serve only niche subscribers who pay a premium monthly fee

To inform, educate and entertain in the public interest

To promote a single political party that controls the broadcaster

Advertising revenue sold during programmes

Subscription fees paid by individual viewers

Direct government grants drawn from general taxation

The licence fee paid by households

The coming together of media technologies, industries and content

A specific pattern of company ownership across several supply stages

A type of statutory government regulation imposed on broadcasters by law

The steady decline of digital media as audiences return to older forms

They mean exactly the same thing and the two terms are completely interchangeable in industry use

Distribution moves the finished product to audiences; circulation is how it then spreads and is consumed

Circulation always happens before production, shaping the product long before it is ever distributed to anyone

Distribution only applies to printed newspapers and never to film, television or any digital media

The Ofcom regulator

The IPSO press body

The BBFC

The BBC

Statutory regulation is entirely voluntary, while self-regulation is the version that is actually backed by law

They are identical in practice, since both carry the same legal powers to sanction and fine media companies

Self-regulation only ever applies to broadcasting, while statutory regulation is reserved for the printed press

Statutory regulation is backed by law and an independent body; self-regulation is run by the industry itself

Protecting audiences against freedom of expression

Balancing company profit against the cost of advertising

Weighing production processes against distribution networks

Setting genre conventions against the demands of narrative

Because regulators legally require firms to run large promotional campaigns for every release

Because even a strong product fails if audiences never see it, and the industry is risky

Because marketing is always far cheaper than the production of the cultural product itself

Because effective marketing entirely replaces the need for any distribution of the product