No other people sharing the planet have more access to entertainment than the American people. We spend the time after work and after dinner being entertained with a horizontal and vertical density of entertainment like no other country on Earth. Huge amounts of what we can see, we have already seen: Endless reruns of I Love Lucy and Lawrence Welk, still available at the shout of a voice command over cable remotes everywhere. Dozens of channels, broadcasting, cable casting and satellite-beaming through every minute of every day. The news, in every shade from red to blue, in many languages, never stops. On digital 4K billion-color screens up to and including 85-inchers.
Almost all of this is available on your smartphone, too, which you can plug into your vehicle’s sound system and screen to be entertained with sound and pictures while you drive. There are noise-cancelling earbuds for your privacy, and that’s about all the privacy you’re going to get.
We never talk much about Big Entertainment. Big Pharma, Big Tech, for sure. But, Big Entertainment? Nah. They’re the good guys, right? Making us happy after dinner so we can forget how screwed up things are at work and where we live.
Since all the important guts and teeth of the Federal Communications Commission, which prohibited certain kinds of media ownership, were excised a long time ago, we have seen the formation of Big Entertainment.
The Walt Disney Company, for one, owns so many entertainment companies it’s hard to keep track:
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, theatrical exhibition unit, home media distribution, Disney Music Group, domestic television networks, and international holdings. Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort, Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Shanghai Disney Resort, Disney Vacation Club, Disney Cruise Line, Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, Disneynature, and Disney Theatrical Group. Walt Disney Television consists of ABC and ESPN, Disney Television Studios, 20th Television and 20th Television Animation, ABC Owned Television Stations, Freeform, Disney Branded Television, FX Networks, ABC News, 73% ownership of National Geographic Partners, and 50% of A&E Networks with Hearst. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks and the Angels of Anaheim.
Comcast owns the Xfinity cable subsidiary, Comcast Business, Xfinity Mobile, Verizon, over-the-air national broadcast network NBC, Telemundo, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Syfy, NBCSN, Oxygen, Bravo, Qubo, E!, Universal Pictures, Dream Works Animation, Illumination, Universal Animation Studios), Universal Parks & Resorts, Platform, FreeWheel, and Sky Group.
AT&T, the telephone company, owns WarnerMedia, which owns 29 brands, including HBO, CNN, TBS, TNT, truTV, Cinemax, and multiple non-English cable stations.
If you don’t think the Disney companies, let alone AT&T, Viacom, Comcast, and Sinclair, with 294 TV stations in 89 markets, have any influence over who you are, what you do, and for whom you vote to represent you, you are mistaken.
McCraw is a semi-retired writer and columnist, based in The Villages, Florida.