Media concentration has been an issue around the world. To some observers, the power of large media conglomerates has never been greater. To others, the Internet has brought openness and diversity. Which perspective is correct? The answer has significant policy and business implications.

The answer to the empirical question is not as obvious as many sincerely believe. Although numerous large-scale mergers have taken place, the sector itself has grown rapidly. Also, de-mergers have taken place. And with digital convergence and globalization, firms have been crossing industry and national lines.

Why extend the analysis to the world at large? Because if we can identify common trends, we can seek the drivers, whether technological, economic, or political. This has policy implications. When drivers are fundamental in nature it is difficult to deal with them through regulatory policy. But when a country or a region is an outlier, with a media market that is different from similarly positioned countries, a corrective policy might be more effective.

To address this question, this conference analyzes the media sector, across countries and across time, and identifies its dynamics, concentration, and ownership trends. The conference will discuss the findings and implications of a CITI-led study on international media concentration. This project brought together author teams from 30 countries examining 13 media industries in the platform, distribution, and content sectors. The result is a book published by Oxford University Press, to be unveiled at the conference. The book is 1300 pages in length and includes 800 figures and tables. It aims to provide a serious data analysis of questions of media concentration trends, their drivers, the impact of technology, and variations across countries and industries.

Draft Agenda

8:30-9:00am Registration and Breakfast

9:00-9:15am Welcome

Introduction of Topic, Project, and of the International Collaboration on Media Concentration

• Eli Noam, Columbia University

Media Concentration and the OSI

• Marius Dragomir, Open Society Foundations, London.

The conference format is a series of short panels on overarching themes, including reference to specific countries and to the report's findings, provided by the authors of country chapters and members of the International Collaboration on Media Concentration.

9:15-9:50am - Trends of Concentration in Content Industries: a Problem? What are Policy Approaches?

• Jo Groebel, Germany/Belgium
• Kiyoshi Nakamura, Japan
• Paulo Faustino, Portugal

9:50-10:25am - Media Concentration in the BRICs and Developing Countries, and what do about it?

• Min Hang, China
• Sonia Virginia Moreira, Brazil
• Anuradha Bhattacharjee, India

10:25-11:00am - Institutional Ownership: a Problem?

• Paulo Faustino, Portugal
• Nagla Rizk, Egypt
• Sergio Godoy Etcheverry, Chile
• Moderator: Jason Buckweitz, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information

11:00-11:15am Coffee Break

11:15-11:50am - High Concentration and Democracy: What is the Interaction?

• Jo Grobel, Germany/Belgium
• Paschal Preston, Ireland
• Juan Enrique Huerta, Mexico
• Moderator: Jason Buckweitz, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information

11:50-12:25pm - A The Role of State Ownership in Media Concentration: Pro and Con

• Huseyin Bayazit, Turkey
• Min Hang, China
• TBA

12:25-1:00pm - Media Concentration in Authoritarian Countries, and how should others respond?

• Huseyin Bayazit, Turkey
• Sergio Godoy Etcheverry, Chile
• Achim Wolf, Germany

01:00-2:00pm - Lunch

2:00-2:35pm - The Impact of Globalization on Concentration: Pros and Cons

• Kiyoshi Nakamura, Japan
• Anaruda Bhattacharjee, India
• Juan Enrique Huerta, Mexico

2:35-3:10pm - Is the Internet the Solution to Market Concentration, or the Problem?

• Dwayne Winseck, Canada
• Moran Yemini, Israel
• Daeho Kim, South Korea

3:10-3:45pm Is Concentration an Effective Tool for Industrial Policy?

• Amit Schejter, Israel
• Achim Wolf, Germany
• Juan Pablo Artero, Spain

3:45-4:00pm Coffee Break

4:00-4:35pm - The Google/Facebook/Netflix Problem, and Regulatory Approaches to Market Power in the Information Economy

• Joost Van Dreunen, Netherlands
• Moran Yemini, Israel
• Paschal Preston, Ireland

4:35-5:10pm - Outlook for Concentration in Online Video

• Amit Schejter, Israel
• Joost Van Dreunen, Netherlands
• Juan Pablo Artero, Spain

5:10-5:30pm - Group Discussion: What have we learned? What should be done next in academia and policy?

5:30pm Reception