Who Owns What

[G. Wen]

Can anyone tell me (or direct me to a site) which big head honcho companies own which smaller companies? Ex.: I know CBS and MTV are owned by Viacom. I know Disney owns ABC. But I need something more comprehensive. Thank you.

[Movie06]

Well, Universal owns NBC.

[Prof Ultimate]

Try Googling 'Media company ownership'. That should turn up all the big guns and what they own.

[Maxie Zeus]

If you know which parent companies you are interested in, you can also visit their websites and get info there.

The media conglomerates with a big US presence would be:

Time Warner
Walt Disney
Viacom
CBS *
News Corp.
Sony
NBC-Universal (which is part of General Electric)

* Viacom used to own CBS; they spun it off a few years ago and they are now technically separate companies.

[Nexonius]

CBS isn't owned by Viacom anymore. It spun off into CBS Corporation.

With the old Viacom, you had:

CBS (CBS, CBS Productions, CBS Sports Line.com, King World, CSTV, UPN (Before The CW)

Showtime Networks (Showtime, The Movie Channel, FLIX, stake in Sundance Channel)
BET Networks (BET, BET Jazz, BET Gospel, anything BET owned)
MTV Networks (MTV, MTV 2, MTV U, VH1, CMT, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central (Time Warner owned 50% until 2003), Spike TV, TV Land, Nicktoons Network, The N, Noggin, Nick GAS, Various MTV Music themed digital channels, VH1 Classic, CMT Pure Country, TMF, MHD, Quizilla, Harmonix, Atom Films, iFilm)
Paramount Pictures Group (Paramount Pictures, Paramount Television, Dreamworks SKG, Dreamworks Television (although Distributed by CBS Paramount TV), Republic Pictures, United International Pictures (with Universal))
Famous Players
Simon and Schuster (Pocket Books, MTV Books)
Terrytoons
Viacom Outdoor
Paramount Parks (sold off)

Now, it's kind of like this:

CBS Corporation:

CBS
The CW (Time Warner has 50% Stake)
Simon and Schuster
CBS Paramount Television (CBS Television Distribution)
CBS TV Stations
CBS Outdoor
CBS Home Entertainment
CSTV (to be renamed)
mtn. (with Comcast)
Terrytoons
Showtime Networks
CBS Rabio
The New CBS Records


Viacom:

MTV Networks
BET Networks
Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group

Former assets:
Famous Players
Famous Music (now owned by Sony)
Blockbuster Movies






Meanwhile, News Corp has:

FOX Network
MyNetworkTV
Fox Entertainment Group (FX, Fox Movie Channel, Fox Sports Network (Detroit, Chicago, except some networks owned by Liberty Media, TV Guide Network (50% owned with TV Guide), Fuel TV, SPEED Channel, Fox News Network, Fox Business Network, Fox Reality, SportsSouth, etc.)
Myspace
IGN
20th Century Fox (Fox Atomic, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox 2000 Pictures, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Animation, 20th Century Fox Television, Fox TV Studios, Regency Television, Blue Sky Studios)
Hulu (with NBCU)
Fox TV Stations
XYZ Networks (50%)

Former assets:
Fox Kids Network (owned by Disney)
Fox Family Worldwide (Disney, again)
DirecTV stake (Liberty Media)
Fox Kids/Saban library (Disney Once Again)

Disney:

ABC (ABC Studios, ABC Kids, ABC News)
ESPN (80%, with Hearst)
Lifetime (50& with Hearst, Lifetime Movie Network, Lifetime Real Women, Lifetime Radio)
A&E Television Networks (37.5% with Hearst and NBC Universal), (A&E, History Channel, Biography Channel, History International))
Touchstone Pictures
Miramax Films
Hollywood Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Television Animation
Disney-ABC Television Group (SOAPnet, ABC Family, Toon Disney/Jetix, Disney Channel)
Go.com
Club Penguin

Former assets:
DiC Entertainment


NBC Universal (General Electric owns 80% and Vivendi SA owns 20%):

NBC (NBC Studios, NBC TV Stations, qubo (with Big Idea, Nelvana, Scholastic, and Classic Media)
Universal Media Studios (NBC Universal TV Distribution, Universal Animation Studios)
NBC Universal TV Networks (CNBC, MSNBC, USA, Sci-Fi, Oxygen, Telemundo, Mun2, Sleuth, Chiller)
Universal Pictures (Focus Features and Rouge Pictures)
Universal Studios Parks (Florida, Hollywood, Singapore, Japan, etc.)





Sony:

Sony Pictures Inc. (MGM (with Comcast and other partners), Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, Sony Pictures Classics, Sony Pictures Television, Sony Pictures Animation, Screen Gems, Destination Films, Triumph Pictures, Adelaide Productions, Culver Entertainment)
GSN (with Liberty Media)
Sony-BMG Music Group (with BMG)
Sony Playstation (Yes Playstation 1,2,3, PSP, all of them)
Sony Electronics



Liberty Media:

Starz Media (Film Roman, Starz Home Ent. Manga Entertainment)
Starz Ent. Group (Starz Movie Channels, Encore)
Discovery Networks (most of it, except Travel Channel, which sold it off to Cox Communications)
QVC
IAC
DirecTV (stake)
Time Warner (2.1%, or something like that, bought stake when TW purchased Turner in 1995')

Former Assets:
Court TV (sold to Time Warner in 2006, their half 50%)

Time Warner Inc (Started in 1989 when Time Inc. married (bought) Warner Communications for $14 (I think) Billion, and HBO, Time Inc. and Warner Bros. was together):


AOL (Moviefone, Bebo, Advertising.com, In2TV (with Warner Bros.), TMZ.com (with Telepictures), Truveo, Game Daily, icq, etc.)
Time Warner Cable (SportsNet New York, R News, Metro Sports)
Time Inc. (TIME Magazine, Sports Illustrated, LIFE, Entertainment Weekly, People, check Time Warner's Time page)


Turner Broadcasting (started in 1970, by Ted Turner, had its first network, TBS in 1976, and then CNN and Headline News (then, CNN 2) in 1980 and 1982. Turner had also bought MGM/UA in Early 1986, and sold it again 74 days later, but kept the library, including the pre-1986 MGM library and cartons (except some films), some pre-1952 UA material, Warner Bros.' pre-1948 library of movies and cartoons, and the Popeye 1933-1957 library.
TNT was started because of the MGM library (mostly). Then, in 1991, Hanna-Barbera, its library and the Ruby-Spears library (50%, until 1993, when Turner bought out an investor's group stake) had joined Turner Ent., which started Cartoon Network. Turner bought New Line Cinema and Castle Rock Entertainment in 1993. Then, during the 1995-1997 period, Time Warner bought out Turner Broadcasting, with Warner Bros. having the biggest library in the world).

Broadcast:
WPCH (Peachtree TV)

Networks:
TBS
CNN
Headline News
TNT
truTV
Cartoon Network
CNN Airport Network
Turner Classic Movies
Boomerang
NBA TV (a good stake and also runs the network)
Adult Swim

Production Companies:
Cartoon Network Studios
Williams Street
truTV Originals
TBS Productions

International:

Cartoon Network/Boomerang Worldwide Group
TNT Lain America
Nuts TV (with IPC Media, another TW owned company)

Acquired from Claxson in 2006:
Retro
Infinito
Fashion TV Latin America
Space
I.Sat
HTV
MuchMusic

Websites:
NASCAR.com
PGATour.com
PLAY ON!
Super Deluxe.com
Very Funny Ads
TNT Overtime
CN Video
Adult Swim Video
Crime Library
The Smoking Gun


HBO Networks (HBO, Cinemax, HBO Films, HBO Video)

Warner Bros. Entertainment:

Warner Bros. Pictures Group (Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Warner Independent Pictures, Picturehouse)
Warner Bros. Pictures International
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group (Warner Home Video, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (Warner Bros. Games, Tt Games, Monlolith Games, 10% stake in SCi/Eidos Inc.), Warner Premiere, WB Digital Distribution)
Warner Bros. Television Group (Warner Bros. Television, Warner Horizon Television, Warner Bros. Animation (Hanna-Barbera Studios library and pre-1991 Ruby-Spears library (a couple), Studio 2.0, Warner Bros. Television Distribution, KidsWB! ,The CW (50% with CBS), Telepictures Productions)
DC Comics (MAD Magazine, Vertigo, Zuda Comics, CMX, Vertigo,
Wildstorm)
Turner Entertainment (MGM Pre-1986 library and cartoons (except some))

Investments:
Veoh
Si TV


Hope that helps.

[Lutochris]

I love how Warner is an absolute cluster with little to no control over their many limbs. It's mostly because of that reason that Adult Swim was allowed to come into being, and allowed to do so many things that no other network would even consider.