The 6 corporations that collectively control U.S. media today are Time Warner, Walt Disney, Viacom, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, CBS Corporation and NBC Universal. Internationally, there are also other players including Bertelsmann AG and Sony. They own television networks, cable channels, movie studios, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, music labels and many successful websites.

Although it seems many do not care about who controls their media, it greatly impacts their view of the world and major events in it.
The average American watches 153 hours of television a month.  Television is essentially proven to have an actual impact on your brain and thinking: they do not call it “programming” for no reason.
Fortunately, according to a poll released by Gallup last year, the majority of Americans (55%) still have little to no faith in the mainstream media, up slightly from 2012′s all-time high (60%). The increasing number and dedication of independent news, made possible by the internet, are shifting the paradigm.
List of the primary 6 corporations and what they own:

Time Warner

  • Home Box Office (HBO)
  • Time Inc.
  • CNN
  • Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
  • Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
  • CW Network (partial ownership)
  • TMZ
  • New Line Cinema
  • Time Warner Cable
  • Cinemax
  • Cartoon Network
  • TBS
  • TNT
  • America Online (not majority shareholder)
  • MapQuest
  • Moviefone
  • Castle Rock
  • Sports Illustrated
  • Fortune
  • Marie Claire
  • People Magazine
  • Boomerang
  • Adult Swim
  • DC Comics

The Walt Disney Corporation

  • ABC Television Network
  • Disney Publishing
  • ESPN Inc.
  • Disney Channel
  • SOAPnet
  • A&E
  • Lifetime
  • NASCAR
  • Buena Vista Home Entertainment
  • Buena Vista Theatrical Productions
  • Buena Vista Records
  • Disney Records
  • Hollywood Records
  • Miramax Films
  • Touchstone Pictures
  • Walt Disney Pictures
  • Pixar Animation Studios
  • Buena Vista Games
  • Hyperion Books
  • Lucasfilm

Viacom

  • Paramount Pictures
  • Paramount Home Entertainment
  • Black Entertainment Television (BET)
  • Comedy Central
  • Country Music Television (CMT)
  • Logo
  • MTV
  • MTV Canada
  • MTV2
  • Nick Magazine
  • Nick at Nite
  • Nick Jr.
  • Nickelodeon
  • Noggin
  • Spike TV
  • The Movie Channel
  • TV Land
  • VH1
  • Epix
  • Atom Films
  • Viva
  • The Music Factory (TMF)

News Corporation

  • Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
  • Fox Television Stations
  • New York Post
  • Fox Searchlight Pictures
  • Beliefnet
  • Fox Business Network
  • Fox Kids Europe
  • Fox News Channel
  • Fox Sports Net
  • Fox Television Network
  • FX
  • My Network TV
  • MySpace
  • News Limited News
  • Phoenix InfoNews Channel
  • Phoenix Movies Channel
  • Sky PerfecTV
  • Speed Channel
  • STAR TV India
  • STAR TV Taiwan
  • STAR World
  • Times Higher Education Supplement Magazine
  • Times Literary Supplement Magazine
  • Times of London
  • 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
  • 20th Century Fox International
  • 20th Century Fox Studios
  • 20th Century Fox Television
  • BSkyB
  • DIRECTV
  • Wall Street Journal
  • Fox Broadcasting Company
  • Fox Interactive Media
  • FOXTEL
  • HarperCollins Publishers
  • The National Geographic Channel
  • National Rugby League
  • News Corp Australia
  • News Interactive
  • News Outdoor
  • Radio Veronica
  • ReganBooks
  • Sky Italia
  • Sky Radio Denmark
  • Sky Radio Germany
  • Sky Radio Netherlands
  • STAR
  • The Sun
  • Sunday Times
  • Zondervan

CBS Corporation

  • CBS News
  • CBS Sports
  • CBS Television Network
  • CNET
  • Showtime
  • The Movie Channel
  • FLIX
  • TV.com
  • CBS Radio Inc. (130 stations)
  • CBS Consumer Products
  • CBS Outdoor
  • CW Network (50% ownership)
  • Infinity Broadcasting
  • Simon & Schuster (Pocket Books, Scribner)
  • Westwood One Radio Network
  • Last.fm
  • Charles Scribner’s Sons
  • Pocket Books
  • Simon & Schuster

Comcast

  • NBC Universal
  • Bravo
  • CNBC
  • E! Entertainment
  • NBC News
  • MSNBC
  • NBC Sports
  • AT&T
  • NBC Television Network
  • Oxygen
  • SciFi Magazine
  • Syfy (Sci Fi Channel)
  • Telemundo
  • USA Network
  • Weather Channel
  • Focus Features
  • NBC Universal Television Distribution
  • NBC Universal Television Studio
  • Paxson Communications (partial ownership)
  • Trio
  • Universal Parks & Resorts
  • Universal Pictures
  • Universal Studio Home Video
  • Golf Channel
Checkout this effective graphic, designed by Jason at Frugal Dad, showing how almost all media comes from only six sources that originated from 50 companies back in 1983. Those companies controlled the vast majority of all news media in the United States in that time, and today, in much of the world! Also, keep in mind, a few changes have happened since this infographic was created, they are outlined at the bottom.
media-infographic
NOTE: This infographic was created in 2011 and is not factoring in some key transactions. GE is no longer the majority shareholder for NBC or Comcast, thus Comcast has become the 6th. Time Warner also doesn’t own the majority of AOL, so Huffington Post isn’t directly affiliated with them.
But the fact that very few companies own so much demonstrates the need for independent sources, and to some extent a crowd-sourcing of news. In the end, the responsibility falls on each of us to network, learn and inform others, and while doing so fact-check whatever we read or hear.