Capital

PLOT

The central characters all have a connection to Pepys Road, a fictional street in an unidentified south London suburb. The houses in the street were once ordinary family homes in an unremarkable residential district, but thanks to London’s ever-increasing property values they are now properties worth millions. Their residents include those such as wealthy banker Roger Yount (played by Toby Jones) who have recently bought their homes, as well as people who have lived in the street since before its houses became so valuable, such as elderly widow Petunia Howe (played by Gemma Jones) who moved there as a young bride. They all start to receive postcards saying “We want what you have”, which some residents interpret as a threat, but which others initially ignore.

Facts

– In November 2016, Capital won the best TV movie/mini series award at the 44th International Emmy Awards

– adaptation of John Lanchesters novel Capital

– produced by Matt Strevens for Kudos Film & Television Company.

– Broadcasted by BBC

– produced by KUDOS and co produced by Banijay SAS (French multinational content media production and distribution company)

– KUDOS is split by News Corp and Banijay Group which both are mass multimedia companies showing vertical integration. However horizontal integration is represented through the co-operation with BBC to air Capital on their channels. This also links to Curran and Seaton statement that mainstream media is mostly involved with the Mass Global Media Conglomerates.

DEUTSCHLAND 83

Deutschland 83 is a 2015 German-American television series starring Jonas Nay as a 24-year-old native of East Germany who, in 1983, is sent to West Germany as an undercover spy for the HV A, the foreign intelligence agency of the Stasi. It is a co-production of AMC Networks’ SundanceTV and RTL Television by the production company, UFA Fiction, with international distribution by RTL Group’s FremantleMedia International and North American distribution by Kino Lorber. The series premiered on 17 June 2015 on the SundanceTV channel in the United States, becoming the first German-language series to air on a US network. The broadcast was in the original German, with English subtitles. It subsequently aired in Germany beginning in November 2015, and in the UK on Channel 4 beginning in January 2016. Despite weak initial ratings in Germany, Deutschland 83 became a sleeper hit.

Facts

– First aired June 2015 on SundanceTV in the US and in January 2016 on Channel 4 in the UK

James Curran and Jean Seaton

Prohibitive costs and risks associated with the production of media products has resulted in the organisation of vertically and horizontally integrated conglomerates. This lead to big companies such as CBS, Disney, News Corporation, Comcast, Time Warner and Viacom. These conglomerates are Horizontally and Vertically integrated to minimize costs such as distributions, productions or production divisions.

Curran and Seaton says that BBC sets a standard for commercial TV stations and channels due to being non profit yet maintaining high quality content.

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