Exam Question - Radio

Who owns this media product? Who owns them? Are they part of a conglomerate and/or vertically integrated?

Late Night Womans Hour

Knee Jerk Reaction:
Owned by BBC Radio 4 who is owned by the BBC
Could argue BBC is vertically integrated as it owns BBC Television channels, BBC Film, BBC Radio (it produces media in different areas for profit and to limit competition) however they would disagree. 
Wouldn't be seen as a conglomeration as it is not large enough
BBC is a public broadcaster service, a service for society to keep original media production alive (not funded by advertisement, but by license fee payed by audience) BBC Ethos: inform, educate and entertain.
Curran and Seaton - conglomerates and monopolies and driven by power and profit in the media which limits risk, but also creativity and variety
Specialised niche targeted audience, of only women
Podcast available to different new audience of 'on the go' people, making it a socially diverse product.


CONTEXT: BBC Radio 4 - older demographic. Late Night Womans Hour, 2015 spin off on the 1960's Woman's Hour radio show. Episode focuses on particular theme of 'hygge' relevant to female audience. BBC owned by no one, as they are accountable for the public service.

EVIDENCE: Academic discussion, Lots of technical breaking down of meanings and metaphors: aimed at a an intelligent audience eg, questioning back and forth, debating, reflecting. Touch on many themes and topics to attract variety of audience: hygge, Scandinavia, crafts, cooking, feminism, social world issues.

Brief Introduction:
Late Night Womans Hour, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, is a 2015 spin off radio podcast from the 1960's show 'Womans Hour'. BBC Radio 4 is owned by the BBC, a public broadcaster service funded by a license fee payed by the audience, rather than by advertising, with the ethos to inform educate and entertain. I will explore this through the 2016 podcast episode: Home. 

Argument:
I would argue that the BBC is not a conglomerate, but rather uses vertical integration for slight purposes of profit, yet still achieves being a socially diverse service that provides media for the 'community'. In the episode, I can identify that the BBC target a specialised, niche audience of intelligent and independent women, due to the academic discussion and debating on a large variety of topics and themes, from crafts and cooking to feminism and social world issues we face today. This supports the BBC's ethos that they are a service provided for the public's benefit rather than for the monetary value of the product. This would challenge theories by Curran and Seaton who believe conglomerates and monopolies are solely driven by power and profit, refraining from taking risks, limiting creativity an variety in the media. However, I could also argue that the BBC does reflect some of the beliefs of Curran and Seaton as they use a form of both vertical and horizontal integration  for the purpose of limiting competitionand increasing profit. For example, the BBC create media in areas such as BBC Film, BBC Radio, BBC Online and BBC Television, beneath in which they specialise varied channels and platforms, creating a wide variety of media products within their company. This could help argue that the BBC in reality uses these integration for purposes that subvert from their ethos of being a service 'for the people'.