Have Developments in Communications Infrastructures Enabled the Creation of a Global Media Market?

Have developments in communications infrastructures enabled the creation of a global media market?

To get a better understanding of the question at hand I have elected to narrow down the question and focus on explaining every single aspect of it. Firstly, I want to briefly describe what communications infrastructure Is and then look into the developments that can be identified within it. I will then go onto describing what is meant by global media markets and how they are formed. Finally, I will outline what digital media is, because in terms of content a majority links back to the question.

Communications infrastructures or also known as telecommunication infostructures are best comprehended as technology, products and network connections that allow for the possibility of transmission of communication over distance. It is basically the backbone to the communications systems amid various telecommunications and broadcasting services are operated. They are most commonly built from fibre, copper cables or through the use of wireless technologies which utilize the radio frequency spectrum, such as satellite and microwave. Over the years with the evolution of technology there has been major developments to the communications infrastructure. For example, a couple of years ago voice, audio, video and data where all once outright singular communication media, however through the developments they are all now commonly deployed across a single converged network.

Global media markets are where identical or similar media content is made available to the global population. The media content can vary from television, radio and or other forms of media such as newspapers and internet content.

Digital media is content that has been digitalised and that is made possible to be transmitted over computer networks or the internet. This content consists of text, audio, graphic and video. A majority of digital media content are based on the translation of analog data into digital data.

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In the bulk of this essay I will answer the question as well as touch on 8 key points, which are the following; How telecommunications were privatized, the pros of communication Infrastructures within the global media market, the limitations associated communication Infrastructures within the global media market, limitations that global media faced that were made prominent when there was a limit on telecoms, the financial side of the satellite industry for example the revenue of the industry,  the global access of news from anywhere in the world (even remote locations) at any time due to development of digital media, the digital media platforms information networks, digital newspapers and news outlets and how they are all available to the users to consume.

The developments to the communication technologies alone have enabled the creation of global media markets. A key fundamental for human civilization and its development has been technology. Over the course of history there have been major advances to communication technologies which in return have had a significant impact in the political, social and economical arena. Humanity has advance from the days. Of agricultural based society to an industrial based society which goes hand in hand with the innovations within the technologies. We are currently in an age of information which is embarking to be the leading power in the ‘post industrial-age’ (Mowlana, 2005, p 175). Although communication and information exchange has been prominent through the course of history, it was of less importance and in a much more traditional form. Its roots stem from Mesopotamian where clay tablet was used for information exchange this developed into Papyrus roll in ancient Egypt and Greece, paper in China which then transitioned over to Europe where printing press was developed and then postal service in Britain (Thussu, 2003, p 12-14). the transformation of communication from national to international was first arose with the development of the telegraph in the mid 19^th century, 1843 to be precise in Britain and introduced 4 years later in 1847 in the United States of America (USA) (Hills, 2002, p 3). The telegraph enabled for fast, smooth and easy information exchange however it wasn’t until the 1860’s and 1870’s respectively in the United States of America and Great Britain when telegraphs where made use of big businesses and advanced their growth and assisted in the expansion of the Us companies to cross the pond into Europe prior to world war I (Hills, 2002, p 4-5). Over the next couple of years telegraph and cables became indispensable to the press, which offered an opening to gain an unprecedented advantage within the sector of mass communication (Winseck and Pike, 2007, p 3).during the course of the early 1870’s the telegraph lines covered half of the globe from Australia, Europe, china and Japan. This meant that information was available halfway across the world within a couple of days. This answers the question as telegraph is a development of communications infrastructures which enable for the creation a form of globalisation of the media market back in the mid 19^th century. 1877 was the year that telephone was developed and America was dominating the field with them manufacturing the highest number telephones out in the market. (Thussu, 2003, p 19). the most pivotal development of the communications infrastructure was satellite which features many advantages which other means of communication was not capable fulfilling. For example, the ability of it being able to form the star form of a communications net, which enables linkages to people who are separated by geographical boundaries (Roddy, 2006, p 1). The creation and rise of global media markets is furthered by new satellite and digital technologies that result in the creation of cost effective and lucrative global media markets (McChesney, 2000, p 78).if the introduction of cable and satellite was plausible for the rapid circulation of information around the world then the liberalisation of media and communication industries was what allowed for the global media markets to pick up pace.

State owned telecommunication companies first started to privatize in Asia, Japan in the 80’s and it gathered pace in the 1990’s. privatization of a state owned enterprise (SOE)  is usually by where there is a 100 per cent transfer of the ownership of a state owned enterprise (SOE) to private equity shareholders through a public listing of the company through the means of a share issue privatization (SIP). However, in some circumstances the transfer of the ownership of the SOE can be done as private transaction, this is most commonly carried out in post-communist Russia. This highlights the importance of transparency as telecommunications is regarded as being of strategic importance to the national economic development of a country.

Communication infrastructures are now at the forefront of the data transferal and communication. This is due to the technological advancements and the government-backed digitization and infrastructure development initiatives. This is a benefit because is cost efficient and as all the digital media is converged all in one it results in higher levels of efficiency and productivity. With further advancements to telecommunications infrastructures the reliability and security of data transferal will see an increase of roughly about 45% within the next 6 years. Most business practices and communications now take place over telecommunication infrastructures. An example of this would be through virtual meetings that they run through LinkedIn. This is beneficial for the global media markets that is created as it also results in an increase of productivity due to the global availability and that how one does not have to travel to a location in order to meet. The reasoning behind my cost effeteness statement is that the cost of sending out a email compared with the cost of sending a letter works out to being insignificant. What I mean by this is that the cost of transferring data works out a lot cheaper due to the money save on not having to purchase any stamps and envelopes as well as not having to pay for the shipping costs. It is also a lot more economical due to the lack of resources being used.

With all the pro’s to communication infrastructures there are also some limitations which will be smoothed out over time with future developments, however currently they for example there is a major issue with the deprivation of the human aspect, for example although video calls are a very useful tool to be equipped with it just doesn’t have the same effect as a face to face meeting or negotiation, this is due to the lack of physical expressions and body language that is able to be read. Although there is an abundance of financial and economical benefits to the communications infrastructures the initial set cost of telecommunications can be deemed costly, especially in less economically developed countries such as India where the price of technology is substantially higher than those of the US and Europe. When this is factored in with the fact that some towns within India are still facing issues of obtaining uninterrupted power it results in the devices being deemed surplus to requirements in certain instances.

Telecom satellites made up 43% of 2017’s satellite manufacturing revenue, and 40% of all mass launched that year, this figure is expected to increase substantially with new satcoms constellations being launched, the market value of satcoms is estimated to be at the 100 billion euros mark. The European telecommunication operators are seen as at the forefront of the rapid growth of the gigantic global media market.

In conclusion I believe that developments have communications infrastructures enabled the creation of a global media market. My reasoning behind my statement is that as I stated earlier with telegraphs, as telegraph is a development of communications infrastructures which enable for the creation of a form of globalisation of the media market back in the mid 19^th century. Even through the 20^th and 21^st century the development to communication infrastructures have vastly increased the creation of global media markets. Through old and new technologies, we are able to access any form of digital media that we desire whether it is from a remote location or not. All that is required is access to the internet in most instances. For example, YouTube is a global video sharing site which allows the users to have access to whatever audio-visual content that they want. The same can be said for social media sites such as Facebook, twitter and Instagram where the users are able to upload digital media content with their friends and family from all across the globe. the convergence of all of this digital media through communication infrastructures results users being able to access the  all of the different types of digital media content together which is a development as they were not able to before.

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