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GuyStarkey
inevitablyproduces.Theterm‘convergence,hascometosignifythebreaking
downofbarriersbetweendifferentmediaplatforms.Untilrelativelyrecently
eachmedium,ormediaplatform,wasusedmainlytodistributetheoutputof
bespokeproducers,createdforordedicatedtoparticularmediainthemanner
thatPolskieRadioandTelewizjaPolskawerecreatedasseparateentities,each
toprovidecontentthroughthedifferent,andcompeting,mediaofradioand
television.Insomecountries,asintheUK,anorganisationoriginallycreated
fortheproductionanddistributionofradiocontent,(inthiscase,theBBC),
wasgiventhethensecondarytaskofopeningupatelevisionservice.Thisis
amodelthatwasrepeatedinmanyothercountries,especiallybutnotexclu-
sivelyinpublicservicebroadcasting,yetnoteverywhere:intheUnitedStates,
thethreelargestandlongest-establishedcommercialtelevisionnetworks,ABC,
CBSandNBC,allbeganasradiobroadcasters,whilepublicservicebroadcast-
ingisnowseparatelyproducedbyNationalPublicRadio(NPR)andthePublic
BroadcastingService(PBS).Variousnewspaperownersinvestedinthenewradio
andtelevisionindustriesastheydeveloped,but,largelybecauseofthepredomi-
nanceofpublicservicebroadcastinginmanycountries,preferredarrangements
fortheownershipofelectronicmedia,itwasmorecommonfortheprovisionof
broadcastingandnewspaperpublishingtobemadeseparately,andoften-aswe
haveseen-bycompaniesdedicatedtotheexploitationofasinglemedium.In
theUK,thelargestproviderofsubscriptiontelevisionisBSkyB,ofwhich39%is
currentlyownedbyRupertMurdoch,sNewsCorporation,whichhassubstan-
tialinterestsinnewspaperpublishing(Starkey2007:50-1).Arguably,thebroad-
casterbeganlifeasMurdoch,sownSkyTV,ashewasamongthequickestofen-
trepreneurstoperceivethecommercialopportunitiesinherentinthedirect-to-
homesatellitetelevisiontechnologythatwasbeingdevelopedinthe1980s.Sky
hasshownlittleinterestinradio,though,exceptinrecentyearsasaproviderof
nationalandinternationalnewstotheUK,scommercialradionetwork-most
recentlyundercontracttoIndependentRadioNews-itsradiooutputconsist-
ingmainlyofrepackagedmaterialgeneratedbyitstwenty-fourhourtelevision
newsandsportsnewschannels(Starkey,Crisell2009:69-70).
Theessenceofmediaconvergence,then,isthatnolongerdotypicalpro-
ducersconfinethemselvestoasinglemedium.Manyarerequiredtoproduce
contentfordifferentmediainordertoextendthereachofthebrandincredible
waysthatdrawinnewaudiencesandallowexistingaudiencestoaccessthatcon-
tent-orabroaderrangeofcontent-throughdifferentmeanswhichallowthem
greaterflexibilityintermsoftimeandplace.Thebrand,beittheBBC,Polskie
Radio,NBCoranyother,actsasamodernflagpolearoundwhichaudiences
gatherelectronicallyinordertoaccesscontentfromasourcetowhichtheyfeel
attracted,beitbecauseithasbecomeonetheytrust,becauseithasacurrent