Foreign Ownership of Production Companies as a New Mechanism of Internationalizating Television: The Case of Australian Scripted Television

Abstract

This article explores the rise in foreign television production company ownership at the beginning of the twenty-first century as a new mechanism of internationalization. It joins mechanisms such as foreign program sales and transnational satellite channels in shifting television further from its domestic origins. To date, examination of television’s internationalization has focused on programs and programming. Foreign ownership may be a less obvious “cultural” form of business internationalization, but it nevertheless affects the television culture made available in many places and poses consequences for cultures of consumption. Foreign ownership also opens up new avenues of inquiry for global television scholars to question the shifting geographies of power in the field of television production.