The student will gain knowledge on: 1. The main characteristics of the media system, composed of large multi-purpose media groups in a global context, and the impact exerted by the economy upon news reporting. 2. The influence of economic, social and political systems over the information processes and journalists¿ work. 3. The new roles of journalists and their integration into the media corporate context. 4. Criteria to evaluate and create quality information in the new global environment.

Program starts with an introduction to the theoretical framework of the course and the main concepts to be driving along the course : concentration , pluralism , diversity, mergers and takeovers , economies of scale , vertical and horizontal integration or multimediaconglomerates. PART1 1.The media system . The main concepts: pluralism, diversity, economy average. 2. The television market. The reform of the TDT. The television duopoly of Mediaset Atresmedia and Spain. RTVE to guarantee public service. The market for pay television. 3.Communications Groups in Spain. Pluralism and concentration. Main Characteristics of Spanish Media Groups. Crisis and Financiarization. 4. Study of main groups in Spain. Groups integrated in press: Vocento, Unidad Editorial, Zeta y Godó. 5. Analysis of the Prisa group: a round trip. Rise and decline of the largest Spanish communication group. 6. The media empire of the Planeta group and the transformation of Telecinco into Mediaset Spain. The success of horizontal integrations in the television sector. 7. Mediapro and its domain as Carrier and managing sports retransmission rights. 8. The struggle for content: the return of Telefónica with Movistar TV. The Vodafone alternative with ONO. The dispute about the main Premium contents: rights of sports broadcasts and televisions. Output deals and volume deals. PART 2 1.Structure in the era of digital media. "Disconvergence" in the global media industries and transformations in the global media system: struggle for content and distribution among the GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook and Google), telecommunications companies and the world's major media groups. 2. The precedents: integration of networks and contents. Study of the fusion of AOL-Time Warner. Absorption of NBC Universal by Comcast cable. 3. The role of traditional communication groups: Disney, Time Warner, Sony, Viacom and News Corp. The start-up of Hulu. The end of the great traditional groups? 4. The intersection of Internet companies, telecommunications and content companies. The dispute over the VoD. Case studies: large online video stores: Netflix, HBO, Disney projects and AT & T. The global domain of content: the purchase of Direct TV and Time Warner by AT & T. 5. The European media system. Main features. Case studies: Kirch and the failure of Canal + France and its absorption by Vivendi. The future of Mediaset Italy. Success paradigms: Bertelsmann and BskyB.

A combination of theory (3ECTS) and case studies (3ECTS) sessions. The former will focus on lectures and conceptual work carried out by students, promoting collaborative work among them through the new possibilities that digital formats offer. The activities that complement the theory part of each session include: 1. Case studies and in-group analysis, with classroom presentations or written homework. 2. Textual analysis and discussion about the quality of journalism in the Spanish and overseas media. Students will analyze and assess main Spanish and international newspapers, following a set of criteria as empirical as possible. Students will work individually and in small groups and will share their findings with the rest of students. 3. Readings. To complete continuous evaluation, students will read a series of articles, excerpts or books from the provided bibliography, related to the lectures¿ topics. Each reading will involve an exercise or textual analysis that will be taken into account for the final exam. Those readings will be compulsory, but not the assignments attached to them.