ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the literature on sport and media infrastructure in relation to the issues. Then, the discussion turns to the corporate structure of the major players of the sport/media oligopoly, to make the point that expansion of media delivery systems also means fragmentation of the oligopoly. The chapter offers a characterization of the emerging oligopoly that departs somewhat from traditional concepts. It examines the extent of heterogeneity across a sample which goes beyond the usual suspects. The chapter also examines the role of corporate structure in the commerce of signs traditionally conceived in the sport sociology literature as a battle between titans—somewhat akin to battles between 'old rival' sports teams. It discusses the corporate maps of six conglomerates presented as case studies. These are News Corporation, Disney, AOL–Time Warner, Viacom, Bertelsmann, and Vivendi-Universal. Each case is presented in a visual map and verbally presented according to Alger's dimensions.
