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60World2000 World top media companiesThe 1999 ranking comprises the world's topcompanies in the audiovisual sector. It has beendrawn up of the basis of audiovisual revenues(derived from the operation of channels and cablenetworks and from film and video activities).Total revenues of the top 25 companies in theranking amounted to $137.3 billion in 1999. Thesurvey of these companies brings out the degree ofconcentration within the sector:- the top 5 companies account for 44.4% of totaltop 25 revenues,- the top 10 for 64.1%,- the top 15 for 78.6%.The US industry is still prominent with 7 players outof the 10 world leaders, 10 out of the top 25 and56.7% of revenues.The numerous mergers and acquisitions duringrecent years bear witness to this increasingly strongconcentration.The ranking reveals only a few noteworthy changesin comparison with the previous year's ranking: asfor the new top 25 are concerned, the onlyrepositioning is that of the Canal+ group, whichclimbed from 26th to 16th place (the French groupis now just ahead of CLT-UFA and takes its place asthe leading private European company in theranking). Top 25 media companies in the WorldRank Company Country 1999 audiovisual Growth 1998-1999 Total salesservices sales (million $) (million $)1 Time Warner USA 19 945 5.2% 27 3332 Walt Disney USA 14 060 0.5% 23 4023 Viacom USA 12 157 7.8% 12 8594 News Corporation Australia 8 785 5.4% 14 1205 ARD Germany 6 006 -2.9% 6 0066 General Electric / NBC USA 5 790 9.9% 111 6307 Comcast Corporation USA 5 777 23.4% 6 2098 NHK Japan 5 698 16.8% 5 6989 CBS Corporation USA 4 949 0.6% 7 37310 AT&T USA 4 871 -24.9% 62 39111 Sony Japan 4 412 3.5% 59 95012 BBC UK 4 032 1.4% 4 84013 Cablevision Systems USA 3 943 20.8% 3 94314 Hughes Electronics DirecTV USA 3 785 108.4% 5 56015 Fuji Television Network Japan 3 696 20.5% 3 69616 Canal + France 3 285 47.5% 3 50517 CLT-UFA Luxemburg 3 275 6.6% 3 57418 Carlton Communications UK 3 108 2.1% 3 10819 BSkyB UK 2 943 14.9% 2 94320 Nippon Television Network Japan 2 941 18.5% 2 94121 Seagram Canada 2 931 4.9% 12 31222 RAI Italy 2 828 0.0% 2 82823 Organisacoes Globo Brazil 2 821 23.1% 2 82124 MediaOne Group USA 2 693 8.1% 2 69525 Kirch Gruppe Germany 2 595 23.6% 3 800© IDATE www.idate.fr