Industry: Australian Media Owners – Radio and Television Data: Ownership as at November 2006 (Government held register)

Treatment: Affinity transformation showing relationships between licensees as determined by the degree of common ownership between licensee firms. A tight cluster might suggest undue influence over a large number of licensees, perhaps attracting the interest of the regulators. Nodes are sized based on betweenness.

Commentary: The betweenness measure identifies the degree to which a firm is on the path connecting two other nodes. Alternatively it can also be interpreted as the degree of fragmentation to the network a firm could have by its removal from the network. Licensees in bridging or brokering positions, as indicated by the larger node size, could have a number of interpretations. Their diversity of ownership could mean that they are either strategically placed and therefore forcing competition for their ownership. Alternatively it could mean the opposite, with the owners not being too concerned about the competitive situation of their co-owners. Either way, the diversity of ownership is likely to generate some benefits, if only for the unique business intelligence it brings.