The top 10 media and entertainment companies are TWDC Enterprises (a media conglomerate of The Walt Disney Company), Warner Media LLC, NBCUniversal Media, Directv Group Holdings LLC, Viacom Inc., National Amusements Inc., ESPN Inc., CBS Corporation, and News Corporation. The U.S. media and entertainment industry contributes more than $717 billion to the economy and represents a third of the global media and entertainment industry.

The radio and television broadcasting industry is composed of two different types of companies. There are public service broadcasters, where the funding is through public money, and commercial broadcasters, which are funded through advertisement spots. Radio and television broadcasters create and/or acquire content for broadcasting, such as entertainment, news, talk, and other programs. Many television broadcasters use digital broadcasting to transmit pictures that have higher resolution, known as high-definition television (HDTV). They can transmit a single HDTV broadcast or transmit several conventional broadcasts. This “multicasting” means they can transmit a music concert, for example, from several different camera angles on the same channel. Viewers then select the view they’d like to see on their television set. Other types of broadcasters include cable and subscription or fee-based programs that have a more narrow focus, such as sports, education, and youth-oriented programming.