Post

Media consolidations made possible by "centrists" passing the Telecom Act of 1996, & still going strong now that the state AGs blocking the Paramount-WB merger have settled in exchange for some financial table scraps & "promises" not to do bad things.

It was written by ROBERT SMIGEL. (Read the credits at the end!)

Even worse today!

🙄

Credits say it was written by Robert Smigel. In any case: VERY subversive. Americans are not supposed to think about our corporate overlords!!!!!

Spread this far and wide, folks!

Copyright violation maybe?

Wow, I had never seen this one. The “Media-opoly” concept is pretty clever, though. Now I’m curious why it never made it back on the air.

“But the Big shots don’t care!” Spamton owns everything theory

Prophetic?

I posted this a few times and it kept being taken down especially by YouTube. Copyrights bullshit. So glad to see that it still exists.

Wow! Never saw that! Thanks for posting!

Laugh In had the news with Dan Rowan. I saw a rerun and he was talking about the same things still happening now. These people In Washington do nothing.

Robert Smigel. A gem!

Seriously??? LOL They should bring it back...TODAY!

This is great. Thanks. Should be updated with CBS-CNN-Paramount-etc megamerger

PERFECT!!!

Corporate Welfare!!! Start posting those numbers!!!

His stuff is still so great!

And 28 years later these very companies assist the Trump regime with attempting to uproot OUR democracy. To hell with them!

how did you find this?

McKay didn’t write this. As noted at the end of the video it was Robert Smigel. McKay was the head writer at the time so he did approve it but TV Funhouse was all Smigel.

There was another cartoon, the same school house rock style which aired around the same time about how these same companies controlled what was printed in the newspapers and what news would be aired on network news stations.

The corporate memory hole is the only cloud storage with 100% efficiency. Turns out "too true for TV" is the only metric that still triggers an automatic delete.

Is there a link to this on YT or anything like that? I would love to share this more widely 😈😈😈😈

Same as it ever was. I often feel like a character in the movie They Live because once you see it, you can’t un-see it.

OMGE

I wish more shows had the balls to call out their parent companies.

I vividly remember watching this. Also Michael Moore’s Awful Truth tv show had a feature about this. I was a high school sophomore when the telecommunications act of 1996 passed. I tend to trace that to a lot of bad things that have happened—and continue to happen!

Fantastic accurate work! ---

well the PCB’s part is very inaccurate. they were getting phased out some where around 70’s or should have been. and they weren’t created by power plants. PCB’s were used as insulating oil (dielectric medium) to keep substation equipment cool. then we learned better.

I love this and thank you for sharing it. I am reposting it again because it is an effective fun cartoon for everyone.

Good job digging this up.

Wow!

Unfortunately, this is still happening to this day

Brilliant. In the 90s, was an insert into the Village Voice or L.A. Weekly that said “Winking, Blinking, Nod” that mapped out these connections in media ownership and control. It was put out by organization for media freedom.

You're not even allowed to watch it on streaming platforms decades later. THAT's how scared they are

I'm assuming everyone remembers that NBC was owned by GE when this was aired. Surprising they didn't have Lorne beheaded.

That's why I use the hashtags #LegacyMediaIsDead and #BoycottCorporateMedia.

“That system was bad” “But right wingers made it worse while liberals stopped the left from enacting reforms so you shouldn’t have complained about it in the first place” Pretty much sums up the last fifty years.

It really is

Deregulation always turns out badly. Profits rule & people last. Self-regulation is a joke.

Documentary about PCBs in the Housatonic River www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACN6...

Post this animated short everywhere, every day. Resistance is vital. Resist or perish.

How did you find this? I vaguely remember seeing this live.

I guess we can now add streaming services and news providers. ☹️

"Ladies and Gentlemen, our Corporate Anthem" Rollerball - 1975

Wow, Playboy once managed to warrant a space on this

@rbreich.bsky.social 😑

Sounds like the actual "I'm just a Bill" guy!!!

Oh shit they got the SHR singer to do it!

"Top Ten Things Overheard in a GE Lab"

This is AWESOME!!! As a kid who grew up with School House Rock, this is perfection! And I was a huge fan of SNL from the age of 15 back in 1978! I never saw this in ‘98, thank you for sharing!

The free press is no longer free, it’s owned by big corporations with vested interests. Saudi Arabia and Qatar which have no free press at all, love buying media companies in other countries. Media has become propaganda and the billionaires know how powerful that is.

It's not that complex.. It's Bob Lazar UFOs in the Garden of Eden, Iraq.. Or if it is that complex then Moses was black and Aisha was 19.. Pre Adam UFOs and ancient gold (Silk Road & El Dorado) for the Elite.. Oil and minerals for the Trumps/Putins The Abraham games are for the poor (and rich)

I believe GE owned NBC at the time

Insane!!

I worked at each of the three networks in turn, and was at each when they were acquired by Westinghouse, GE, and Disney. We all knew where it was leading. I also worked at WNEW Channel 5 when Murdoch bought it. Great clip, thanks for posting.

And GE owned NBC (which owns SNL) at the time.

Living the dream...

This should be shared alot.

We’ve been looted by corporations! Now these corporations are OUR ENEMIES! This is the issue with citizens united!

😳🤦‍♀️🤬

It was planned with the Powell Memo (Project 2025 of 1971). Initiated with Buckley v Valeo + Belotti. Reagan did his part, PATCO + tax cuts. Heritage, Federalist, Kochs,... Rush + Fox News. Newt Gingrich + Denny Hastert. Citizens United + McCutcheon. Astroturfed Teaturds. Moscow Mitch's SCOTUS.

It’s been shared. It’s too good to hide

Wow.

It's so true, but no mention of who owns all of America's media! From Holly wood, to your TV, newspapers, music recording studios, sports franchises, book publishing, Magazines, radio, and all social media, a monopoly all locked down. This is not free speech, on any scale.

I remember this, and was shocked they let it air.

Bring back pirate radio. We need outlaw media.

BET! Just because they hate black people

This is awesome, thank you @michaelwarburton.bsky.social For posting.

bsky.app/profile/pixe...

so remember it

Was that Leon Redbone doing the voice over?

📺

This is uh-MAZING

Still so very relevant

They haven't included the Sheinhardt Wig Company

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdtG...

this is not a cheap animation to produce.

And the whole situation has gotten bigger and worse since then! It’s always just follow the 💰💸💵

This is INTENSE

It has only gotten much worse over the last 28 years.

Could not airing it have anything to do with the blatant use of the anti-semitic trope of octopusses? Just a thought.....

the fucking SILENCE from the studio audience on this

Done

David Letterman showing why he is a hero of comedy by shitting on his new corporate overlords before the takeover was even complete. Believe this was 1989. www.tiktok.com/@drpepper_23...

Holeeee smokes! Thanks for sharing that!

I've had TV/Media Studies classes watch this. It make its point very well.

First, Bravo SNL!! Fantastic way to extend the legacy of Schoolhouse Rock (and a great message, too!). Second, I will forever be grateful to have grown up in the Schoolhouse Rock generation. I still strongly believe the entire catalog should be required viewing in K-4th grade, at least.

JFC

youtube.com/shorts/nyeAW...

Forgot all about this thanks for bringing it back

Uhm… heard it played on the radio, radio many times.

Why are we being Crushed? Because The Press has lost it's Power to Press Back$$$

Wow. Never saw that. Brilliant

We need more of these. So the kids can learn too.

He saw how bad it was going to get. Better? 🙄

I remember seeing this!

Just as valid today as back then. It would annoy some people should it become viral.

It's only gotten worse. I would love it if someone would do an updated version. 😁

I was hanging out around studio H that night with my friend on the writing staff. My understanding is Smigel wrote it.

This is great!!👍🏻

Definitely worthy of some reruns!

Why does this hit harder today....

Boycot! Humane complanies should offer those employees jobs! Seriously, quit working for them! We don’t need any of it. We can all live without the discovery channel. Look at the back lash Ed Sheeran is receiving right now. People have had enough. Regular civil people have had it! Quit using it

NBC is proudly displaying it's 100 year marker on the network; would love to see SNL feature that skit as some sort of commemorative for its own history within the 100 years of NBC!

SNL included it on a best of TV Funhouse DVD though

Yep

I’m surprised network lawyers even allowed it to air.

never to see the light of day except for on the best of "Saterday TV funhouse" disk extras

They were forced to add the "voices" line. Original writer did not want that. It's extremely trivial to make a person hear voices, BTW. Just about any engineer who is open to the possibility could figure it out.

Wow! Prescient