Thatcherism and the emergence of Sky Television

In the past, sociological analysis of the media has either focused on the way the media have manipulated or informed public opinion or on the political economy of the media institutions themselves. This article attempts to synthesize these two approaches through an examination of the emergence of satellite television in Britain. In particular, the article argues that the political economy of the media, the media's own principles of economic organization and their relationships with their viewers or readers are themselves meaningful, drawing on and dialectically reaffirming the wider interpretive framework of the society. In the case of Sky TV, this article maintains that the political and economic organization of this institution were constructed as based on free market principles, derived from the wider Thatcherite hegemony.