Deciphering Convergence. Impact of The Digital Revolution on the Media and Communications Industries

AbstractThe world’s media, telecommunications and information technology industries are undergoing a period of unprecedented and profound change. Dramatic technological advances combined with market liberalisation and globalisation have together engendered the “digital revolution.” A dramatic consequence of this is “convergence,” a ubiquitous but loosely defined term commonly understood to denote the blurring of boundaries between the media, telecoms and information technology sectors. There is broad consensus between academics and practitioners that technological advances are bringing these sectors closer together and have the potential to transform them entirely. Tools for analysing these developments include Porter’s (1985) value chain and the technologically-based ”layer” models developed to ensure interconnection between networks (OSI 1977–84;Grove 1996; Bradley and Nolan 1998). This paper explores the relevance of these concepts as tools to analyse convergence by applying them to a range of affected...