Media Timeline: 1991-2000
1991
Elsevier buys Pergamon from Robert Maxwell
Sponsored links
Matsushita buys MCA
Paxson Broadcasting founded
Berlusconi and de Benedetti clash over control of Mondadori
IBM's first revenue decline in 45 years
Bond group receivers float Western Australian Newspapers (WAN)
Line Mode Browser - the first internet browser
Australia as An Information Society report
CNN dominates news coverage worldwide during Gulf War
Denver trial of VOD - over 1 000 titles but no profits
over 4 billion videocassette rentals in the US
TV1 becomes Scandinavian broadcaster SBS
75% of US homes reported to own VCRs, 60% have cable tv
Zimmermann releases first version of PGP
US Telephone Consumer Protection Act
UN Draft Declaration of the Rights of the World's Indigenous Peoples
Feist copyright decision by US Supreme Court
Seven tv network assets incorporated separately in reconstruction after collapse of Qintex
1992
US cable television revenue reaches US$22 billion
Guardian holdings reorganised as Guardian Media Group plc (GMG)
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) founds Euronews
GMG buys Observer
US has 10 million mobile phone subscribers
900 million TV sets in the world; 201 million in the US
first use of the phrase "surfing the net" by Jean Armour Polly
first SMS to a mobile phone
Moving Picture Experts Group agree on MPEG Audio Layer III, aka MP3
at least 50 US cities have competing cable services
Australian Disability Discrimination Act
US Audio Home Recording Act
Maastricht Treaty on European Union
Gilder's Life After Television
Cisneros, Perenchio and Televisa consortium buys Univision for US$550m
EMI buys Virgin Music Group for US$960m from Richard Branson and Fujisankei
Egmont merges with Nordisk Film
Lonrho sells George Outram to MBO
Lonrho sells Scottish & Universal Newspapers (SUN) to Trinity for £45m
TCI chair John Malone predicts "500 channel universe"
US National Science Foundation appoints NSI to manage .com, .net, and .org domain names
1993
merger of Elsevier and Reed International
DVD invented by Toshiba
Stephens buys Donrey
V-chip proposed for TV content control
Mosaic - first graphical internet browser
Kodak and Apple produce first digital still image camera for consumers
Zell/Chilmark takes control of Jacor for US$70m
New Zealand Privacy Act
Chancellor Broadcasting formed
Seven tv network listed on Australian stock exchange
Belusconi forms Forza Italia
1994
Elsevier buys LEXIS-NEXIS
Granada buys rest of LWT for £670m
Rogers buys Maclean Hunter for C$3.1bn
first digital TV service - DirecTV in the US by satellite
BSkyB floated
Netscape
Village controls Austereo radio in Australia
Viacom buys Blockbuster and Paramount
Norsk Arbeiderpresse becomes A-pressen
Perscombinatie-Meulenhoff becomes PCM
Wegener buys regional newspaper publisher Sijthoff Pers
135 million PCs worldwide
US government privatises internet management
first ad on the World Wide Web, for Wired magazine
first demonstration of Java
Cyberspace & the American Dream manifesto
Pizza Hut sells pizzas over the net
First Virtual, first cyberbank
Rheingold's The Virtual Community
Birkerts' The Gutenberg Elegies
Cordell proposes Byte Tax
Canter & Siegel's How to Make a Fortune on the Information Superhighway
Goldstein's Copyright's Highway: The Law & Lore of Copyright from Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox
interactive TV introduced in US
1995
est 25 million mobile phone subscribers in US
first US NTIA Falling Through The Net report
Amazon.com founded
Pearson buys Grundy Worldwide
Seagram buys MCA
Evergreen buys Pyramid for US$316m
49% of Euronews sold to Goldsmith-controlled Générale Occidentale
Cox buys Times Mirror Cable Television
Steve Wiener forms Cine UK (Cineworld chain)
Westinghouse buys CBS, subsequently changes name to CBS
Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser
Sony demonstrates flat-screen TV set
Iomega markets Zip drive
RealAudio lets internet users hear in near real-time
Marty Rimm 'cyberpanic'
Negroponte's Being Digital
Stoll's Silicon Snake Oil
EU Data Protection Directive
global Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS)
Disney buys ABC network
VeriSign founded
1996
399,629 industrial robots in use in Japan (70,858 in US)
Granada buys Forte hotels and catering group for £3.6bn
Schibsted buys Swedish Aftonbladet group
Seven network and Kerkorian buy MGM/UA
Chancellor buys 12 stations from Colfax, eight from OmniAmerica and 19 from Shamrock
Jacor pays US$774m for Citicasters ten FM and four AM radio stations
Al-Jazeera launched
Emap sells 69 regional newspapers to Johnston for £211m
Pathé spun off from Chargeurs
1997
Telecommunications Act 1997 deregulates telecoms in Australia
Cumulus founded in US
Frankel develops Winamp MP3 tool
Emmis founded in US
Capstar buys SFX Broadcasting for US$2.1bn
Trinity sells Red Deer Advocate and 32 other Canadian newspapers to Black Press for US$58m
Générale Occidentale sells Euronews stake to ITN
CNHI founded in US
Alma Media formed through merger of MTV with Aamulehti newspaper group
UFA merges with CLT
Microsoft invests US$1bn in Comcast
Chancellor Media Group created through US$1.5bn merger of Chancellor Group with Evergreen
Microsoft buys WebTV for US$503m
Cairncross' The Death of Distance
Schement & Curtis' Tendencies & Tensions of the Information Age
Strassmann's The Squandered Computer
Amsterdam Treaty
Jacor pays US$620m for 17 station Nationwide Communication
Clear buys Eller Media Company
Wiley buys Van Nostrand Reinhold for US$28m
Mirror Group buys Midland Independent Newspapers for £297m
1998
AOL buys Netscape
Chancellor buys Capstar for US$4.1bn, becomes AMFM Inc radio station chain
ICANN created
Advance sells book interests to Bertelsmann
Hewlett-Packard releases first colour Palmtop computer
Panasonic releases first hand-held DVD player
Clear buys More Group for £466m
Clear pays US$6.5bn for Jacor, taking portfolio to over 450 stations
Seven network sells MGM stake for US$389m
Kelly's New Rules For The New Economy
US Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Seattle Times Co buys Guy Gannett Communications
1999
Euro created as EU currency
Fanning founds Napster
auDA established to manage dot-au TLD
Fanning founds Napster
AOL buys Frankel's Nullsoft for US$100m
Sanoma WSOY takes 10% stake in A-Pressen (later increased to 29.6%)
global online population reaches 150 million (over 50% in US)
Finland's mobile phones linked to vending machines
first WAP mobile phone advertisement in Finland
Australian Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Act reinforces online content regulation
Clear pays US$23.5bn for AMFM Inc
Varian & Shapiro's Information Rules
Lessig's Code & Other Laws Of Cyberspace
RIAA litigation against Napster
Viacom buys CBS
merger of Quebecor Printing and World Color Press in US$2.7bn deal to create Quebecor World
Trinity International and Mirror merge
Wiley buys Jossey-Bass from Pearson for US$82m
US$45bn spent on US tv advertising (US$14bn to CBS, ABC and NBC)
2000
Vivendi swallows Seagram and Pathé
CanWest swallows Hollinger's Canadian newspaper chain
'Great Dot-com Crash' of April 2000
BCE and Thomson form Bell Globemedia
CLT-UFA merges with television arm of Pearson, becomes RTL
WAZ sells stake in RTL
Comcast completes acquisition of Lenfest
Granada buys tv interests of United News & Media for £1.75bn
Trinity Mirror buys Southnews for £285m
Telemedia sells publishing arm to Transcontinental for US$102m
Orkla buys 76% of Det Berlingske Officin group for €209m
'Digital Agenda' Copyright Act in Australia
Australian Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act extends privacy regime to parts of non-government sector
Univision buys USA Networks for US$1.1bn
Clear buys SFX Entertainment for US$4.4bn
Telefonica buys Endemol
Frankel releases Gnutella