A media franchise is the licensing of intellectual property of an original work of media (usually a work of fiction), such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game, to others. This licensing may involve trademarked characters and settings. Generally, a media franchise means that a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with licensing to others for merchandising and endorsements.
Recently, some parts of the film industry have erroneously begun to use the word "franchise" as a synonym for a film series. However, unless the owners of the copyright to a film series also have trademarked the names of characters and other elements in the films, and are licensing the use of these to others, a film series is not a franchise, as the act of such licensing is what constitutes franchising.
Read more about Media Franchise: Metaseries
Famous quotes containing the words media and/or franchise:
“Few white citizens are acquainted with blacks other than those projected by the media and the so—called educational system, which is nothing more than a system of rewards and punishments based upon one’s ability to pledge loyalty oaths to Anglo culture. The media and the “educational system” are the prime sources of racism in the United States.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“...feminism differs from reform of any kind, even franchise reform. Feminists, I should say, are not reformers at all, but rather intellectual biologists and psychologists.”
—Rheta Childe Dorr (1866–1948)