There are lots of financial reasons to own a media source beyond advertising revenue.
The power to rouse the rabble is a powerful weapon in a democracy (which is what we are becoming). The more socialist that democracy becomes, the more powerful is the weapon, making the selling of influence more important than selling the advertising, especially insofar as leveraging other investments is concerned. News can deflect stock prices; and beats insider trading as a way to make money.
Who Owns the Media?
Massive corporations dominate the U.S. media landscape. Through a history of mergers and acquisitions, these companies have concentrated their control over what we see, hear and read. In many cases, these companies are vertically integrated, controlling everything from initial production to final distribution. In the interactive charts below we reveal who owns what.
http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart