1. A non-transitory computer readable medium that is readable by a computer managing content and distribution of media, the computer readable medium comprising a set of instructions that when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform the following operations: characterizing each item of content in media as having both a tangible form and logical description; describing physical content by a plurality of types of metadata; characterizing the types of metadata and preserving metadata types; deriving new media content from original media content and other media content, wherein the other media content comprises at least one of video content and audio content; and creating new media content metadata for the new media content by: selecting a first set of metadata values from metadata value categories corresponding to a portion of original media content metadata associated with the original media content, the metadata value categories associated with the original media content including genetic records of the original media content, selecting a second set of metadata values from metadata value categories corresponding to a portion of the other media content metadata associated with the other media content, the metadata value categories associated with the other media content including genetic records of the other media content; and combining the selected first and the second set of metadata values to create the new media content metadata for the new media content, wherein the new media content includes a portion of the original media content and a portion of other media content wherein the new media content metadata comprises: core metadata values comprising at least two of a title of the original media content and the other media content, an episode number of the original media content and the other media content, a series identifier of the original media content and the other media content and an original language of the original media content and the other media content; applied metadata values comprising at least two of a delivery time for the new media content, a duration of the new media content, disclaimer information for the new media content and a current language of the new media content; and contextual metadata values comprising at least one of an aspect ratio and a bit rate of the new media content.