In The Frame – April ’15

Streaming / Online / Tech

YouTube is to introduce a new, paid service which will allow users to watch videos ad-free and offline, positioning the Google-owned social network in direct completion with Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Content producers will receive 55% of total net revenues generated by subscription fees (in addition to profit received from advertising in the traditional free version).

YouTube has operated pay-to-watch subscription channels since May 2013 and launched Music Key – a paid, ad-free music service – in November 2014.

While Game of Thrones fifth season episodes have apparently been leaked online, illegally streaming content isn’t all bad, actress Taraji P Henson recently told the BBC.

The star of Fox show Empire – a hit in the US and to be shown on E4 in the UK – explained: “The only way that it [Empire] got over to the UK is because people were streaming it. [UK television companies] wouldn’t have known the show was that important, or that people wanted to see it, if they weren’t streaming it. When the material is good, people will find it.”

Netflix, which ended March with 62.3 million subscribers, is to produce 13 animated episodes based on Dr Seuss’s book, Green Eggs and Ham, with Ellen DeGeneres among the series’ executive producers. Production begins next month and the show will debut in 2018.

BBC News

Talking of Netflix, the BBC is preparing to become an ‘internet first’ broadcaster to win back young viewers from the streaming service and others like it, Matthew Postgate, the corporation’s chief technology officer, said this month, adding that the BBC must become more “relevant” to viewers watching shows online. He went on to warn that these changes will take five years to implement.

Moving slightly more swiftly, the Beeb’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, is to collaborate with content distribution service BitTorrent to mark a decade of new Doctor Who. A ten-story box set will be available globally to stream or download on BitTorrent Bundle here.

ITV News

ITV is apparently looking to continue its recent buying spree and is reportedly in talks to acquire the television division of the Weinstein Company in a deal that could be worth as much as $950 million (£630 million). An initial payment would total between $300m and $400m with bonuses and payouts potentially tripling the figure.

The deal would be ITV’s most significant investment in scripted production to date as it attempts to reduce its dependence on advertising and increase its presence beyond the UK. Recent acquisitions have largely been of unscripted and reality TV productions and companies.

And finally…

• YouTube is experimenting with ultra high definition, an experiment limited to just a small batch of clips so far.
• Ex-BBC director general George Entwistle is to team up with his former Newsnight colleague, Jeremy Paxman, for Channel 4’s coverage of the forthcoming general election on May 7th. Paxman will co-present with David Mitchell. The channel’s coverage will also include a special election edition of Channel 4’s Gogglebox.
• This year’s NAB TV technology show in Las Vegas – the world’s largest – was attended by more than 100,000 people and featured 1,789 exhibiting companies.
• Google’s ThinkWithGoogle website has a PDF which looks at the “evolution of TV” and its “migration to the cloud”. It’s available here.
• BT’s Director of Television, Alex Green, says that his company’s broadcast platform is opening out to third-party content providers, such as Netflix, and that BT’s delivery of a single point of navigation for content is “tremendously powerful” for consumers.
• Sir Peter Bazalgette is to deliver a keynote address exploring ways in which a newly-elected government should support the UK creative industries as part of Broadcast magazine’s annual Creative Week event, to be held on 1-3 June 2015.

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