In The Frame – February ’16

Streaming / Online / Tech

NBCUniversal is to launch, next month, a reality-themed OTT/SVoD service called hayu in the UK, Ireland and Australia. Offered with a one-month free trial, hayu will feature more than 3,000 episodes of NBCU’s reality shows, including Keeping Up with The Kardashians, Made in Chelsea, The Real Housewives and The Millionaire Matchmaker. The service will be priced at £3.99 per month in the UK (€4.99 in Ireland and A$5.99 in Australia) with no ongoing contract. NBCU describes hayu as “the first all-reality service of its kind”, incorporating curated content and integration with social media.

Vodafone, meanwhile, is expected to launch its much-delayed UK TV service “later in calendar 2016”, which would enable the company to compete more effectively against BT, which acquired mobile operator EE, while Sky is due to enter the mobile market this year via a wholesale deal to use the O2 network.

This month has also seen a prediction from the chief product officer at Netflix, who thinks that high dynamic range (HDR) is “more visibly different than 4K”, suggesting that HDR technology would advance by leaps and bounds and be delivered in more and more compelling ways.

One TV show and three feature-length films were the first exclusive content released by YouTube for its YouTube Red subscription video service earlier this month – although it’s currently only available in the US. Fans elsewhere in the world will have to buy the shows and films from YouTube or buy and rent them from the Google Play store. The UK and Ireland are expected to be among the first non-US countries to get the service.

BBC News

BBC Three moved online in the middle of the month and now offers original programming through iPlayer and its new mobile platform, The Daily Drop. To mark the channel’s final night on air, James Corden recorded a special tribute message in which he introduced an episode of Gavin & Stacey. Watch it below.

Following the BBC Three shift, further radical ideas are being considered.

Top Gear’s in the news again – for a number of reasons. Firstly, Jeremy Clarkson has apologised to the programme’s former producer he punched having settled a £100,000 racial discrimination and personal injury claim. Now, one of the new presenters seems to have got himself something of a reputation for trouble: executive producer Lisa Clark has left the show due to Chris Evans’s tyrannical manner, it’s been claimed.

Thirdly, the BBC has hired an advertising agency to ensure that Top Gear remains one of its biggest global franchises. The London office of Anomaly has been appointed to create a global campaign to promote the £50 million brand. Finally, the scheduling of the new series is itself an issue, as the BBC has pushed the relaunch back to May 22 and cut the new series to six episodes due to filming delays. The corporation is eager to air the new Top Gear series before Euro 2016 and the Rio Olympics, and to avoid a clash later in the year with Clarkson’s new show on Amazon Prime.

Staying with sport, the BBC has secured a deal with ESPN, which will allow the corporation and ESPN to show video clips of up to six minutes an hour of events including online Cricket World Cup highlights.

And finally…

• The first episode of the new X-Files provided Channel 5 with its biggest audience ever for a drama, with more than five million viewers watching the show live or within a week of its first transmission.
• Channel 5 is also enjoying a new look, as its owner, Viacom, reveals a design “inspired by the idea of presenting ‘spirited TV with an emotional heart’, reflecting Channel 5’s new positioning”.
• Channel 4 was named Channel of the Year at this year’s Broadcast Awards earlier in February. Britain’s Got Talent, Clangers and Car Share were also winners.
• Scripps Networks has acquired the remaining 35% of Travel Channel for $99 million, giving the Tennessee-based media company full ownership of the US network.
• More than 15,000 visitors from at least 60 countries once again visited BVE this month, the broadcast and production technology event that features 250 of the industry’s leading equipment manufacturers, distributors and resellers. Free visitor registration for BVE 2017 is already open here. At this year’s event, DPP managing director Mark Harrison predicted the tipping point for Ultra High Definition (UHD) adoption in the UK will be the end of 2017.
• Producers and distributors have begun to draw up transition plans ahead of a possible exit from the European Union. UK Screen is examining the impact of an exit, while Pact chief executive John McVay said: “People are in London because we speak English, because of our copyright laws, our legal system, high-quality executives and good connections. London is a strong base anyway. I don’t think everyone would get on the next flight to Paris or Madrid.”
• The duo behind The Inbetweeners have signed a deal with Film4 for four new comedy feature films.

From the latest news to the latest positions – click here to see Frame 25’s most recent additions to its list of available TV jobs.