In The Frame - June '17

Tom Pammenter Published: 30.06.2017 Industry news

Fox Sports has partnered with Facebook to livestream Champions League matches next season. Some matches from Europe's top-tier club soccer tournament will be exclusive to the social network and Fox Sports GO, while others will be simulcast on television.

Also in the US, NBC is to stream Premier League football direct to consumers without the need of a traditional package. NBC Sports Gold will give football fans in the US exclusive access to 130 live Premier League matches.

Here in the UK, the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) is warning owners of Kodi boxes. Kieron Sharp, FACT’s chief executive, says investigators could start exposing users of illegal add-ons for Kodi in “the very near future”.

Apple has hired two executives from Sony Pictures TV. “We have exciting plans in store for customers and can’t wait for them to bring their expertise to Apple – there is much more to come,” said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet software and services. Unscripted series Planet of the Apps premiered earlier this month, and a second show, Carpool Karaoke, is expected to launch in August.

Sky News

The Culture Secretary, Karen Bradley, said she was “minded” to accept Ofcom’s conclusion that the Competition and Markets Authority should conduct a full six-month examination of 21st Century Fox’s proposed £11.7 billion takeovers of Sky. Labour politicians told ministers “not to do a grubby deal with the Murdochs” in order to push the deal through.

Sky Sports, meanwhile, is to replace its numbered channels with themed services based on individual sports including football, golf and cricket, similar to the F1 channel it already operates. The broadcaster – faced with falling subscriber numbers as well as competition from OTT providers and streaming via the Kodi boxes mentioned above – will also cut its prices.

BBC News

Last shown on the BBC in 1999, live domestic and international cricket will return to the broadcaster following the completion of a five-year deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board that’ll run from 2020. Sky will retain the bulk of the rights, having out-bid BT Sport. Cricket was last shown on terrestrial TV in 2005 when it moved from Channel 4. The BBC will show 10 live matches from the ECB’s new Twenty20 competition – including the final – as well as two England men’s T20 internationals.

Ben Cooper, a controller of Radio 1, has admitted he is struggling to find new talent, as YouTubers and reality TV take a stronger cultural hold. It’s “really hard to find those next stars in the radio industry”, Cooper said.

Staying with the station, Radio 1 Vintage, a three-day digital radio station, will kick off on Saturday 30 September 2017, 50 years to the day since Radio 1 launched. Featuring 50 one-hour themed nostalgic shows made from Radio 1's archive material from DJs across its entire history, it will celebrate the role Radio 1 has played since its launch.

And finally…

The BBC’s Glastonbury coverage this year achieved record viewing figures on TV and online. Almost 21 million people (20.9m) watched Glastonbury TV coverage for at least 3 minutes, an increase of 12% on 2016.
Vice Media has secured a $450 million investment fund to produce scripted “multi-screen” programming
Virgin Media has signed up to Sky AdSmart, the technology we wrote about here.
ITV Sport has outsourced its archive to Timeline TV in a five-year contract. ITV Sport staff will be given web access to all archive media and associated metadata from their offices and any outside broadcast event.
Creative Skillset, the skills body for the UK’s screen-based creative media, and the Indie Training Fund (ITF), the membership body providing training to television production companies and freelancers, are to merge.
Staying with training and development, the BFI has launched a £20m plan to tackle the UK skills shortage and a lack of workforce diversity.
Sky has bought a stake in V-Nova, creators of video compression software PERSEUS