In The Frame June '21

Streaming/Online/Tech

Amazon has maintained its position as the world’s most valuable brand, according to the Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable Global Brands 2021 ranking. Apple, Google and Microsoft are ranked second, third and fourth, respectively.

Amblin Partners, the global film and TV studio led by Steven Spielberg, and Netflix have announced a partnership that will cover multiple new feature films per year.

As well as considering the privatisation of Channel 4, the government will also consult on whether the regulation of SVOD services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime “needs strengthening so they are subject to similar rules as traditional linear broadcasters”.

“It will consider whether new rules are needed to protect viewers of video-on-demand services – such as changes to age ratings and addressing impartiality and accuracy rules for documentaries and news content – alongside measures to level the playing field so public service broadcasters can compete with international rivals,” a DCMS press release states.

While the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games were the first to be televised live, Tokyo 2020 will be the first all-IP broadcast operation. NBC Olympics will work with Cisco networking technology.

BBC News

The BBC will broadcast more than 350 hours of round-the-clock TV coverage, presented from a virtual reality studio, during the Tokyo Olympics, which begin next month.

England’s opening Euro 2020 game against Croatia was watched by a peak TV audience of 11.6 million and a 79.2% share of available viewers and, with 3.9 million streams, set an iPlayer live-viewing record.

Ofcom is inviting views on BBC plans to return BBC Three to a linear channel in January next year. BBC Three became the first TV channel in the world to make the switch from linear to online-first in February 2016.

The BBC is trialling Watch Together. The ‘Watch with friends’ feature, available through the iPlayer’s online version, will be rolled out on BBC iPlayer for its ‘The Glastonbury Experience 2021’ collection of archive content and enables viewers to watch sets from Glastonbury in sync with their friends

And finally...

• England and Scotland’s draw at Wembley was watched by a peak of 20 million viewers. Coverage of England’s final group game against the Czech Republic, and Scotland’s defeat by Croatia, drew a peak audience of 17.7 million across ITV and STV.
• ITV, whose London staff are currently split between locations in Holborn, White City and on Gray’s Inn Road, has announced it’s to take a 13-year lease on Broadcast Centre in White City from the BBC, to bring all its workforce in the capital into one location for the first time.
• As the government considers the privatisation of Channel 4, the broadcaster has published its 2020 annual report. Its chief executive, Alex Mahon, said: “We need to make sure the media landscape is strengthened, not worsened, by any changes to the channel.”
• Trainspotting, Brassed Off, My Beautiful Launderette and Sexy Beast are among the classic Film4 productions being offered to the Picturehouse, Everyman, Odeon, Vue and Showcase chains to encourage UK audiences to return to cinemas.
• Sky, ITV and Channel 4 have launched CFlight, a TV advertising measurement tool that captures live, on-demand and time-shifted commercial impressions across all mainstream viewing platforms in the UK. CFlight was pioneered by NBCUniversal, the sister US broadcaster of Comcast-owned Sky.
• Sky, Adobe and Kick it Out have joined forces for the second edition of ‘The Edit’, an initiative for schools focusing on equality, diversity and inclusion, and improving the digital and media skills of young people across the UK & Ireland.
• The launch on Sunday 13 June of GB News was watched by more people than both Sky News and the BBC News channel. Less than two weeks after the launch, acting chairman Andrew Neil is taking time off following a “rocky start” for the channel.
• Rupert Murdoch’s News UK has confirmed it held talks with BT Sport over “limited, commercial partnership” opportunities but says it won’t pursue them.
• Amazon Prime Video is funding six of the 13 new apprentices training as post-production technical operators on UK Screen Alliance’s apprenticeship programme.
• Visitor registration for IBC2021 is now open. The show takes place 3-6 December at the RAI, Amsterdam

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