In The Frame - Mar'22

Streaming/Online/Tech

ITV is to launch ITVX, a new, advertising- and subscription-funded streaming service, later this year. Viewers will be able to watch content free in the ad-funded tier or pay for an ad-free subscription to access additional content. Much of ITV’s new programming will be available first on ITVX before broadcast on its linear channels months later.

Research estimates that UK consumers can access 130,000 hours of content per year from VOD and SVOD services, compared with 30,000 hours in 2016. The cost of accessing it all has risen by almost a quarter since 2019, up from £2,040 a year to £2,500.

Disney is to launch an ad-supported version of Disney+ in addition to its option without ads, beginning in the US later this year, with plans to expand internationally in 2023.

Netflix is to open an office in Poland to build on its long-term commitment to the creative industries across central and eastern Europe.

The Netflix ‘Skip Intro’ button, meanwhile, is pressed 136 million times globally on a typical day, saving 195 years in cumulative time.

Amazon Prime Video is collaborating with the National Film and Television School to create Prime Video Pathway, a £10 million, three-year training and development scheme.

BBC News

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, record audiences in the region have used the BBC’s digital language platforms, BBC Russian and BBC Ukraine. The World Service, meanwhile, is to receive an emergency government grant of £4.1 million to help the corporation tackle disinformation about the war. BBC News has increased access to its independent journalism on the invasion.

The BBC has stopped licensing TV content to Russian clients following the invasion.

The Annual Plan, which sets out how the BBC “will continue reforming to deliver maximum value to all audiences”, has been published. Among its targets, the corporation says it wants a quarter of its staff to come from a lower socio-economic background.

And finally…

• Channel 4, ITV, BBC, STV, UKTV, S4C and Paramount UK are to create access and inclusion ‘passports’.
• Michael Grade has appeared before the Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee. The Conservative peer participated in a pre-appointment hearing to answer questions on his suitability to lead Ofcom.
• Paper Owl Films, creators of Pablo, the animated CBeebies hit series, is launching an annual work placement scheme specifically aimed at aspiring animators who are on the autistic spectrum.
• The winners of the RTS Programme Awards 2022 have been announced.
• The culture secretary Nadine Dorries has praised Channel 5, which is 25 years old this month, describing it as “the levelling-up broadcaster”.
• Negotiations between Bectu and Pact have broken down over an agreement governing working conditions. The union has served Pact with a notice to terminate the Bectu/Pact TV Drama Agreement in six months if demands over sticking points are not met.
• UKTV channel W has launched on Freeview.
• Sunset Studios has submitted a planning application for a £700 million studio in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire.
• The training body ScreenSkills is to invest £10.1 million in its high-end TV (HETV) skills fund to address shortages in the industry.

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