In The Frame – May ’16

At least 20 per cent of the catalogues Netflix and Amazon Prime offer to EU subscribers should be made locally, according to new measures being proposed by the European Commission.

Other rules would see locally produced titles prominently featured on streaming services’ websites and apps. The commission also wants those companies to make financial contributions towards the production of European shows.

Amazon was also in the news this month as it announced plans to take on YouTube with the launch of Amazon Video Direct (AVD). Amazon wants creators to upload their own videos to its Prime Video service and generate royalties based on the number of hours streamed by viewers among Prime’s tens of millions of members. AVD started immediately.

Google remains the world’s biggest media owner, based on media revenue, which covers all sales relating to advertising, and has extended its lead over second-placed Disney in the latest rankings.

Those two media giants were featured in another story this month, with the release of Android Instant Apps. Google says: “With Instant Apps, a tap on a URL can open right in an Android app, even if the user doesn’t have that app installed,” and one of the early testers is Disney. Gross revenue across all app stores is expected to exceed $101 billion globally by 2020.

Finally, music streaming service Spotify will be releasing 12 music-themed videos this summer, available free of charge for premium and non-premium subscribers in the UK, US, Germany and Sweden, Spotify’s home nation.

BBC News

The BBC has received the go-ahead from culture secretary John Whittingdale to develop a new subscription streaming service to rival Netflix – with the working title, Britflix – and is understood to be a collaborative project involving ITV.

Mr Whittingdale said this month that the BBC must put “distinctive content” at its heart, adding: “We want the BBC to be the leading broadcaster in promoting diversity.” And in related news that caused a bit of a stir this month, the corporation announced plans to shut down its food and Newsbeat websites – meaning the removal of thousands of recipes – in order to save £15 million and address criticism that it’s competing with commercial online publishers unfairly. Further savings could be made by merging BBC News and BBC World News to create a single global channel – a move the corporation is considering, with a decision expected in the summer.

As well as the noise surrounding the archiving of recipes, Gary Linker labelled the culture secretary a “chump” and Peter Kosminksy – director of the Bafta-winning BBC2 series Wolf Hall – launched a passionate defence of the BBC at the Bafta awards ceremony.

The end of the month saw the return of Top Gear, albeit to what’s been described as a “lukewarm reception” (ie, mixed reviews and a drop in audience figures). The former presenters’ new show, The Grand Tour, launches in the autumn on Amazon.

ITV News

As Kevin Lygo “lifts lid on ITV masterplan”, this month’s edition of In The Frame… sees the inclusion of two less regular features – ITV News and Sports News.

On ITV, a new Holly Willoughby-fronted, mid-week dating show has been commissioned, while Simon Cowell is believed to be taking a pay cut to secure X Factor‘s future on the channel. The X Factor will, for the first time, be taking auditions online, as it invites participants to show off their talent via Facebook Live, the social media site’s service that “lets people, public figures and Pages share live video with their followers and friends on Facebook ”.

Sports News

The conclusion of British football’s domestic season and the European club competitions – combined with an upcoming summer of sport which includes the European Championships and Rio Olympics – make for a busy time in the sports world.

Manchester United’s FA Cup win was watched by the final’s biggest TV audience since 2012, with the ‘showpiece of English football’ remaining among the ‘crown jewels’ of free-to-air sport events – which the culture secretary has pledged not to tamper with.

Other huge matches which took place this month were the Europa League and Champions League finals, both broadcast free by BT on digital TV as well as live on YouTube (where a combined total of approximately three million people watched the two games).

The Champions League final was, according to BT Sport, “the most social sports broadcast ever” – and with good reason:

• As mentioned above, the match was shown live on BT Sport, btsport.com and the BT Sport YouTube channel (the first time club football’s biggest game has been streamed live on social media)
• The final weekend was covered by Snapchat Live Story
• Facebook Live was used for interactive interviews with BT Sport pundits and former players
• Live match action clips were published in real-time on Twitter

And in tennis, some matches at the French tennis open Roland-Garros have been offered in VR 360° and in Ultra HD quality from a dedicated mobile app. The 360° videos are also being released on YouTube and Facebook.

And finally…

• Ericsson will deliver playout and media management services for clients including the BBC at Salford’s MediaCityUK. Three TX suites, continuity and QC areas, media management facilities, an MCR and a network operations centre will be operational from early next year.
• Vice Media has hired a Louis Theroux development executive as well as a Newsnight deputy editor. The company’s new channel, Viceland, launches later this year on Sky.
• GoPro has signed an exclusive content partnership with Red Bull.

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