In The Frame - November ’18

Streaming / Online / Tech

Netflix, Amazon and YouTube leaders discussed their strategies this month, one of the main messages being that global hits have to begin locally and with an understanding of their target markets.

Consumer interest in 4K continues to grow, with global shipments of UHD TVs expected to exceed 100m by the end of this year.

More details have emerged from AT&T on the new streaming service that it’ll launch following its merger with Time Warner. The new company, WarnerMedia, will offer three levels of service: an entry-level movie-focused package; a premium service with original programming and blockbuster movies; and a third service that bundles content from the first two-plus a library of WarnerMedia and licensed content.

Artificial intelligence, interoperable master format (IMF) and 5G are among the technologies expected to have the biggest impact on UK facilities in 2019, with the increasing globalisation of the TV industry and the growing impact of Netflix and Amazon the key drivers.

BBC News

Programmes including Killing Eve, Doctor Who and The Cry have helped the iPlayer to achieve its best month ever.

A government-funded scheme through which all UK households with people over 75 are entitled to a free TV licence comes to an end in June 2020. The scheme is expected to cost £745m by 2021/22, and the BBC will decide on and pay for any future scheme and has opened a consultation period to run for three months.

On the subject of the licence fee, Action Fraud, the UK national fraud reporting centre, has warned of a recent surge in scam TV licence refund messages regarding a non-existent refunds for over-payments have been sent to thousands of email addresses.

The first pictures of the set of The Nine, the news hour which launches on the new BBC Scotland channel in February 2019, have been released.

Aim High, BBC Northern Ireland’s training scheme for aspiring TV producers, has reopened, while BBC Young Reporter, a competition for 11-18 year olds to win the chance to “tell the world their stories”, has also launched.

The BBC has announced its programming for the Christmas period (details are here). Madness, meanwhile, will be performing live in London/on BBC1 on New Year’s Eve.

And finally...

• Arqiva is to exit the playout industry and not seek to renew existing contracts when they expire from next year.
• Netflix’s Judge Dredd series Mega-City One will be one of the first productions made in a major new studio in Oxford.
• Industrial Light & Magic, the VFX company that was founded by George Lucas, is to open a new office in London.
• Nintendo is forecast to take top console spot from Sony in 2019.
• New figures reveal Britain’s creative industries have broken through the £100 billion barriers.
• 20th Century Fox, Disney and Curzon Artificial Eye were among the big winners at the Screen Awards 2018.
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures UK is sponsoring this year’s Diverse Directors Workshop, run by the National Film and Television School (NFTS).

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.