In The Frame September '21

Streaming/Online/Tech

Amazon’s free streaming service, IMDB TV, is now available in the UK. Amazon customers (Prime and non-Prime) can access the service within the Prime Video app. New content will be added every month across a variety of genres.

The UK has become Netflix’s biggest production base outside North America following an agreement the streaming service has signed to run and expand Longcross Studios, a production facility based in Surrey. Netflix announced in July 2019 it was to take a long-term lease, believed to be ten years, on Shepperton Studios.

Netflix has acquired Roald Dahl Story Company to create a “unique universe” of the author’s works.

HBO Max is launching in parts of Europe on 26 October, arriving first in Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Spain and Andorra. The service expands to a further 14 territories next year, although plans to launch in the UK, Italy, France and Germany have not been announced.

Nordic Entertainment Group is expanding its streaming service Viaplay into five new markets. It launches in the UK in the second half of 2022 and then in Canada, Germany, Austria and Switzerland during 2023.

BBC News

The BBC and Sky have renewed and expanded their long-term strategic partnership which integrates the corporation’s streaming platforms, iPlayer and Sounds, on Sky Q.

The BBC and NBCUniversal, meanwhile, have formed a development partnership to find and fund new unscripted programming ideas.

BBC Studios’ Casualty is working with BBC Writersroom to launch a writing contest for frontline medical workers, while the 40th anniversary of another of the BBC’s most popular shows, Only Fools And Horses, will be marked by the release a new archive.

The BBC has announced its coverage plans for the UN’s upcoming climate change conference in Glasgow, COP26.

And finally...

• Nadine Dorries, described as “a constant critic of the BBC”, has been appointed culture secretary, replacing Oliver Dowden. The 64-year-old becomes the 10th culture secretary in 10 years.
• The Quarantine Exemption for Film and High-End TV has been re-instated. It means qualifying individuals who have not been in a red-list country in the previous 10 days can avoid self-isolation. The exemption initially applies to England only.
• Netflix will invest £1.2m in its new training programme, Grow Creative UK, designed to help develop and support the careers and training of up to 1000 people across the UK.
• Sony is cancelling its presence at all trade shows during October, including NAB, because of the continuing threat posed by Covid-19.
• Timeline Television has launched a new studio and broadcast facility in Ealing, west London. The Ealing Broadcast Centre (EBC) spans three floors and includes a 2,000 square-foot virtual studio.
• Talks on a renegotiation of the Pact/Bectu TV Drama Agreement have begun. Bectu members are seeking improved terms and conditions to protect workers’ rights, and to address the industry’s long-hours culture.
• Call It!, an app designed to eradicate workplace bullying, harassment and discrimination in the TV and film industries, has launched.
• Directors UK and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) have launched new joint guidelines to improve working conditions and standards.
• A peak audience of 9.2 million Britons watched Emma Raducanu’s triumph at the US Open, after Channel 4’s last-minute deal with Amazon to share the broadcast rights.

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