The demise of UK TV as we know it.

lgs 4

Source Digital Spy
An article in the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/sep/16/uk-netflix-rival-moves-step-closer-as-bbc-and-discovery-eye-uktv-buyout

Harry Palmr

Saw that be interesting to see what happens the FTA channels are Dave, Drama, Yesterday and Really. I can imagine Dave getting monetised elsewhere it's the most high profile of the channels with the biggest entertainment names.

lgs 4

Harry Palmer wrote: »

Saw that be interesting to see what happens the FTA channels are Dave, Drama, Yesterday and Really. I can imagine Dave getting monetized elsewhere it's the most high profile of the channels with the biggest entertainment names.

It,s not just Satellite it's also Freeview, many of channels were on Freeview years before FTA on Freesat. Time will tell what,s in store.

Elmo

I am surprised UKTV is still going and that it only relatively recently launched REALLY.

I'd also question how the BBC could justify such commercial services if they were to be a 100% owner of any of the set of channels that UKTV offer. Surely it would go against the BBC decision not to have any advertising on BBC channel in the UK.

Harry Palmr

BBC Worldwide (aka BBC Studios) would own it if they got 100% of it (which they won't) and they are run on entirely commercial lines.

Elmo

Harry Palmr wrote: »

BBC Worldwide (aka BBC Studios) would own it if they got 100% of it (which they won't) and they are run on entirely commercial lines.

Even with it owned 100% by BBC Worldwide/Studios the BBC would have a big battle regarding advertising, after all most BBC Studios product is derived from the Licence Fee/Public Funding, and in turn it is 100% owned by BBC.

Isn't one of the options to split the channels up.

Harry Palmr

Times say

The BBC is expected to hand Discovery, the American broadcasting group, about £100 million under plans to carve up the owner of the Dave and Gold television channels.

The pair are joint owners of UKTV and have been in talks for several months over the company, which owns ten free-to-air and pay-TV channels and is worth about £1 billion.

Under the plans they would break up UKTV. BBC would take about 60 per cent, including entertainment channels such as Dave, Gold and Drama, according to sources. Discovery, which owns Eurosport and holds the European rights to the Olympic Games, would end up with lifestyle channels such as Good Food and Home.

Harry Palmr

BBC about to make its move - the corporation will spend 250m buying it's share of the UKTV bouquet (with possibly 7 of the 10 channels) - Discovery will take the other 3 (lifestyle) and as a top up for the true cost of the deal also get world wide VoD rights of the BBC Natural History catalogue.

UKTV made about 90 million profit last year so it's a good deal by any measure (cue illiterate article in Daily Mail about money being wasted and grannies being jailed for licence evasion).

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/feb/07/uktv-ceo-quits-as-bbc-prepares-to-take-full-control-of-broadcaster-darren-childs

Elmo

Harry Palmr wrote: »

BBC about to make its move - the corporation will spend 250m buying it's share of the UKTV bouquet (with possibly 7 of the 10 channels) - Discovery will take the other 3 (lifestyle) and as a top up for the true cost of the deal also get world wide VoD rights of the BBC Natural History catalogue.

UKTV made about 90 million profit last year so it's a good deal by any measure (cue illiterate article in Daily Mail about money being wasted and grannies being jailed for licence evasion).

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/feb/07/uktv-ceo-quits-as-bbc-prepares-to-take-full-control-of-broadcaster-darren-childs

At at guess
Alibi PAY BBC
Dave PAY BBC
Drama FREE BBC
Eden PAY BBC
Gold PAY BBC
Good Food PAY DISCO
Home FREE DISCO
Really FREE BBC
W PAY BBC
Yesterday FREE DISCO

That's 2 new FTA channels owned by the BBC carrying ads.

Gonzo

What will happen to those channels when bought by the BBC, would Irish viewers still have access to them on Sky, or would BBC buy the Irish rights as well for those channels?

Elmo

Gonzo wrote: »

What will happen to those channels when bought by the BBC, would Irish viewers still have access to them on Sky, or would BBC buy the Irish rights as well for those channels?

Shouldn't change both UKTV and Discovery have agreements in place for those channel, and for the free set of channels on FTA satellite.

The issue will be a "best of British" pay on-demand service, though it could end up like US on demand services with their shows going to Netflix here.

Harry Palmr

BBC takes control of UKTV, keeping 7 channel selling the 3 lightweight lifestyle ones (Good Food, Home and Really) and entering licencing deal with Discovery to supply content to their forthcoming streaming service (which will not be available to us).

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/01/bbc-take-control-uktv-deal-discovery

Be interesting to see what happens to the channels that remain behind a paywall. UKTV is very profitable but is that down to what the likes of Sky and Virgin are willing to pay to have them or is down to sponsors and advertising - of which there is a lot.

icdg

So this is an interesting and somewhat complex deal. To break it down:

1. The BBC is entering into a “content partnership” with Discovery, giving it an exclusive subscription video on demand license for BBC natural history programming worldwide except the UK, Ireland, and China. Discovery plans to use this license and combine it with their own content to launch their streaming service. A “Netflix of Documentary”, if you will.

2. Discovery will sell its stake in UKTV to the BBC. This will make UKTV wholly owned by the BBC through its BBC Studios commercial subsidiary.

3. The UKTV factual channels, Really, Good Food, and Home will be sold to Discovey. Interestingly the BBC will only license the current content of these channels to Discovey on a short term basis, so make up your own mind as to how long they’ll last.

Some interesting things there then. Firstly, UKTV will continue for the present, shorn of its factual channels, as a BBC subsidiary. One eye of course on the BBC being able to use the rights it owns for the forthcoming Britbox JV with ITV Studios. That’s unlikely to be available here, given ITV’s relationship with Virgin Media, but I don’t think the slightly slimmer UKTV will be closing down any day now.

Reading between the lines, the EPG slots that Good Food, Really, and Home have may be more valuable to Discovery than the channels themselves, if the BBC is only licensing the content on a short term basis. Interesting to see Ireland is excluded from the SVOD licensing deal and wonder if there’s a specific reason for that.

Meanwhile, while we wait to see how the cookie crumbles, there’s a huge array of classic Britcoms after making their debut on Sky Box Sets today, a result of a content deal between Sky and the BBC. A lot of them are on Netflix too, of course.