In The Frame December '18

Streaming / Online / Tech

2019 is shaping up to be a battle among streaming services, as Disney, Apple and WarnerMedia enter the market and take on the might of Netflix. There’s also the possibility of Comcast, Costco and Walmart joining in. One consequence of this is the large-scale withdrawal of content from Netflix by its rivals: Comcast, Fox, Disney and WarnerMedia account for about 20 per cent of Netflix’s content library.

Netflix is on track to break the 10-million subscriber mark in the UK in the first quarter of the new year, and overtake, by the end of 2018, the number of homes who are signed up to Sky’s satellite TV service. Netflix is predicted to hit 9.78 million UK subscribers, with Sky on 9.64 million.

LiveTree, a new UK-based film and TV streaming service, has launched with library titles from the BFI, Warp Films and Kaleidosope Film Distribution and a crowdfunding production initiative.

BBC News

Following Ofcom’s finding that Russian channel RT had broken impartiality rules in some of its news and current affairs programmes, Russia’s media regulator will retaliate having said that it’ll carry out checks to determine whether the BBC is in compliance with Russian law. The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the BBC was being targeted for its “biased” and “unfair” coverage of events in Russia and Syria, and said the review could “certainly” be seen as a response to the Ofcom decision.

The BBC dominated the Christmas Day ratings. Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show was the best-performing BBC show, followed by the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special and Call the Midwife. Bodyguard was the iPlayer’s biggest show of the year (up to 20 December).

Angelina Jolie will executive-produce the pilot of a global, English-language BBC current affairs programme for children in 2019, Our World. It will include ten weekly episodes.

And finally…

• The UK Screen Alliance has criticised the government’s Immigration Bill, which sets out plans for a post-Brexit visa system, saying it’ll be harder to attract international talent and stay competitive.
• BBC Drama and Directors UK have announced that the Continuing Drama New Directors’ Training Scheme is to run again, for the fourth year.
• Screen Scotland is planning to open a significant new film and TV production facility in Port of Leith in Edinburgh, and two new studios are set to open in Oxfordshire.
• A New York judge has ruled that the sexual assault case against Harvey Weinstein can move forward to trial.
• The Golden Globe Awards will be held on 6 January, the Baftas take place on 9 January, and the Oscars on 22 January. Shortlists of Oscars nominees in nine categories have been announced.
• NASA is to broadcast audio and video from its Mars 2020 Rover when it lands on the red planet in two years.
• The publisher of Broadcast, Broadcast Tech and Screen International, Media Business Insight, is launching a quarterly sports magazine, Broadcast Sport, the first issue of which is scheduled for March/April 2019.
• Channel 4 is facing a costly TV advertising blackout from some major corporate names in a dispute over the cost of buying commercial space on its channels.
• Ofcom figures indicate that Celebrity Big Brother drew more viewer complaints than any other programme during 2018.

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