In The Frame - January '23

Streaming/Online/Tech

As Netflix looks to recoup losses incurred by a drop in subscriber numbers, it’s to begin cracking down on password sharing in the coming months. Accounts which are shared across multiple households are likely to attract additional fees.

Netflix’s new ad-supported tier is off to a slow start, while Greg Peters, who was previously the COO and head of product, has been promoted to co-CEO, sharing the role with Ted Sarandos. The company’s co-founder, Reed Hastings, becomes executive chairman.

Research suggests that 5% of British households took out a new streaming subscription during the final quarter of 2022, representing a 1% fall, year-on-year. The proportion of consumers planning to cancel one or more SVOD services in the next quarter rose to 12% from 10% between July and September 2022.

The launch of ITVX has been strong. ITV’s new streaming service delivered a 55% increase in the broadcaster’s streaming hours in the first four weeks compared with the same period last year. Love Island and ITV’s World Cup coverage were the most-watched events in broadcaster streaming in 2022, with 273 million streams and 146 million streams respectively.

Paramount’s Showtime brand is to merge with Paramount+, with the US streaming and linear platforms rebranded as Paramount+ With Showtime. Showtime will cease operations later this year.

BBC News

The World Cup, the return of Peaky Blinders and coverage of the Queen's funeral helped BBC iPlayer record its best year, breaking seven billion streams for the first time.

The BBC has announced “a significant rights deal” which keeps Olympic coverage on its services up to and including the Brisbane 2032 Games.

The fifth annual BBC Young Reporter Competition, inviting people aged 11-18 to submit original story ideas, is open until Friday 31 March 2023.

The BBC has shared its first thematic review into taxation, public spending, government borrowing and debt output as part of its 10-point impartiality plan. The independent review spoke to more than 100 people inside and outside the BBC and reviewed 11,000 pieces of relevant BBC content, focusing closely on 1000.

And finally…

• Plans to privatise Channel 4 have been formally abandoned, meaning the broadcaster will remain in public ownership.
• Channel 4 is introducing an online work experience programme and expanding its 4Schools project.
• Virgin Media continued to generate the most pay-TV complaints, according to Ofcom’s figures for complaints received about the UK’s major home phone, mobile, broadband and pay-TV providers between July and September 2022. The main reason customers complained was poor handling of complaints. Sky received the fewest pay-TV complaints.
• Rupert Murdoch has called off the proposed merger of News Corp with Fox, following opposition from investors. The 91-year-old determined the move was “not optimal for shareholders”.
• Discovery+ is now available free to Sky TV subscribers, while SVOD service Lionsgate+ is accessible via Samsung smart TVs.
• Digital UK, the parent company of Freeview and Freesat, is to operate under the name Everyone TV, a joint venture owned and supported by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
• A new report has found that Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have the potential to become a “screen cluster of national significance”.