In The Frame – July ’16

With 83.1 million subscribers, Netflix remains “the benchmark for its rivals”, according to research carried out by analysts CCS Insight. But another firm, Juniper Research, suggest that Netflix’s rivals may ultimately benefit from the company’s recent price increases. One those rivals – Amazon Prime – is apparently preparing to launch in several more countries, including France, Italy, Spain and India.

Also in France, a new player has emerged. Molotov, a multiscreen TV service, has officially switched on. The service is free and available on smartphone, tablet, Apple TV, connected TVs and desktops.

Twitter, meanwhile, is to livestream weekly games from Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League, having earlier this year announced a deal with the National Football League (NFL) to stream Thursday Night Football. The social media giant also streamed live coverage from last month’s Wimbledon tournament.

Staying online, Google’s new London HQ, in King’s Cross, will include three studios that YouTube channel producers with more than 10,000 subscribers can use free of charge to create content. Edit suites and camera hire will be available and the facility is due to be completed next month.

BBC News

Ofcom has told the government it will not be ready to take on its new role as the BBC’s watchdog until next April at the earliest. The regulator is due to take over parts of regulation from BBC Trust – but this may not happen until the new charter begins.

The BBC News and World News channels face a ten per cent cut in costs after the corporation decided against merging the two operations. The ten per cent is expected to come from editorial budgets.

The BBC is beginning to use data from its MyBBC project to influence commissioning decisions, according to Phil Fearnley, director of MyBBC and homepage. More than seven million users are now signed up to the personalisation service, enabling the BBC to use data to inform content and investment decisions. Users are able to personalise news and sports coverage, and, on iPlayer, switch between different devices mid-way through watching content.

Increased personalisation was announced this month with the arrival of BBC+, a dedicated app which works from indicators such as a user’s location and what they have previously watched, read or listened to.

And finally…

• Following Theresa May’s arrival in Downing Street, Karen Bradley has replaced John Whittingdale as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
• Sky and CBS have announced an agreement to bring The Late Late Show With James Corden to the UK and Ireland for the first time on demand.
• Sky News and Sky Sports have told 46 studio staff that their jobs are to be made redundant. Thirty-one new roles, will be created, however, in areas such as “automation direction”.
• A global cost-reduction and efficiency drive at Ericsson will result in job cuts at its Broadcast and Media Services division in the UK.
• UKTV has extended its playout and VoD deals with Ericsson.
• Chris Evans stepped down from Top Gear after the show lost a third of its iPlayer audience during the series, whose finale was watched by fewer viewers than Robot Wars.
• Channel 5 is to launch My5, a new free-to-air linear channel, next month.
• EE TV have teamed up with BT Sport to announce an exclusive offer.
• Coronation Street is to expand to six episodes a week, allowing more comedy and characterisation.
• As part of a season celebrating 60 years of BBC comedy, Nicholas Lyndhurst will appear in a one-off Goodnight Sweetheart special.
• Ray Winstone has joined the cast of the new series of The Wombles. The Cockney actor will voice Tobermory.

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