BBC Studios has fallen well short of its targets for commissions from third-party streamers and broadcasters, and is too reliant on old brands like Doctor Who to prop up its revenue.
That’s the verdict of a detailed 43-page report on the BBC’s commercial production and distribution arm by the National Audit Office (Nao), the UK’s public sector spending watchdog.
The BBC spun off its huge production division into BBC Studios in 2016 and two years later merged it with distribution arm BBC Worldwide. A major ambition behind the move was to ensure BBC producers could go out to other streamers and broadcasters and win new business, rather than only serving the BBC’s television channels.
The Nao said the planning that went into creating BBC Studios ensured it made a “good start,” but it found that the commercial entity failed to meet forecasts in terms of the revenue it generated from third-party commissions,...
That’s the verdict of a detailed 43-page report on the BBC’s commercial production and distribution arm by the National Audit Office (Nao), the UK’s public sector spending watchdog.
The BBC spun off its huge production division into BBC Studios in 2016 and two years later merged it with distribution arm BBC Worldwide. A major ambition behind the move was to ensure BBC producers could go out to other streamers and broadcasters and win new business, rather than only serving the BBC’s television channels.
The Nao said the planning that went into creating BBC Studios ensured it made a “good start,” but it found that the commercial entity failed to meet forecasts in terms of the revenue it generated from third-party commissions,...
- 1/9/2020
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
The BBC’s streaming service, iPlayer, is going to launch in full on Sky under a new content and technology partnership between the two British broadcasters.
iPlayer will be made available as an app on Sky Q, putting it in the same company as Netflix on Sky’s internet-connected television platform. Sky Q will also host the BBC’s connected red-button service.
iPlayer is not new to Sky Q. It has been available as an integrated catch-up service, meaning it is displayed using the Sky Q menu-style and does not offer the full breadth of content available on iPlayer through other platforms.
By launching as an app, Sky Q users should get full iPlayer functionality at a time when the streaming service is extending its catch-up window from 30 days to 12 months, and getting a design refresh.
Beyond the iPlayer arrangement, the BBC is also going to make shows from its children’s channels,...
iPlayer will be made available as an app on Sky Q, putting it in the same company as Netflix on Sky’s internet-connected television platform. Sky Q will also host the BBC’s connected red-button service.
iPlayer is not new to Sky Q. It has been available as an integrated catch-up service, meaning it is displayed using the Sky Q menu-style and does not offer the full breadth of content available on iPlayer through other platforms.
By launching as an app, Sky Q users should get full iPlayer functionality at a time when the streaming service is extending its catch-up window from 30 days to 12 months, and getting a design refresh.
Beyond the iPlayer arrangement, the BBC is also going to make shows from its children’s channels,...
- 11/11/2019
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Thanks to the advocacy of composer Miriam Cutler, the TV Academy finally added a separate category for original documentary scores (series and specials) this season, and she promptly was nominated for both “Rbg” and “Love, Gilda.” It’s a very competitive field with Oscar winner “Free Solo” (Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts); “Game of Thrones: The Last Watch” (Hannah Peel); “Hostile Planet” and “Our Planet”, and Cutler couldn’t be more thrilled. “The enthusiasm for the category has been huge with all the submissions and some really good nominees,” she said. “It just opens it up.”
Cutler’s been working as an award-winning doc composer for 25 years, but up until now has never gotten close to winning a Primetime Emmy. “Look what happened: the very first time, two nominations,” she added. “I think it acknowledges how interest in docs has really [grown].”
It took many years of lobbying the TV Academy...
Cutler’s been working as an award-winning doc composer for 25 years, but up until now has never gotten close to winning a Primetime Emmy. “Look what happened: the very first time, two nominations,” she added. “I think it acknowledges how interest in docs has really [grown].”
It took many years of lobbying the TV Academy...
- 8/29/2019
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
The Banff World Media Festival kicked off with a major funding announcement as the Canadian government unveiled a Us$1.5M fund to bolster female-fronted TV businesses.
The fund has been designed to help a range of media businesses, including TV production companies, with a focus on helping women finance larger budget projects.
Andy Fillmore, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism and Member of Parliament for Halifax, revealed that it will be funding the Banff Television Festival Foundation to deliver the Banff Accelerator for Women in the Business of Media.
The investment is designed to help empower and train female entrepreneurs to build and grow their own TV businesses and is expected to help at least 50 woman grow their business and support 16 new businesses.
The money is part of the Canadian government’s Women Entrepreneurship Strategy, which is investing $2B to double the number of woman-owned businesses by 2025.
Jenn Kuzmyk,...
The fund has been designed to help a range of media businesses, including TV production companies, with a focus on helping women finance larger budget projects.
Andy Fillmore, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism and Member of Parliament for Halifax, revealed that it will be funding the Banff Television Festival Foundation to deliver the Banff Accelerator for Women in the Business of Media.
The investment is designed to help empower and train female entrepreneurs to build and grow their own TV businesses and is expected to help at least 50 woman grow their business and support 16 new businesses.
The money is part of the Canadian government’s Women Entrepreneurship Strategy, which is investing $2B to double the number of woman-owned businesses by 2025.
Jenn Kuzmyk,...
- 6/9/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
China’s CCTV has come on board David Attenborough’s BBC natural history series Seven Worlds, One Planet.
The Chinese public broadcaster is to co-produce the seven-part series, which airs later this year. It joins Chinese digital platform Tencent, which has previously been on board via its Tencent Penguin Pictures division and the two companies will broadcast simultaneously.
CCTV is the latest co-producer of the BBC series, which is produced by BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit, alongside BBC America, Germany’s Zdf and France Télévisions. The agreement was sealed at BBC Studios’ Natural History and Science Open Day in Bristol, UK.
Seven Worlds, One Planet tells the story of the planet’s spectacular wildlife and iconic landscapes. This series will reveal how each distinct continent has shaped the unique animal life found there.
Viewers will discover why Australasia is full of peculiar and venomous wildlife; why North America is a...
The Chinese public broadcaster is to co-produce the seven-part series, which airs later this year. It joins Chinese digital platform Tencent, which has previously been on board via its Tencent Penguin Pictures division and the two companies will broadcast simultaneously.
CCTV is the latest co-producer of the BBC series, which is produced by BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit, alongside BBC America, Germany’s Zdf and France Télévisions. The agreement was sealed at BBC Studios’ Natural History and Science Open Day in Bristol, UK.
Seven Worlds, One Planet tells the story of the planet’s spectacular wildlife and iconic landscapes. This series will reveal how each distinct continent has shaped the unique animal life found there.
Viewers will discover why Australasia is full of peculiar and venomous wildlife; why North America is a...
- 6/6/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
The powerful sounds of destruction and survival were integral to both HBO drama series “Game of Thrones” and Netflix docu-series “Our Planet.” Whether it was the epic warfare involving Dany’s three dragons or the insurmountable army of the undead (the Wights and White Walkers), “Game of Thrones” upped its Emmy-winning soundscape for “The Battle of Winterfell” from Episode 3’s “The Long Night.”
Meanwhile, Netflix’s docuseries leveraged the impact of climate change and the immersive strength of Dolby Atmos to deliver a wide range of dynamic sounds, including seabirds carpet-bombing the ocean, a scared baby flamingo getting left behind, and the massive ice carving of a melting glacier in Greenland for Episode 1’s “One Planet.”
“‘The Battle of Winterfell’ was an extreme challenge to come up with unique sounds that still fit the palette, given a whole new scope and different level of threat,” said “Game of Throne’s” sound editor Tim Kimmel.
Meanwhile, Netflix’s docuseries leveraged the impact of climate change and the immersive strength of Dolby Atmos to deliver a wide range of dynamic sounds, including seabirds carpet-bombing the ocean, a scared baby flamingo getting left behind, and the massive ice carving of a melting glacier in Greenland for Episode 1’s “One Planet.”
“‘The Battle of Winterfell’ was an extreme challenge to come up with unique sounds that still fit the palette, given a whole new scope and different level of threat,” said “Game of Throne’s” sound editor Tim Kimmel.
- 6/4/2019
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
For Benjamin Wallfisch (“Shazam!”), scoring Nat Geo’s “Hostile Planet” was like working on a thriller, and for Oscar winner Steven Price (“Gravity”), scoring Netflix’s “Our Planet” demanded a similar musical sense of urgency. That’s because both nature docuseries don’t shy away from the crisis of climate change on the planet’s conservation and the survival of many animal species.
“I felt very fortunate to have been approached to collaborate on a series that addresses the issue of climate change in a way that’s so powerful, visceral, and moving,” Wallfisch said. ” It’s an opportunity we have to take for the sake of our children and their children, and it was a true honor for me to be involved in a project where that message is loud and clear, and put into the context of both incredible filmmaking and also an underlying feeling of hope for the future.
“I felt very fortunate to have been approached to collaborate on a series that addresses the issue of climate change in a way that’s so powerful, visceral, and moving,” Wallfisch said. ” It’s an opportunity we have to take for the sake of our children and their children, and it was a true honor for me to be involved in a project where that message is loud and clear, and put into the context of both incredible filmmaking and also an underlying feeling of hope for the future.
- 5/21/2019
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Veteran nature cinematographer Jamie McPherson “couldn’t not be involved” with “Our Planet.” Netflix‘s eight-part documentary series narrated by David Attenborough takes viewers through some of nature’s greatest wonders, so he was intrigued by the “huge scope” of the series and “the stories they wanted to tell,” which had “conservation at the heart of it.” Watch our exclusive video interview with McPherson above.
See Sophie Lanfear interview: ‘Our Planet’
McPherson traveled around the globe for the show, and everywhere he went he was tasked with capturing the native wildlife in a unique way. For instance, in the opening episode, “One Planet,” he shot wild dogs and wildebeests in the African Serengeti and “wanted to show people what it was like to be on the hunt with a pack of wild dogs,” he explains. It’s “an amazing thing in itself. You see them running, they’re so fast...
See Sophie Lanfear interview: ‘Our Planet’
McPherson traveled around the globe for the show, and everywhere he went he was tasked with capturing the native wildlife in a unique way. For instance, in the opening episode, “One Planet,” he shot wild dogs and wildebeests in the African Serengeti and “wanted to show people what it was like to be on the hunt with a pack of wild dogs,” he explains. It’s “an amazing thing in itself. You see them running, they’re so fast...
- 4/23/2019
- by Zach Laws
- Gold Derby
Netflix has taken the unusual step of warning viewers about graphic nature scenes in the eight-part series Our Planet.
Earlier this month, the streamer released the David Attenborough-narrated docuseries about man-made threats affecting Earth.
While many of the images are stunning, others show animals doing what they do, like mating and killing smaller prey.
One scene in the “Frozen World” episode has particularly upset viewers. It shows a walrus family that’s been forced onto a small stretch of dry land, with the video team saying their habitat has been reduced by global warming and melting ice packs.
For a brief moment the walruses are shown resting at the top of a cliff. Then suddenly, some of the them lose their balance and plunge to their deaths onto the rocks below.
Netflix posted a warning on Twitter Wednesday, letting viewers know they might want to “skip” the most graphic scenes in the docuseries.
Earlier this month, the streamer released the David Attenborough-narrated docuseries about man-made threats affecting Earth.
While many of the images are stunning, others show animals doing what they do, like mating and killing smaller prey.
One scene in the “Frozen World” episode has particularly upset viewers. It shows a walrus family that’s been forced onto a small stretch of dry land, with the video team saying their habitat has been reduced by global warming and melting ice packs.
For a brief moment the walruses are shown resting at the top of a cliff. Then suddenly, some of the them lose their balance and plunge to their deaths onto the rocks below.
Netflix posted a warning on Twitter Wednesday, letting viewers know they might want to “skip” the most graphic scenes in the docuseries.
- 4/11/2019
- by Anita Bennett
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix is deeming its new series, "Our Planet," too graphic for some animal lovers, and warning them to shield their eyes during some disturbing scenes. Netflix issued a dire warning Wednesday, alerting folks to several scenes it feels might be too much for the faint of heart ... because seeing animals eat, prey, or die, is too much for some people. As you make your way through @OurPlanet, here are some moments animal lovers may want...
- 4/10/2019
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
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