Joined
by NBC Universal, broadcasters BBC and ITV are working on a UK
competitor to Netflix and Amazon Prime
The
BBC and ITV are reviving plans to stream archive shows for a
subscription and extend the commercial life of content.
A
previous attempt in 2009, codenamed Kangaroo, was nixed by UK
regulators.
A
report in The Guardian, substantiated by "multiple sources," speculates that the
broadcasters, along with NBCUniversal, are exploring a Netflix-style
subscription service.
Admittedly
in its early stages, the project is thought to focus on catalogue
shows rather than first-runs, although some original commissions may
be included.
The
BBC is under pressure to make up to £800 million ($1.14 billion) in
annual savings, and will be looking at any potential revenue to fill
the hole.
ITV
has been on a mission to reset the commercial broadcaster's
dependence on ad revenues since chief executive Adam Crozier joined
in 2010.
As
of last month, non-advertising sales account for 49 per cent of ITV’s
total revenues of £3.38 billion ($4.8 billion), up from around 30
per cent in 2010. Crozier said last month that ITV was looking to
"explore new models for content creation and distribution,
through a mix of pay channels and online."
While
both networks run free catch-up services, programming is only
available in a 30-day window after TV transmission.
BBC Store, launched in November, is a download to own service designed as a
replacement for declining sales of BBC Worldwide physical disc sales.
It has 7000 hours of shows available.
Both
broadcasters, though, licence content to Netflix (ITV does this via
ITV Studios) and will be eyeing the proven market in longtail views
on the U.S. rival—a market which they had hoped to capture with the
aborted Kangaroo.
This
venture, which was also backed by Channel 4, intended to provided a
single broadband VOD service in the UK and was blocked by the over
zealous Competition Commission on the grounds that it would be a
threat to the nascent video on demand market.
This
opened the door wide to Netflix, which subsequently capitalised on
the vacancy by launching in 2012. It now counts more than 5 million
UK subscribers.
For
this reason, and the increasing impact of other streamers like Amazon
Prime, if the BBC and ITV proceed with a new paid VOD offer it is
unlikely to run into the same competition issues. Nor would the new
service include each broadcaster’s catch-up service, which was
another concern of the regulator.
Assets
from Kangaroo were acquired by Arqiva which proceded to launch
ad-funded VOD service SeeSaw in February 2010 offering content from
BBC Worldwide, Channel 4, Channel Five, and several production
companies. This was shut down in October 2011 after failing to gain
traction.
In
the interim, the BBC and ITV retrained efforts on project Canvas
which eventually surfaced as internet connected TV platform YouView.
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