International Insider: Unpacking The BritBox Deal; London TV Screenings Round-Up; Disney’s India Pact
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Good afternoon Insiders, Jesse Whittock with you in London, where the TV world has decamped this week for a series of screenings. Read on, and sign up for the newsletter here.
Unpacking The BritBox Deal & London TV Screenings
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Beeb bags BritBox: As we expected, the big news in international entertainment came out of London this week. However, while we were assuming the biggest deal would be a program package emerging from the London TV Screenings (more on that below), BBC Studios and ITV surprised everyone this morning with some tasty M&A. A regulatory statement to the London Stock Exchange revealed the BBC’s commercial arm had paid £255M ($322M) to acquire ITV’s 50% shareholding in their joint venture, best-of-British streamer BritBox International. This, we hear, is the biggest single transaction in BBC Studios’ history and marks a new direction for the seven-year old streamer, which is profitable and has around 3.75 million subscribers across eight territories, including the U.S. and Canada. A few more facts: BritBox International’s much-liked CEO, Reemah Sakaan, will exit following the deal. She was based at ITV, and BBC Studios announced “new leadership” has been identified. Sakaan will remain with BritBox through a transition period, and it sounds like a respectful parting of ways. “Reemah did a great job with BritBox and she’ll be back before you know it,” said one source close to the streamer. Producers immediately reached out to us concerned that her departure could lead to a drop in commissions — with UK networks cash-strapped many have found strong support from BritBox International’s originals team in the recent past. Just last month, we revealed BritBox was co-producing Agatha Christie series Towards Zero, following on from the recent Murder is Easy, which sold this week in London. BBC Studios stressed there will be no changes to this strategy. ITV, which has been battling with a brutal TV ad market and wider economic pressures, said the cash will be used for a share buyback scheme, providing a windfall for shareholders. The commercial broadcaster will now double down on its streamer, ITVX, and ITV Studios (and don’t forget that it confusingly owns all the shares in BritBox UK). The deal is neatly reflective of how the BBC is looking globally for commercial growth while ITV is keen to retrench in the UK with its local streamer.
Screen there, done that: Now back to the London TV Screenings, which returned this week to cement its place as a really significant date in the international telly calendar. Sandwiched between the Miami conferences of late January and France’s one-two punch of Series Mania and MIPTV, the screenings bring hundreds of buyers to Deadline International’s heartland, Soho. And the events proved their worth, as the likes of ITV Studios, Warner Bros International Television, Fox Entertainment Global, Banijay and Fremantle hosted client bases and presented dozens of shows — finished and early stage — while laying on some rather posh cocktails. One international buyer summed up the screenings to me by saying, “It’s where we go to shop these days.” No wonder MIPTV looks set to transfer from Cannes to London next year. I dipped into the Warner screening yesterday at BAFTA near Piccadilly Circus, where around 12 formats were on show. Buyers noted how there are numerous shows on offer that pull at the heart strings, with one attendee even shedding a small tear at My Family Mystery, a sweet series from New Zealand in which hosts, researchers and experts attempt to solve family mysteries using a single clue. It would be reasonable to suggest this type of entertainment, with its lower price point than scripted, could have a big 2024, but there were still plenty of new dramas on show. At an ITV Studios press breakfast on Wednesday, sales boss Ruth Berry told the room: “We know the market is hard, but we are still launching new shows, and despite the headwinds we are pushing through.” Events wind down today, with Fremantle the last to screen (though NBCUniversal and Fifth Season with its $1B-worth of Apple projects will be doing bespoke viewings at their respective offices for the next few hours). Over the weekend, execs will begin the journey home, many invigorated by the content. Despite the gloomy financial outlook, the London TV Screenings have been a reminder that good programs win through.
The deals: It’s been clear deals are getting done here in London, and several news lines emerged. Max and I scooped the biggest news of the week, as France’s Newen Connect struck a development and funding deal with Jude Law’s Riff Raff Entertainment. Newen will fund a slate of projects, including political thriller Foreign Desk, starring Law himself. The BBC began the week by unveiling numerous scripted, unscripted and formats deals, and Paramount Global’s Lisa Kramer revealed a branded block on African pay-TV service Multichoice’s platform. Germany’s Beta sold a slew of dramas to Australia’s SBS, and royal drama Maxima was shopped into several territories. Sony placed Dragon’s Den in Bangladesh, marking the format’s 50th remake, while Sky bought UK rights to true-crime drama Inheritance: The Jersey Murders from Propagate, which was in town despite not officially hosting a screening. And breathe. Full coverage here.
Disney’s India Play
Change in Asia: Disney’s troubles in India have been headline news for a good while now. The Mouse House’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets in 2019 gave it control of the Hotstar streaming platform, just as streaming exploded in India. Then, following the content boom over the pandemic, Disney+ launched and the service became the market-leading Disney+ Hotstar. However, things fell away as the likes of JioCinema began to chip away at Hotstar’s lead. Furthermore, as Disney’s Burbank bosses decided to switch from subscriber chasing to profit making, attractive rights packages such as the Indian Premier League cricket were given up and subs numbers dwindled. When it emerged in December that Disney would look to merge with Reliance Industries, which owns both JioCinema and the Viacom18 channel brand, it didn’t come as much of a shock. This week, the deal materialized, with both sides describing it as a “merger.” However, the binding agreement appears to give Reliance control, both in terms of equity and executives. Nita Ambani, the wife of Reliance’s mega wealthy owner, Mukesh Ambani, is to become chair of the operation — highlighting how the power structure is truly forming. Uday Shankar, a former Disney India exec who is now in business with James Murdoch, will be vice-chair. Disappointingly for Disney’s owners, the merged business is valued at around $8.5B — about half the price Disney India once valued itself at… not only that, but Disney disclosed in an SEC filing that the venture will incur a non-cash pre-tax impairment of between $1.8B and $2.4B, mainly related to a write-down of its Star India assets. Ouch. With Sony recently failing to merge with Zee Entertainment Enterprises, this is a reminder of how hard it is to operate in India’s varied and often confusing market. More details on the Disney-Reliance deal here.
Drama Producers Pivot
Winds of change: Max’s London TV Screenings reporting took him to a new trend in drama production: big name producers such as The Crown maker Left Bank Pictures and Doctor Who co-producer Bad Wolf have begun developing slates of significantly lower-budget scripted series in response to the economic climate. Multiple producers told us they are adopting similar approaches, as networks and streamers struggle to finance the multi-million dollar series of yesteryear. Bad Wolf boss Jane Tranter said the Industry, His Dark Materials and Dope Girls producer is developing “projects on a different budget scale to those we have been used to doing,” while Left Bank’s Andy Harries pointed to the lack of funding in the UK drama market. He said “finding the money” is the big challenge right now, as British broadcaster budgets do not allow for projects with “any ambition” and big U.S. players aren’t filling the hefty gaps. The streaming boom is clearly over, and local budgets have remained flat amidst soaring inflation. It’s a lot to think about for a production sector struggling to stay afloat amid economic headwinds and a TV ad market that remains seriously inhibited. More on drama trends here.
This is Dope: On a related note, read more about how Bad Wolf has adopted a U.S.-style pilot strategy to help parent Sony Pictures Television sell buzzy BBC crime drama Dope Girls. Buyers at the London TV Screenings were treated to an extended sizzle, and a full episode will be complete by the LA Screenings in May — well before the rest of the show is in the can. “This is something I’ve never done before,” Tranter told us.
Mania Begins To Spread
Peak… IP?: With the London TV Screenings now over, the television world looks next to Series Mania. The event, held in Lille, France, next month, has become a key co-production date, with producers and networks from around the world flying in to discuss how they get their drama shows made. Stewart wrote a duo of pieces previewing the 2024 event, with Series Mania General Director Laurence Herszberg telling him that while “we know that we are not at peak TV anymore… it’s about producing less, but producing better.” In a separate article, Series Mania Forum Director Francesco Capurro talked up what jokers around the TV world are calling the “era of peak intellectual property,” as producers search furiously for recognizable concepts to develop. As such, the Forum is launching an IP market, with matchmaker meetings with agents, podcasters, publishers and IP owners lined up. Not only that, but Patricia Arquette has been named Series Mania’s Guest of Honor.
Baz At The ‘Sky’s Edge’
Sky’s the limit: As sure as night follows day, our roving International Editor-At-Large Baz Bamigboye brings you scoop after scoop from theater land. This week, he revealed that BBC commissioning execs have attended the award-winning musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge, which opened at the Gillian Lynne Theatre on Wednesday night after a sold-out season at the National Theatre. Last year, Baz reported Studiocanal’s Red Production Company was developing the musical into a TV drama and his sources are now saying a deal with the BBC is looking very likely. For an entertaining read (what else do you get from Baz?), click here. You’ll even find reference to Bob Geldof’s favored choice of swear word.
The Essentials
🌶️ Hot One: Cannes Film Festival is on the horizon, and Andreas and our film team have begun the process of identifying which movies are heading to France.
🌶️ Another: The BBC’s Esio Trot is finally going into production after a three-year delay, per Jake.
🌶️ Fiery: Stewart revealed Luis Gerardo Méndez will direct and star in Netflix Mexico boyband comeback movie Technoboys.
📹 Casting: Staz Nair is replacing Sacha Dhawan in BBC crime thriller Virdee, Max revealed.
🗣️ Interview #1: The publicity-shy Blue Ant Media CEO Michael MacMillan gave me a rare interview.
🗣️ Interview: Judith Godrèche talked about the scars of sexual violence and Harvey Weinstein in an important read from Mel.
👨 New job: Disney+ EMEA General Manager Luke Bradley-Jones is to become the President of The Economist.
🖋️ Pen to paper: Heartstopper breakout Sebastian Croft signed with Anonymous Content.
⬅️ ➡️ All change: Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani’s new indie will have backing from their former employer, Fremantle, while Sonia Rovia and Annamaria Morelli will replace them at the old production houses.
🧾 Tax credit: Ghana has introduced a film tax incentive, as Zac revealed yesterday.
🍿 Box office: Saudi indie thriller Night Courier topped 600,000 admissions, per Mel’s exclusive.
🏪 New shop: Former HBO Europe execs Johnathan Young and Ioanina Pavel launched indie May One in Romania.
🕯️ RIP: Dave Myers, one half of the much-loved cookery and motor vehicles presenting duo The Hairy Bikers, has died aged 66.
👀 First look: At epic fantasy drama series Hagen.
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