Advanced Television: Channel 4 streaming minutes up 25% in 2024

Story from Advanced Television:

Channel 4’s streaming growth continues, with minutes viewed up 25 per cent (to 42 billion) between January and August 2024.

Deadline: More Layoffs Hit BBC Kids Department As CBBC Production Revamped

Story from Deadline:

Another round of layoffs has hit the BBC Children’s & Education department after a revamp to production of the CBBC Studio.

Advanced Television: BBFC, Prime Video new self-rating partnership

Story from Advanced Television:

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has announced a new self-rating agreement with Prime Video, building on the existing relationship between the two organisations, which dates back to 2015.

Cable Forum: Virgin Media added 'DAZN' app to TV360 and Virgin Media stream boxes

Cable Forum is reporting that Virgin Media O2 has added 'DAZN app' to TV360 boxes.

Deadline: Former BBC Chair Richard Sharp Urges Tim Davie To Make “Tough” Decisions In Order To Spend More On Content

Story from Deadline:

Former BBC Chair Richard Sharp, who resigned in disgrace over his role in the Boris Johnson loan affair, has urged Director General Tim Davie to make tough decisions in order to give his content department more money.

Hollywood Reporter; ITV CEO on Planned U.K. Ban on Junk Food TV Ads for Children: “We’re Going to Have to Mitigate It”

Story from Hollywood Reporter:

U.K. TV giant ITV got only 45 percent of its total revenue from non-advertising sources in 2016, while this year it will get 60 percent from production and digital businesses, CEO Carolyn McCall told an industry conference in London on Tuesday.

Deadline; Alex Mahon: Channel 4 Is Starting To “Buy Bigger Again” After “Horrendous” Time For UK Producers

Story from Deadline:

Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon has said that the UK broadcaster is back in the market for big ideas after acknowledging that cuts have been “horrendous” for producers.

Deadline; “The Era Of Government Stoking Culture Wars Is Over”: New UK Culture Secretary Promises End To “Divisive Decade”

Story from Deadline:

“The era of government stoking culture wars is over,” promised new UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy this afternoon as she delivered her first keynote in the role.

Variety; BBC Boss Tim Davie Says Huw Edwards Won’t Work for Broadcaster Again: ‘He’s Been Convicted of Appalling Crimes’

Story from Variety:

BBC boss Tim Davie has said he can’t ever see disgraced ex anchor Huw Edwards working for the BBC again.

Hollywood Reporter: Warner Bros. Discovery Exec Looks to 2026 Max Launch in UK

Story from Hollywood Reporter:

Everyone agrees: the U.K. is and will remain a production hotspot.

Advanced Television: Rawcliffe named ITV Chief People Officer

Story from Advanced Television:

Ade Rawcliffe has been named ITV Chief People Officer effective from January 2025.

Broadband TV News: BBC iPlayer is fastest growing VOD platform in the UK

Story from Broadband TV News:

BBC iPlayer has pilled ahead of its competitors with growth that is twice that of Netflix, three times ITVX and four times that of Channel 4.

Advanced Television: New 10-year PSB licences for ITV, Channel 5

Story from Advanced Television:

UK broadcast regulator Ofcom has published the renewed broadcast licences for Channel 3 (ITV/STV) and Channel 5, securing public service broadcasting on these channels for a further ten years.

Deadline: UK TV Diversity Monitoring Project To Introduce Questions On Jewish & Muslim Identity For First Time

Story from Deadline:

The UK TV diversity monitoring project is to introduce questions around Jewish and Muslim identity for the first time, as Diamond‘s seventh report reveals minor diversity gains.

Global Radio rebrand GOLD

Virgin Media has rebranded Global Radio's ''Gold'' as ''Gold Radio.'' on Virgin UK Channel 923.

Advanced Television: Channel 4 Paralympics watched by 20m

Story from Advanced Television:

Channel 4 has reported that its coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games reached 20 million viewers across linear and streaming – one third (33 per cent) of the total TV population – and helped the channel to its biggest audience share in 12 years.

Advanced Television: ITV captioning services partnership with AI-Media

Story from Advanced Television:

AI-Media, a specialist in AI-powered captioning and translation services, has announced a partnership with ITV.

Broadband TV News: Pluto TV ads suite of FAST news channels

Story from Broadband TV News:

Pluto TV is launching a collection of FAST channel focusing on global and local news coverage.

Deadline: UK Broadcasting Chiefs Branded “Callous” & “Cloth-Eared” By Pact Boss For Publicly Proclaiming Death Of Mid-Budget Shows

Story from Deadline:

UK broadcasting bosses have been branded “callous” and “cloth-eared” by the head of Pact for the way in which they publicly proclaimed the death of the mid-budget programing market.

Deadline: Tim Davie Questions Whether BBC Could Have Been More “Muscular” On Huw Edwards $260,000 Payment

Story from Deadline:

Huw Edwards‘ sentencing hearing is less than a week away and BBC boss Tim Davie has been questioning whether the corporation did the right thing in paying him nearly £200,000 ($260,000) between his arrest in November 2023 and his leaving several months later.