The BBC will launch a Netflix-style online video service for American audiences next year, the head of the U.K.’s public broadcaster said Thursday. As Lord Hall shared, the BBC hopes to take advantage of “the demand for British programming and new digital opportunities”.
Advertisement
Hall added that proposals to carve out BBC Worldwide from the BBC didn’t make economic sense.
In a speech to the Royal Television Society in Cambridge, he said the remit of BBC Worldwide, the organisation’s commercial arm, would be expanded to increase its returns to £1.2 billion over the next five years, an increase of 15 per cent over the previous five years.
“We’re launching a new OTT (over-the-top) video service in America offering BBC fans programmes they wouldn’t otherwise get, showcasing British actors, our programme-makers and celebrating our culture”, announced Tony Hall, BBC’s Director General, according to Reuters, which quoted him speaking at the RTS Convention in Cambridge. This service will also include massive amounts of other programs that’ve never before been available to U.S. audiences outside of DVD release.
Depending on the outcome, Britain’s Conservative Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport John Whittingdale has spoken of selling off BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of BBC.
However, past year USA network AMC revealed it was taking a 49.9 percent stake in BBC America in a $200 million deal. “It is an indivisible part of the BBC”, he said. Instead, the BBC is developing a new interface using a mix of its own and third party technology. Because of this, that it brings the benefits of globalization back to the United Kingdom .
“While every major global player is creating a more integrated system, it would make no sense for us to go the other way and break up a system that is delivering returns that are essential to support public service programmes”, he said.
Advertisement
The move comes as the British government is preparing to review the budget spent on the BBC, so the studio may be exploring other revenue streams to bolster a potential fiscal deficit in 2016.
