Streamers such as Netflix and Amazon took a “throwing money around like confetti” attitude to their productions (exemplified by Apple TV+ paying a reported $15 million per episode for The Morning Show), and the wave from such streamer extravagance severely dampened and affected long-established broadcasters. So much so that channels and production companies in such countries as France and Germany approached streamers about the situation, and resulted in Netflix now paying a levy (five percent of all subscriber revenue in those countries) to the production community. Still, France, Italy, Spain, and the U.K. are among those seeing drops in TV content exports, according to the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT), the U.K. government-founded trade association for independent content producers.
Even the introduction of the Independent Film Tax Credit following a two-year campaign by PACT (which was set up in 1991, is run by those involved in independent production, and works for everyone in the independent production community) and others in the sector didn’t sufficiently help everyone. In fact, PACT noted that while scripted drama, “continued to dominate the genre share of exports,” they “fell to 43 percent from 49 percent in the previous year,” and that overall, “U.K. producer revenues “have fallen by £400 million [U.S. $494 million].” The situation wasn’t helped by a pull-back in co-productions with U.S. streamers and was exacerbated by drastic BBC funding cuts and smaller international sales advances, among other things.
A four-part government hearing concluded on January 28, 2025 (the results of which are expected to be published within the next three months). While no one is said to know everything that was discussed, it is known that production entities and public broadcast outlets have been hit by streamer extravagance when it comes to spending costs on public broadcasting services.
As a direct result of all of this excess, several highly respected production entities have closed down In fact, throughout 2024 the phrase, “Survive ’til ’25,” was often heard in British production circles.
By way of example, Peter Kosminsky wanted to follow-up his critically acclaimed and award-winning BBC hit Wolf Hall with Wolf Hall: Mirror and The Light, which had received a greenlight commission from the BBC. However, because of the financial cutbacks and the lack of co-production interest — except from PBS in the U.S. — Kosminsky could not get the much-needed remaining money he needed to make the production. Seeing no other way, he decided to forge ahead on his own. Ultimately, the series got made and aired on the BBC last year. It’s currently airing in the U.S. on PBS.
Whether or not the U.K. receives approval to institute a levy on the streamers is now in the hands of the government and the streamers. Whatever the decision will be, it is expected that this is not the last time the industry is going to hear about such levies anywhere else in the world. (Mike Reynolds)
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