Brexit


ITV position set to worsen, say analysts

UK commercial broadcaster ITV’s performance looks set to worsen as a result of a Brexit-related economic slowdown and increased costs related to next year’s football World Cup, according to an analysis by Berenberg. According to analysts Sarah Simon and Alastair Reid, ITV is likely to face a continued deterioration in the media buyer outlook for […]

Ad revenues to grow despite uncertainty

The global advertising market will grow at decent rate in the next few years despite the uncertainty created by the UK Brexit vote and US election result. Media agency ZenithOptimedia made the bullish forecasts today. “We forecast global advertising expenditure to grow 4.4% in 2017, the same rate as we estimate for 2016,” it said. […]

UK will cover Brexit TV shortfall

The UK Treasury has pledged to underwrite any shortfall resulting from content companies receiving EU funding when Brexit is enacted. There has been widespread concern and confusion among UK producers about the status of projects receiving Creative Europe funding when the UK exits the European Union, which will happen following the result of June’s national […]

Brexit: UK media has shot at global expansion

A new report for the UK government looking at Brexit challenges and opportunities says there is a major opportunity for UK media companies to expand the business they do globally if the right policies are put into place. Soon after the UK referendum vote in favour of leaving the European Union, the government and industry-backed Creative […]

Trump win ‘could spell trouble’ for US entertainment

Donald Trump’s election win earlier this week will make international sales harder for US media companies, according to influential analyst house Ovum. In an update to clients, Ovum managing director Aneil Rakity noted that entertainment content has been one of the country’s most significant exports in terms of revenue and soft power. “The ascendancy of […]

Discovery building the ‘Netflix of sports’

With Olympics and other rights in hand, Eurosport can become the ‘Netflix of sports’, according to parent company Discovery Communications. Discovery CEO and president David Zaslav told analysts that owning the linear and digital rights to all Eurosport content opened up a range of possibilities. “Because we own the sports content for both linear and […]

TBI’s Top 10 Stories of the Week

Though a combined ‘AT&Warner’ equals a distribution and content monolith, just image the scale if Apple bought Disney or Netflix. CEO Tim Cook this week said tech conglom Apple was “intensely interested” in TV content companies, comments that equated to our number one story of the week. Our MIPCOM takeaways, Netflix’s latest cash raise plans, […]

10 MIPCOM trends

MIPCOM has ended with no major dramas of the ash cloud, flood or industrial action kind, but several of the small-screen variety, with Shonda Rhimes gracing Cannes alongside actors Jenna Coleman (Victoria), Rutger Hauer (Mata Hari), Kiefer Sutherland (Designated Survivor) and the cast of Versailles. Curvy Supermodel led the unscripted charge, and on the kids front, […]

ITV cutting jobs amid concern over Brexit

ITV is cutting about 120 staff in a cost-cutting drive, amid Brexit-driven uncertainty, with the job losses coming from all areas of the UK broadcaster’s business. The cuts will made across the board and shared proportionally across the business, meaning production and distribution arm ITV Studios will be affected. The UK-listed broadcaster gave notice of […]

UK execs outline Brexit priorities

Ensuring continued freedom of movement within the European Union is the main Brexit priority for UK TV execs polled at the Royal Television Society’s London conference yesterday. The organisers of the RTS event surveyed the execs in attendance during a ‘Brexit: Bring it On’ session. Overwhelmingly, the key issue was freedom of movement, with 45% […]