A Burning Ambition For Bigness

Michael Hedges May 7, 2018 Follow on Twitter

Times have changed in TV land. Cords are being cut. Ads are out; subscriptions in. Productions are getting bigger and, certainly, more expensive. More significant for some broadcasters, viewers see it all differently.

Three large European public broadcasters have announced a plan to tackle the Netflix problem. France Televisions, Italian public broadcaster RAI and German national public channel ZDF have created The Alliance for co-productions of “big fiction projects,” said the joint statement (May 3) from the Series Mania conference in Lille, France. “One or more SVoD (subscription video on demand) services” will be “implemented.”

“I am convinced that the viable footprint for producing, promoting and exhibiting international-level (television) series is Europe,” said France Television director-general Delphine Ernotte. Three “high end” series co-productions were mentioned: Leonardo involves the three broadcasters to commemorate artist Leonardo de Vinci, contemporary drama series Marie co-produced by France Televisions and ZDF and police drama Eternal City co-produced by RAI and France Televisions.

A year ago Mme Ernotte suggested creating “Netflix français” or “Hulu à la française” - perhaps including France-language public broadcasters in Belgium and Switzerland - to ward off the big international TV evil-doers with an “freemium” SVoD service; basic level free, good stuff for fee. That idea was effectively shot-down in early April by French prime minister Édouard Philippe, reported Le Figaro (April 6), who objected to “developing a paid service.” TV series produced through The Alliance will not be available to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime or any other SVoD services.

The Hulu VoD service, tiny compared with Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, is available only in the US. That could change when - or if - shareholder The Walt Disney Company acquires assets of 21st Century Fox, making Disney the major Hulu shareholder. Then, too, Time Warner is a minority shareholder and is sorting out a merger with giant telecom AT&T.

"We need better financed and better produced (TV) fiction in Europe," said Mme Ernotte at the Series Mania conference, quoted by German media portal DWDL.de (May 4). "None of us can handle a 'The Crown' on our own, but together we could start tomorrow. If we, the european public broadcasters, do not respond to the expectations of the audience in terms of ambitious series, then it is our own fault.”

The Crown is the historical drama series produced for Netflix by Sony Pictures Television and UK studio Left Bank Pictures, which has BBC Worldwide as a shareholder. Each episode of The Crown is estimated to cost €11.5 million (GBP10 million, USD14 million), noted the Guardian (April 17). There have been 20 episodes, ten per season, with two more seasons in process. “Of course, The Crown is wonderful,” said BBC director of policy Claire Sumner, at the Series Mania conference. “But for the budget of the first two seasons, we produce 18 seasons of different BBC series.”

Also “on board” as “privileged partners” in The Alliance are Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, Belgian/French RTBF, Belgian/Flemish VRT and Swiss/French RTS. Absent, conspicuously, are UK public broadcaster BBC as well as Scandinavian public broadcasters. The BBC has several co-productions, drama and factual, with Netflix and has its own on-demand service. Fabled for their “Nordic noir” crime drama series as well as “slow TV,” Scandinavian public broadcasters formed their own alliance - Nordvision - last October, combining production and distributions for Denmark’s public broadcaster DR, Finland’s YLE, Iceland’s RUV, Norway’s NRK and Sweden’s SVT. Netfix picked up NRKs crime drama Lilyhammer in 2014 as its “first exclusive” series and the “slow TV” icon “National Firewood Night.”

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