Quote:
Originally Posted by Horizon
If Amazon somehow got the rights to stream Coronation Street live, I'd imagine Amazon would get a "few" new subscribers. Of course not everyone likes soaps or has internet access, but millions do and would go when they can get their favourite show. If Amazon then got the rights to Emerdale and Ex Factor and other top ITV shows, that would be the end of ITV. The broadcaster is not important, it is content that is king and the people who are behind the content, especially the writers/creators of it.
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I expect things will eventually shift towards portals where writers and actors come together with funding via p2p lending bypassing traditional broadcasters including the current new kids on the block like Netflix and Amazon. And their shows will be put on these portals for everyone to see.
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Except of course that ITV owns Coronation Street and Emmerdale, and isn't ever going to sell them.
Besides that, the idea of writers and actors collaborating then pitching to distributors already happens. You can see it every time one of them has an executive producer credit on the closing titles. Private production companies pitch to distributors all the time. Endemol devises game shows, sells their formats round the world and re-produces them for each customer. Shine Group and its subsidiaries create all kinds of drama (Spooks, Ashes to Ashes, Broadchurch to name but three) and pitches the ideas to distributors. The thing is, the distributors are always, with extremely few exceptions, TV broadcasters. The production companies want this, because the broadcasters have the big audiences and therefore the big budgets.
Showing a programme at 7pm on a midwinter Saturday evening, when almost the entire country is sitting in front of the TV and, thanks to its habit of watching linear TV throughout the week, has been suitably primed to expect fireworks, is always, always going to result in a big, reliable return on the money invested in its production. Putting it on a VOD platform on the other hand, is as good as hiding it from all but the most ardent fan. I would love to know how many views Ripper Street has had, for example, having been ditched by the BBC and then revived by Amazon as a publicity stunt for its Prime instant video service. I bet it won't be nearly as many as it gets when the BBC broadcasts it later this year.