Multichannel Broadcasters Increase Spending on U.K. Content

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LONDON: Multichannel broadcasters invested £623 million ($995 million) in British content in 2011, which is up 31 percent from the prior year, according to a new report.

Compiled by Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates for the Commercial Broadcasters Association (COBA), the report shows that the multichannel sector is worth £4.2 billion per annum to the U.K. economy. It has increased direct U.K. employment by more than 8 percent since 2010. The industry employs 9,000 people directly, up 8 percent since 2010, and 47,000 people indirectly.

Investment in U.K. content has increased for both first-run programs and in terms of payments for the repeat rights to U.K. shows. Investment in British children’s programming was up 77 percent on 2010, reaching nearly £30 million per year.

COBA members invest more in the U.K. than in the rest of Europe combined, the report shows. Total spend on U.K.-based channels is£2.1 billion, while spend is £287 million across Europe. COBA members are Discovery Networks, BSkyB, Chinese Channel, Fox International Channels, NBCUniversal, QVC, SBS Broadcasting Network, Sony Pictures Television, Turner Broadcasting, UKTV, Viacom International Media Networks and The Walt Disney Company.

Dee Forbes, COBA’s chair and the president and managing director of Discovery Networks Western Europe, said: “COBA’s 2012 Economic Impact Report underlines how the U.K. multichannel is helping create a mixed ecology for funding British television content, alongside the Public Service Broadcasters and the independent production sector. In addition, the report demonstrates more clearly than ever before how the multichannel sector is a key driver in establishing the U.K. as a leading European broadcasting hub.”