COBA Fires Back Against Criticism from Channel 4’s Abraham

LONDON: The Commercial Broadcasters Association (COBA), which represents members such as NBCUniversal, FOX International Channels and Discovery, has responded to criticism about U.S.-led consolidation from Channel 4 CEO David Abraham in his MacTaggart lecture.

Yesterday, Abraham delivered the annual MacTaggart keynote address at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. In his speech, he blasted the amount of U.S. companies buying into U.K. TV firms. He put out a call to politicians and media regulators to “act and to act decisively” to safeguard public service broadcasters. "Our free-to-air channels have become the must-have accessories, the tiny dogs of 2014, amongst U.S. media companies eager to stay ahead of each other by internationalizing their revenues, priming their distribution pipes and shielding their tax exposure," he said in his speech. "Our Independent sector, built up and nurtured over decades, is being snapped up almost wholesale and acquired by global networks and sold by private equity investors at a faster rate than tickets to a public flogging of Jeremy Clarkson. Several owners have admitted to me privately that even they, as they sell, cannot fully understand the thinking behind how their companies are valued."

COBA has responded, saying that in its view, the U.K. broadcasting sector "benefits hugely from an increasingly mixed ecology, with a wide range of players, both PSB [public service broadcasters] and non PSB, investing in different forms of domestic production. This drives innovation, creative competition and delivers increased choice for audiences. COBA cautions that intervention that damages one part of this sector in favor of another risks undermining this success and putting at risk the U.K.’s status as a global television hub. At a time when exports, inward investment and funding from a genuine range of broadcasters play a vital role in fueling U.K. production and driving growth in the wider broadcasting sector, the U.K.’s global competitiveness and ability to incentivize healthy competition is crucial."

The group pointed out that COBA members invested a record £725 million ($1.2 billion) in U.K. television production last year, according to its 2014 Census, more than Channel 4’s entire portfolio spent on originations. This growth represents the highest level of investment in U.K. content from the multichannel sector since COBA’s census started in 2009, and is up nearly 50 percent on 2009’s figure.

COBA continued, "Moreover, multichannel is the fastest growing source of television commissions from U.K. independent producers, rising 59 percent last year to a record £381 million ($632 million), according to producers body Pact. Multichannel investment is particularly important for smaller and medium-sized indies. As a proportion of total spending, the multichannel sector spent 76 percent of its investment on programs from independent producers with turnovers of less than £70 million ($116 million), compared to 54 percent at the BBC and just 38 percent at ITV, according to Pact.

"Crucially, this investment provides creative competition in a wide range of genres often underserved by PSBs, including children’s, arts, news and comedy," the group concluded.