BBC 'wants to block Netflix buying shows for five years'

BBC ‘wants to block Netflix buying shows for five years’ to tackle threat from streaming giants

• Streaming giants could be blocked from buying BBC shows for five years
• It would include competitors such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video 
• It is claimed the BBC hopes to tackle the growing threat from streaming giants 

Streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video could be blocked from buying BBC shows for five years, it has been claimed.

Trade body Pact – which represents independent production companies – suggested the corporation wants to increase its exclusivity period over shows from 18 months to five years.

It is claimed the BBC hopes to tackle the growing threat from streaming giants. Netflix carries a broad range of BBC shows including dramas such as Bodyguard, Peaky Blinders, Dracula, The Salisbury Poisonings and Informer. It also airs older episodes of Line of Duty.

But for years there have been questions about why the broadcaster supplies content which helps subscription services draw viewers from the BBC. 

Birmingham period gangster saga Peaky Blinders was a BBC smash hitwhen it first aired in 2013 and is now on its sixth season

The Salisbury Poisonings was a three-part BBC dramatization of the events surrounding the poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter

Dracula was a three-part  drama-horror television serial developed by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, based on the 1897 novel of the same name by Bram Stoker. It premiered on January 1, 2020

Line of Duty is a long-running BBC cop and corruption drama, is now on its sixth series

According to trade magazine Broadcast, producers’ alliance Pact told its members the BBC is looking to end the secondary window for sales of independent commissions, currently standing at 18 months.

The corporation said last night it ‘is not introducing a ban, we are looking at our secondary sales policy in the UK’. 

The BBC said: ‘The SVoDs [subscription video on demand services] are and remain important partners to the BBC.’

It is understood that following Pact’s concerns, the BBC agreed not to implement the plans until further discussions have taken place.

It came as the BBC’s director-general, Tim Davie, yesterday offered to work with others in deciding the future of the corporation’s funding, with the licence fee expected to be axed in the long term.

Speaking to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) he said the corporation was ‘open-minded’ about the future of the fee. 

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