English Entertainment
FremantleMedia acquires two factual docs from Arrow Media
MUMBAI: FremantleMedia International (FMI) has extended its relationship with UK’s Arrow Media, having acquired international distribution rights to two new factual titles namely Operation Burma (2 x 60) and Nightmare on Everest (1 x 60).
FMI director of non-scripted, UK, EMEA and Asia Pacific Angela Neillis said, “It’s great to be working with the Arrow Media team again and to represent them on such diverse stories. Arrow’s trademark ability to deliver a compelling narrative, uncover new footage and gain the trust of first-hand eyewitnesses is unparalleled, and that’s why FremantleMedia International is proud to have these shows in our catalogue.”
Arrow Media joint creative director John Smithson added, “Our heritage is in unearthing fascinating stories and telling them in a way that will appeal to audiences all over the world. Operation Burma and Nightmare on Everest are a testament to this. Both reveal the truth behind two very different events, but equally take viewers on an emotional journey back in time. We are delighted to be working with Fremantle on both docs and extending our relationship further.”
Operation Burma – tells the story of world-renowned mountaineer, Joe Simpson as he embarks on a journey of discovery to learn more about the father he barely knew. Best known for his book and film adaptation, Touching the Void, Joe takes viewers on a unique 160 mile adventure in an unexplored part of the world as he undertakes this most personal of quests. Accompanied by survival expert, Ed Stafford, the first man to walk the length of the Amazon, Joe uses details recorded in his father’s secret, coded diary, to retrace the steps his father took seventy years ago as part of the second Chindit “Special Forces” campaign against the Japanese. Operation Burma is a BBC Two commission and Nick Metcalfe is executive producer.
Nightmare on Everest – tells the gripping and emotional story of two days in the spring of 2015 which saw two catastrophic earthquakes strike the Himalayas killing 18 mountaineers and trapping many more for days. Almost one year on from this momentous event which took place on 15 April, the series uses a combination of user-generated content, previously untold stories and CGI to capture the impact of the natural disaster which sparked a series of devastating avalanches on Mount Everest. It has been commissioned in the UK by Channel 4.
FremantleMedia International also represents two additional Arrow Media titles. Dogs: Their Secret Lives, which has gone on to sell into 43 territories and is a fascinating hidden-camera series that captures the extraordinary behaviour of some of the nation’s dogs and their owners; and Hitler: The Biography (w/t) a six-part documentary series which chronicles Hitler from childhood to his downfall and has several pending deals across global territories.
UK: The aerial is losing its grip. As broadband becomes the default way Britons watch television, the UK is edging towards a decisive, and divisive, question: should Freeview be switched off by 2034? The issue, highlighted in reporting by The Guardian, has exposed deep fault lines over access, affordability and the future of public service broadcasting.
For nearly 25 years, Freeview has delivered free-to-air television from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to almost every corner of the country. Even now, it remains the UK’s largest TV platform, used in more than 16m homes and on around 10m main household sets. Yet the same broadcasters that built it are now pressing for its closure within eight years.
Their case rests on a structural shift in viewing. Smart TVs, superfast broadband and the Netflix-led streaming boom have pulled audiences online. Advertising economics have followed. By 2034, the number of homes using Freeview as their main TV set is forecast to fall from a peak of almost 12m in 2012 to fewer than 2m, making digital terrestrial television, or DTT, increasingly costly to sustain.
But critics say the rush to switch off risks abandoning those least able, or least willing, to move online.
“I don’t want to be choosing apps and making new accounts,” says Lynette, 80, from Kent. “It is time-consuming and irritating trying to work out where I want to be, to remember the sequence of clicks, with hieroglyphics instead of words. If I make a mistake I have to start again.”
Lynette is among nearly 100,000 people who have signed a “save Freeview” petition launched by campaign group Silver Voices. She fears the government is about to “take [Freeview] away from me and others who either don’t like, can’t afford, or can’t use online versions”.
Official figures underline the fault lines. A report commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport estimates that by 2035, 1.8m homes will still depend on Freeview. Ofcom’s analysis shows those households are more likely to be disabled, older, living alone, female, and based in the north of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Freeview is owned by the public service broadcasters through Everyone TV, which also operates Freesat and the newer streaming platform Freely. After two years of review, DCMS is expected to set out its position soon, drawing on three options proposed by Ofcom: a costly upgrade of Freeview’s ageing technology; maintaining a bare-bones service with only core PSB channels; or a full switch-off during the 2030s.
The broadcasters have rallied behind the third option. They argue that 2034 is the logical cut-off, when transmission contracts with network operator Arqiva expire. By then, they say, the cost of broadcasting to a dwindling audience will far outweigh the returns from TV advertising.
Ofcom agrees a crunch point is approaching. In July, the regulator warned of a “tipping point” within the next few years, after which it will no longer be commercially viable for broadcasters to carry the costs of DTT.
Others see risks beyond economics. Questions remain over whether internet TV can reliably deliver emergency broadcasts, such as the daily Covid updates, in the way that universally available DTT can. The UK radio industry has also warned that an internet-only future for TV could push up distribution costs and force some radio stations off air if PSBs no longer share Arqiva’s mast network.
“It is a political hot potato,” says Dennis Reed, founder of Silver Voices, who says he has “dissociated” his organisation from the government’s stakeholder forum, which he believes is “heavily biased” towards streaming.
The Future TV Taskforce, representing the PSBs, counters that moving online could “close the digital divide once and for all”. “We want to be able to plan to ensure that no one is left behind,” a spokesperson says, adding that rising DTT costs could otherwise mean cuts to programme budgets.
The numbers show the scale of the challenge. Of the 1.8m Freeview-dependent homes projected for 2035, around 1.1m are expected to have broadband but not use it for TV. The remaining 700,000 are forecast to lack a broadband connection altogether.
Veterans of the analogue switch-off, completed in 2012 after 76 years, recall similar fears of “TV blackout chaos”. Around 6 per cent of households were labelled “digital refuseniks”, yet a targeted help scheme and a national campaign, fronted by a robot called Digit Al voiced by Matt Lucas, delivered a largely smooth transition.
This time, the BBC is less keen to foot the bill. Tim Davie, the outgoing director general, has said the corporation should not fund a comparable support programme for a Freeview switch-off.
Research for Sky by Oliver & Ohlbaum suggests that with early awareness campaigns and digital inclusion measures, only about 330,000 households would ultimately need hands-on help ahead of a 2034 shutdown.
Meanwhile, viewing habits continue to fragment. Audience body Barb says 7 per cent of UK households no longer own a TV set, choosing to watch on other devices. In December, YouTube overtook the BBC’s combined channels in total UK viewing across TVs, smartphones and tablets, albeit measured at a minimum of three minutes.
That shift may accelerate. YouTube has recently blocked Barb and its partner Kantar from accessing viewing session data, limiting transparency just as online platforms consolidate power.
“When the government chose British Satellite Broadcasting as the ‘winner’ in satellite TV it was Rupert Murdoch’s Sky instead that came out on top,” says a senior TV executive quoted by The Guardian. “There already is such an outsider ready to be the winner in the transition to internet TV; it is YouTube.”
Freeview’s future now hangs on a familiar British dilemma: modernise fast and risk exclusion, or protect universality and pay the price. Either way, the aerial’s days as king of the living room look numbered.
