BBC Director General Tim Davie: Licence Fee Deal Creates $400M Shortfall In Final Year; Figure Is “Disappointing” But Lower Than Previous Estimates

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorWith Oscar nominations just around the corner — they’ll be announced on Feb. 8 — pundits wonder if Academy members will embrace a superhero movie by giving a best picture nod to “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”Variety’s film awards editor Clayton Davis wrote in a Dec.

Manori Ravindran International EditorU.K. Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries opened the virtual Creative Coalition Festival on Tuesday with a rallying speech about the creative industries, but stayed quiet on all matters relating to the future of broadcasters Channel 4 and the BBC.In what appeared to be a pre-recorded segment, Dorries talked up the music sector as examples of the U.K.’s “creative powerhouse,” referencing Coldplay and Adele’s new albums as well as Dua Lipa’s hit song “Levitating.” “It’s our writers and musicians and designers and composers who are the most celebrated around the world today and do the most to sell the U.K.

EastEnders bosses have responded to the schedule shake-up for the hit ITV soaps, Coronation Street and Emmerdale. In January, ITV confirmed that it would be moving the two hit soaps to a new air time that would conflict with the beloved BBC series. The ITV soaps are moving their scheduled times so Emmerdale will now air at 7.30pm every day, rather than 7pm.

The UK government has forged a £21M ($28M) Global Screen Fund to help build the nation’s reputation for independent film internationally.

BBC over Netflix last year, according to a report.A study from media analyst Enders Analysis (via Deadline), which set out to research Netflix’s growth in the country over the last decade, found the proportion of total UK viewing to Netflix was seven per cent in 2021, compared to 22 per cent for the BBC.ITV and YouTube beat Netflix too with 16 and 14 per cent respectively. Channel 4 was level with the streaming giant at seven per cent.According to the report, Netflix’s proportion of UK viewing has risen over the past decade, although it remained broadly flat last year.

EXCLUSIVE: “Bringing BBC Three back to linear TV” would have been far down former BBC Director General Tony Hall’s list of predictions for his successor’s first major piece of business.

With the new documentary “2nd Chance,” director Ramin Bahrani brings a story to the screen that seems almost too outlandish to be true — a self-made tycoon who invented the bulletproof vest in 1969, and used himself for target practice.The film, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, tells the eccentric story of inventor Richard Davis, including anecdotes about how he proved that the vest worked by shooting himself at point blank range almost 200 times, and went on to launch body armor company Second Chance. Bahrani said that while the wild stories embedded in Davis’ life made for a lively documentary, the inventor was still an “unreliable narrator” of sorts.

Nicola Sturgeon has said she is "determined" that Scots will be able to vote at a second referendum on independence by the end of next year.

Tory defector Christian Wakeford says Boris Johnson is on borrowed time as a half-dozen leadership contenders vie to do the dirty on the PM.

Netflix stock, which went into today’s Nasdaq session already down 16% in 2022 to date, is getting blitzed in mid-day trading.

Afternoon subscribers, Max Goldbart here. It’s been a busy week but International Insider has you covered. Read on for in-depth analysis of the biggest international headlines of the week.

BBC director general Tim Davie has said that the freezing of TV licence fees will cost the broadcaster £285million.Davie said the new settlement, set to stop the cost of licence fees increasing for the next two years, “will affect our frontline output” and prompt cuts across services and content.Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said of the decision yesterday (January 17): “The BBC must support people at a time when their finances are strained, make savings and efficiencies, and use the billions in public funding it receives to deliver for viewers, listeners and users.”“Inevitably, if you don’t have £285million, you will get less services and less programmes,” Davie subsequently told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday (January 18).“Now, I still think the BBC can offer extraordinary value for £13 a month.”Regarding potential cuts to accommodate for a stagnating licence fee until 2024, Davie continued: “We go first to those cuts where we don’t affect our output…We are not at the place where you can never make cuts, but this will affect our frontline output. There’s no doubt about that.”He went on to acknowledge the BBC “[needs] to reshape ourselves for a digital age”.“The media market is moving extremely rapidly,” he added.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has confirmed the Conservatives ' snap plan to abolish the BBC licence fee, in what was branded as a "pathetic" attack on journalism.