BBC, ITV and Channel 4 must band collectively to ‘compete’

Public service broadcasters will need to merge together if they want to ‘compete’ with the biggest international streamers, according to the former chair of ITV.

Sir Peter Bazalgette suggested BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 would have to band together if they want to rival the likes of Amazon Prime, Netflix and Disney+.

He said it wasn’t possible to go up against these sites as ‘one small streaming service’.

Asked about the future of public service broadcasting, he told the Beeb Watch podcast: ‘I am optimistic that we will have the political will and the national will to curate and facilitate public service broadcasting its values for, let’s say, years ahead.

‘And one of the ways that will happen is to have a government that believes in it. And so far, this government appears to believe in its values and what it delivers.

Sir Peter Bazalgette suggested BBC , ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 would have to band together if they want to rival the likes of Amazon Prime, Netflix and Disney+.

Research has shown that three-quarters of Britons now have at least one streaming service, while more than half have three or more (file image) 

‘So we’ll see about that. I do think, though, that there are going to have to be many, many changes.

‘One of the main changes, I think, there are going to have to be is – across the whole of Europe, actually, in terms of domestic broadcasts – many mergers.

‘Because you cannot, with one small streaming service, compete against the major international streamers.

‘You need to have a bigger commissioning pot of money to make programmes that people want to go to your service for.

‘And you need to have a bigger library that they’re going to enjoy when they’re subscribers to your service.’

He said the launch of Freely – a free new online way of getting all the public service broadcasting on one place – was ‘just the beginning’.

‘I think there need to be further mergers,’ he continued.

‘And it will be interesting to see what happens to Channel 5 now that it looks like the owners, Paramount, are selling out because I don’t think it’s going to be a priority for the new American owners.

‘It may well change hands in the next six to nine months.’

In September 2023, The BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 announced that viewers with TV licences will soon be able to browse and watch live TV channels together with on-demand content streamed straight to their smart TV via the internet (file image) 

Research has shown that three-quarters of Britons now have at least one streaming service, while more than half have three or more.

With around 12.9 million users in the UK, Amazon Prime Video is one of the most popular platforms, with a a monthly subscription that will set you back £8.99/month. 

While you can sign-up for Prime Video on its own for £5.99/month, you won’t get the other benefits that come with Prime, like one-day and same-day delivery.

Disney+ users have been paying monthly bills of £10.99 since November 2023, while Netflix users saw the price of a basic plan going up by £1/month to £7.99 at the end of last year.