This document discusses several aspects of global television distribution, including how British and American TV programs appeal to international audiences. It notes that countries where English is widely spoken import many American and British shows. Formats for popular reality/game shows from the UK, like The X Factor, have been sold globally. The document also provides details on specific case studies, like how the British drama Happy Valley was distributed internationally and the American sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia was broadcast on UK channels and added to Netflix.

1. WJEC
A2 Media Studies
Distribution and Globalisation in Television

2. Global Television
 The concept of global television is vast and for our
purposes we only need to cover certain aspects of
it.
 Primarily we need to know about how USA and UK
television can appeal to global markets because
that’s where our case studies are drawn from.
 We also need to know about global appeal – how
and why British and American television
programmes appeal to global audiences.

3. Global Television
 It’s useful to understand context very briefly.
 It has been possible for live events to be broadcast
across the world, for several decades.
 The BBC has transmitted content, especially news,
globally for several decades. Its World Service has
been available in commonweath and other
countries, for example.
 British television programmes have been
successfully exported to many countries and UK
channels import television programmes from other
countries especially the USA.

4. Global Television
 Countries in which English is the second spoken
language buy American and British programmes more
than they do programmes from other countries because
of the understanding of the language.
 DVD box sets of television programmes have been
recorded with sub-titling in many languages (since the
development of digital media in the late 1980s).
 British television exports more successfully than any
other countries programming with the USA coming
second to Britain. This is due in part to the long-held
belief that Britain produces better quality television than
any other country.

5. Global Television
 The BBC sells its documentaries and dramas world-
wide in huge numbers, especially period drama.
 The UK buys sitcoms from the USA in large
numbers primarily because America was the
birthplace of the sitcom – a genre that is relatively
inexpensive to make but which is very popular with
audiences.
 Britain has also pioneered reality television and
formats for programmes like the X Factor, Who
wants to Be a Millionaire and Countdown, for
example, have been sold globally – even if they are
adapted for different cultures.

6. Global Television
 Catch-up Services, such as BBC and ITV Players
are not available outside of the UK because this
would give foreign audiences the opportunity to
watch programming that hasn’t been paid for.
 Since the rise of the internet, television streaming
has been developed but this is generally a paid-for
service, although enterprising hackers often find
ways of accessing these services without paying for
them.

7. Television Distribution
 Television distribution companies work in the same
way that film distributors do. They work as agents
between the television production companies and
the broadcast channels.
 However, this is a very simplified explanation of
what is a very complex network and there are many
variations of this model. For our purposes the above
information is sufficient, just to understand how a
television programme makes the journey from being
produced to being broadcast.

8. Our Case Studies
 First Dates was produced by Twenty Twenty (a
British Production Company)
 Twenty Twenty is owned by Warner Bros.
Television.
 The format for the programme was first developed
for Channel 4 but has since been sold to Canada,
Germany and the USA.
 It works like a franchise in that no other company
can take (or ‘steal’) the idea for the programme and
make their own version. It’s been copyrighted. It has
to be bought from Warner Bros. Television.

9. Our Case Studies
 Happy Valley was sold through BBC Worldwide
(their own distribution company) to seven
international broadcasters.
 Its international success was no doubt based on the
fact that it premiered to 7.6 million viwers and
achieved a 28.9% share – winning the slot.
 Sarah Lancashire, the star, was already famous for
her role in Coronation Street on ITV, which is also
broadcast globally. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_Street

10. Our Case Studies
 It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was made for the
FX Channel in America (Fox)
 It was broadcast on the UK FX Channel and also
onVirgin 1 (11.00 p.m.) and Bravo.
 It was added to Netflix a year after it appeared on
FX in the USA.
 All of the seasons are available on Netflix and it is
always trending there, which shows its popularity.
Netflix is a global provider of streaming films and
television series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix