News Channel 4 buy UK Broadcast rights to DSC

[cultcross]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/news/channel-4-buys-man-a-plan-star-trek-discovery-cbs-1247605

"Britain's Channel 4 has picked up two new U.S. series from CBS Studios International, buying both Star Trek: Discovery and the comedy Man With a Plan, starring Matt LeBlanc, for their digital channel E4."

Looks like you won't need Netflix to (eventually) see Discovery in the UK.

This is a pretty big endorsement for the show, actually. ENT was not treated well by free-to-view broadcasters in the UK.

 

[TPezz]

I have heard a rumour that Disco may be picked up by Channel 10 in Australia as well, which is now owned by CBS.

Regardless of what the haters may say, Discovery has been a huge hit for CBS and easily one of their most popular flagship shows. It’s definitely a vote of confidence, and security of its future, that CBS would consider selling it to FTA networks.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

More exposure can only be a good thing, so cheers!

 

[StalwartUK]

Is this for new episodes or just reuns of previous seasons? Article doesn't really make it clear.

I would be surprised if Channel 4 had the cash to outbid say Netflix or Amazon or even Sky for new episodes unless this is something separate.

Running time/editing might be a problem though since Discovery episodes have varying runtimes and Channel 4 has commercial breaks so I wouldn't be surprised if editing was done to get them to fit into a hour long timeslot (unless they're willing to have odd slots).

 

[F. King Daniel]

Oh wow, jumping from Netflix? This is huge.

 

[Krandor]

This is a odd announcement. hard to think they could outbid netflix so makes me wonder if this is just reruns but then again I'd still expect netflix would want to keep reruns if they could. Maybe the netflix contract only gave them a 2 year exclusivity window meaning season 1 can go elsewhere.

Will be interesting to get more news about this. I shudder though because I know how the youtube-verse is going to spin this.

EDIT: So found this additional article https://tbivision.com/2019/10/15/e4-prospers-with-star-trek-discovery-man-with-a-plan/ and it specicially indicated channel 4 is buying "Linear TV rights" .

 

[Reyman]

According to a different article Season 3 will stream on Netflix

 

[Krandor]

According to a different article Season 3 will stream on Netflix

Yeah this is the "linear TV rights" which I'm going to guess right now is only season 1.

Here is the official press release https://www.cbscorporation.com/star...ween-cbs-studios-international-and-channel-4/

 

[cultcross]

Oh wow, jumping from Netflix? This is huge.

Doubt it. This will be broadcast rights, which are usually separate to streaming rights in the UK. You won't see first run DSC releases on E4.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Yeah this is the "linear TV rights" which I'm going to guess right now is only season 1.

Here is the official press release https://www.cbscorporation.com/star...ween-cbs-studios-international-and-channel-4/

Doubt it. This will be broadcast rights, which are usually separate to streaming rights in the UK. You won't see first run DSC releases on E4.

Ahhh I see. That makes a lot more sense.

The next season of Rick and Morty is premiering on the 4 streaming app over here so I thought maybe they were going even bigger with Disco.

 

[StalwartUK]

Yeah this is the "linear TV rights" which I'm going to guess right now is only season 1.

Here is the official press release https://www.cbscorporation.com/star...ween-cbs-studios-international-and-channel-4/

That makes more sense. This will be the first time Discovery has been on traditional TV outside the US/Canada correct?

I expect similar deals will end up getting made with other international broadcasters in the near future. Presumably the Netflix deal had a two year window of exclusivity (home video/on demand(?) not affected) so we may see a similar release pattern for subsequent seasons.

Bet they'll hold it back a while more from domestic syndication since they get all the monies from CBS All Access unlike international Netflix where they don't get anything apart from the initial sales of each season (correct me if I'm wrong on that). Home video was the only alternative revenue stream before now so obviously they're not too worried about losing sales at this point.

P.S. are the Canadian Space versions any different from the originals since they (presumably) have commercials and timeslots to fit into or do they just show the full ones?

 

[Ovation]

P.S. are the Canadian Space versions any different from the originals since they (presumably) have commercials and timeslots to fit into or do they just show the full ones?

They are the same. They simply adjust the runtimes for longer episodes or add commercials for the shorter than average ones.

 

[Noname Given]

So, CBS is having their cake (Streaming) and eating it too (Syndication Broadcast right in the UK).

Yep - new Star Trek was really a BAD idea for CBS that is hemorrhaging money (if you believe a few idiots on Youtube)...oh, wait...

 

[Krandor]

So, CBS is having their cake (Streaming) and eating it too (Syndication Broadcast right in the UK).

Yep - new Star Trek was really a BAD idea for CBS that is hemorrhaging money (if you believe a few idiots on Youtube)...oh, wait...

You would almost think CBS knew what they were doing. (shhh.. don't tell the youtube crowd)

 

[Cake]

This is weird. I thought Netflix generally gets exclusive rights. I guess it might be different in the UK.

 

[John Clark]

This is weird. I thought Netflix generally gets exlusive rights. I guess it might be different in the UK.

I knew one or two shows made the leap from Netflix UK to terrestrial (possibly E4 if I remember correctly, but the one I do remember was a CW show in the US) but I don't think it's common.

I was somewhat surprised to hear about Discovery, but one of my mates will be happy as he doesn't have much of the way in terms of net access. (He could have got it on dvd, but hasn't yet)

 

[Tuskin38]

This is weird. I thought Netflix generally gets exclusive rights. I guess it might be different in the UK.

I could be wrong, but TV and Streaming are considered different platforms, so different licencing.

Plus C4 is only getting the previous seasons, not the new one.

 

[Krandor]

I could be wrong, but TV and Streaming are considered different platforms, so different licencing.

Plus C4 is only getting the previous seasons, not the new one.

Right. If you read the CBS press release it specifcially says channel 4 is getting the "Linear TV rights" which is not the same as the streaming rights.

Ironically that difference is what make netflix the power they are. Companies had sold linear TV rights to shows but not streaming. In fact most companies didn't think streaming rights worth much or anything so netflix made then a cheap offer for something they didn't think was worth anything and so many took them up on it since any money was more then they were getting. Of course, now that those deals are coming up for renewal, Netflix can't get them as cheaply anymore since it is known how valuable streaming rights are.

 

[Reyman]

Here is the thing. It's been picked up by Channel Four Television Corporation and their main channel (the one with the highest ratings) is Channel 4.

Discovery however won't be shown there. It will be going to E4 which is one of their lesser channels and is aimed at 18-35 yearolds. Viewing figures on there in general are not great.

 

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