Television Production in Transition: Independence, Scale and Sustainability, 2007-2017

This data collection consists of two distinct but complementary databases: Database 1, pertaining to business performance of case-study companies during 2007-2017 and Database 2, pertaining to all TV content output of case-study companies during 2007-2017. The research examined a number of key lines of investigation: (1) The relationship between, on one hand, size and corporate configuration and, on the other, the ability of production companies to maximise the value of their IPRs and to achieve sustained economic success; (2) the conditions that govern creative decision-making and content in the television production industry and how these are affected by differing corporate configurations; (3) the role of changing digital distribution technologies in encouraging consolidation and strategies of horizontal, vertical and transnational expansion in the television production industry; (4) implications for public policy and regulation. These lines of enquiry were rooted in the context of a sector where ownership of production companies has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of a diminishing number of consolidated transnational operators. The project examined the performance of 12-case study television production companies of varying ownership configurations over the period 2007-2017, a period of seismic changes in the UK production sector driven by technological innovations, policy interventions and the entry of powerful new commissioning entities to the market.