The Media Club · 21 March 2025 · 38 min
This Podcast Was Shot In One Take*
- UK TV Crisis
- Streaming Platforms
- Secondary Rights
- Voice of America Closure
- BBC World Service
- Adolescence (Netflix)
- Broadcast Press Guild Awards
- Branded Content
In this episode of The Media Club, host Matt Deegan is joined by Iain Coyle, former UKTV commissioner and now boss of indie Square Pears, and Kate Bulkley, a media business journalist. They discuss the ongoing crisis in British television, including the impact of streaming platforms, the debate over secondary rights, and the challenges of funding public service broadcasting. The conversation also covers the closure of Voice of America under the Trump administration and its implications for Western media and the BBC World Service. The episode includes a segment on the making of Netflix's 'Adolescence', a one-take drama, and a recap of the Broadcast Press Guild Awards winners. The show ends with a media quiz themed around Jeopardy.
Key takeaways
- Iain Coyle, former UKTV commissioner, has launched indie Square Pears to navigate the TV crisis by moving into online and branded content.
- Kate Bulkley and Iain Coyle discussed the closure of Voice of America under Trump, with concerns about its impact on Western media and the potential for the BBC World Service to fill the gap.
- Netflix's 'Adolescence' was praised for its one-take filming technique, with each episode taking at least 10 takes over five days.
- The Broadcast Press Guild Awards winners included 'Mr Bates vs The Post Office' for Best Drama, 'Gavin and Stacey: The Finale' for Best Comedy, and Jane Featherstone receiving the Harvey Lee Award.
- The episode highlighted the debate over secondary rights bundling, which could affect how UK indies monetise their content.
In this episode
- Intro and Guest Introductions
- TV Crisis Discussion
- Voice of America and World Service
- Ad Break
- News Round-up
- Adolescence Deep Dive
- Broadcast Press Guild Awards
- Square Pears and Branded Content
- Media Quiz: Jeopardy
- Outro
Notable quotes
“It's a different business. I mean, we're trying to navigate the collapse of television by moving a little bit more into online and moving into branded space.”
“I just find it galling when the Murdochs, or rather her father, has spent decades trying to destroy British broadcasting in his own image to then for them to start saying, oh, yes, it's really, really awful.”
“I think the big one right now is this bundling of rights of primary and secondary rights. This is a huge issue.”
“I think we have to look at, I mean, the landscape's completely changed, and I think they almost need to retract and sit down together, BBC, Channel 4, and ITV, and work out some sort of deal whether they can either work together or a loosening of handcuffs.”
“I mean, it's very scary. So there's a lot going on in terms of, let's say, suppression of the media in general to support what I would call, without pulling any punches, the fascist overtake of America.”
“I think it's one of the last bastions of British pride, I think.”
Discussed
BBC · Netflix · Voice of America · Square Pears
Mentioned or recommended
- Adolescence
- Broadcast Press Guild Awards
- Jeopardy UK
- River City
- Mr Bates vs The Post Office
- Gavin and Stacey: The Finale
- Baby Reindeer
- Rivals
- Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams on Tour
- Black Doves
- Squid Game
