Recent technological and market changes in the television industry appear to have transformed the corporate configurations which conduce to economic success in the production industry. As a result, many leading independent television production companies in the United Kingdom and elsewhere across Europe have become prime targets for corporate activity and many have been subject to takeover, often by the US media groups. Does this matter? Does the concept of ‘national’ television content still have any relevance in the digital era? Drawing on a multiple-case-study-based analysis of several UK-based television production companies over recent years, this article examines how corporate takeovers in the production sector may affect creative decision-making and impact on the nature and quality of television content. Against a background of increased investment interest from multinationals in indigenous players in the United Kingdom and across Europe, the analysis presented makes a timely and policy-relevant contribution to knowledge.
AbrahamD (2014) After the gold rush: sustaining creative risk in UK television for the next generation. McTaggart Lecture, Edinburgh International Television Festival, Edinburgh, August22.
BiltonCCummingsS (eds) (2014) Handbook of Management and Creativity. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
10.
CampelliM (2015) US-owned indies increase share of UK revenue. Broadcast, 26March, p. 6.
11.
CavesR (2000) Creative Industries: Contracts between Art and Commerce. London: Harvard University Press.
12.
ChalabyJ (2010) The rise of Britain’s super-indies: policy-making in the age of the global media market. International Communication Gazette72(8): 675–693.
CurranJSeatonJ (2009) Power without Responsibility: Press, Broadcasting and the Internet in Britain, 7th edn. London: Routledge.
15.
DarlowM (2004) Independents Struggle: The Programme Makers who Took on the TV Establishment. London: Quartet Books.
16.
DCMS (2013) Media Ownership and Plurality Consultation. London: Department for Culture Media & Sport.
17.
DoyleG (2002) Media Ownership: The Economics and Politics of Convergence and Concentration in the UK and European Media. London: Sage.
18.
DoyleG (2015) Why ownership pluralism still matters in a multi-platform world. In: ValckePSükösdMPicardR (eds) Media Pluralism: Concepts, Risks and Global Trends – Series: Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 297–309.
19.
DoyleG (2018) Television production: configuring for sustainability in the digital era. Media, Culture & Society40(2): 285–295.
20.
DoyleGPatersonR (2008) Public policy and independent television production in the U.K. Journal of Media Business Studies5(3): 17–33.
21.
EsserA (2016) Challenging U.S. leadership in entertainment television? The rise and sale of Europe’s international TV production groups. International Journal of Communication10: 3585–3614.
22.
FentonN (ed.) (2010) New Media, Old News: Journalism and Democracy in the Digital Age. London: Sage.
23.
FreedmanD (2008) The Politics of Media Policy. London: Polity Press.
24.
GarnhamN (1990) Capitalism and Communication: Global Culture and the Economics of Information. London: Sage.
25.
GeorgiadesS (2015) Employee Engagement in Media Management: Creativeness and Organizational Development. Basel: Springer.
26.
GiddensA (2003) Runaway World: How Globalisation Is Reshaping Our Lives. New York: Routledge.
HermanEMcChesneyR (1997) The Global Media: The New Missionaries of Corporate Capitalism. London: Cassell.
29.
HesmondhalghD (1997) Post-Punk’s attempt to democratize the music industry: the success and failure of Rough Trade. Popular Music16(3): 255–274.
30.
HesmondhalghD (2019) The Cultural Industries, 4th edn. London: Sage.
31.
IosifidisP (2010) Pluralism and concentration of media ownership: measurement issues. Javnost17(3): 5–21.
32.
JensenM (1988) The takeover controversy: analysis and evidence. In: CoffeeJRose-AckermanS (eds) Knights, Raiders and Targets: The Impact of the Hostile Takeover. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 314–354.
33.
KlimkiewiczB (2005) Media pluralism: European regulatory policies and the case of central Europe. Working paper RSCAS No. 2005/19. Florence: Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute.
34.
KuipersG (2012) The cosmopolitan tribe of television buyers: professional ethos, personal taste and cosmopolitan capital in transnational cultural mediation. European Journal of Cultural Studies15(5): 581–603.
35.
KüngL (2017) Strategic Management in the Media, 2nd edn. London: Sage.
36.
LeeD (2018) Independent Television Production in the UK: From Cottage Industry to Big Business. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
37.
LotzA (2017) Portals: A Treatise on Internet-Distributed Television. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.
38.
LundAWilligIBlach-ØrstenM (eds) (2009) Hvor Kommer Nyhederne Fra? Den Journalistiske Fødekæde I Danmark Før Og Nu [Where does the news come from? The journalistic food chain in Denmark before and now]. Århus: Ajour.
39.
McChesneyR (2008) The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas. New York: Monthly Review Press.
40.
NoamE (2011) International media concentration: TPRC 2011. Available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1979921 (accessed 24 September 2011).
41.
Ofcom (2015) Review of the operation of the television production sector. A report for the Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, Ofcom, London, 23December.
42.
Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates (2018) Pact UK Television Production Census 2018. London: Pact Press.
ParrinoJHarrisR (1999) Takeovers, management replacement, and post-acquisition operating performance: some evidence from the 1980s. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance11(4): 88–96.
