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I'd add that while I agree that the BBC could and perhaps should be doing a lot more to make profit from BBC Worldwide, I think the concern there is that too much focus on that could start to bring in unwanted incentives, such as prioritising the demands of foreign viewers over domestic, or even advertisers


To some extent, that has already happened. Strictly is now in almost every major market under a different name (Dancing with the Stars, etc.), Attenborough nature-docs are widely revered and incredibly popular, and Top Gear got into almost every country except the US (which got its own version), until a series of controversies (first Hammond almost dying, then Clarkson punching a producer, then Chris Evans being himself, then Flintoff almost dying), pushed it into the "let's stop doing this" list - at huge cost.

For things where a format sale works (shows that need to be made locally to resonate, like Strictly), I think your concern is less of a risk. Attenborough/Top Gear style high-quality expensive content packages are more of a concern, but I think the worst we've seen there is that they end up doing weird things with the timings. You know in the UK that Attenborough docs run for 50 minutes, and there is then a 10 minutes "how we made it" bit? Foreign markets don't get that last bit - they buy the 50 minutes package, put ads around it to get it to an hour. In the UK we get a 10 minute filler DVD bonus track.


more interesting info. I'd also add Doctor Who as a really prominent example of it. the most recent series of Doctor Who is quite obviously aimed at more of an American audience, with a star known to Americans, being released on Disney, with Disney production values. whether that fully counts or is just a product of a production partnership or whether the production partnership is itself a sign of it, I do not know




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