Corporate ownership in the TV production sector and cultural diversity: Analysis of consolidated companies and indies’ access to TV drama financing

Abstract

With the increased international demand for TV drama and rise of global streamers as multi-territory buyers, small successful independent producers of European TV fiction have increasingly become takeaway targets for established and financially strong multinational media conglomerates. Against the background of corporate takeovers and consolidation, an important question is whether and how corporate ownership in the television production sector influences the independence of production companies and content creation, with potential implications for cultural diversity.

This article relies upon data analysis of 192 TV drama productions in Denmark and Flanders, Belgium, to better understand the relationship between different corporate configurations of TV drama production companies and their access to domestic and transnational financiers. The study examines independent and consolidated companies engaged in productions across varied financing models, which include financing from public and private broadcasters, transnational streamers, and other financiers.

The analysis on financiers involved in production indicates that in both markets transnational streamers financed the largest share of TV drama series from integrated production companies. In Flanders, global streaming platforms only produced fiction series in collaboration with domestic broadcasters as co-financiers, whereas in Denmark, streamers predominantly acted as sole financiers for TV drama productions. The findings indicate that traditional financiers in Flanders and Denmark are crucial in financing content produced by stand-alone indies. The article makes a theoretical contribution by examining the under-researched relationships between producers and financiers at the meso-level, focusing on production companies' ownership structures, the types of financiers involved in productions, and the potential implications for cultural diversity.