Ofcom

Rupert Murdoch's secret battle with Downing Street

Simon McBurney as Rupert Murdoch in The Loudest Voice (Credit: Sky)

During these past 12 months Rupert Murdoch has been only half the man in the UK he used to be. But that’s only by one measure – Ofcom’s “share of references”, which calculates which news sources are consumed across different media. It was a year ago, in September 2018, that the then 87-year-old’s long association with Sky came to an end.

TV production outside the M25 is alive and well

C+I’s most popular original show, Murdertown featuring Hull (Credit: A&E Networks)

In recent years, Channel 4’s new national HQ in Leeds and the BBC’s relocation of 2,300 posts to Salford have dominated our perception of out-of-London programme production.

This is perhaps not surprising: the corporation has the largest Ofcom quota for UK production outside the M25 – 50% – followed by Channel 4 and ITV, who both have 35%, and Channel 5, with 10%.

Major broadcasters take TV production to the regions, finds new Ofcom report

The results from the register show that the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 all met their value and volume-based regional production quotes in 2017. 

To be considered a regional production, Ofcom requires that productions to either be based outside of the M25, spend at least 70% of their budget outside the M25, or ensure that at least 50% of the production talent come from outside of London.