The BBC should be promoting British shows rather than US ones, the boss of the UK’s trade body for TV producers has said, following a row about the corporation plugging American dramas.
John McVay, the chief executive of UK screen sector trade body Pact, said he would ‘much rather see them promoting British shows’ as this was their job.
But he said the BBC was ‘desperate to appeal to particularly younger eyeballs’.
Speaking at an event to announce the results of Pact’s UK Television Production Survey, he said it was a ‘question for the BBC about why they justify it’.
‘I’d much rather see them in all those slots, I’d much rather see them promoting British shows, to be quite honest. I think that’s their job,’ he said.
The BBC should be promoting British shows rather than US ones, the boss of the UK’s trade body for TV producers has saidÂ
A row broke out in the summer over the way the broadcaster had run promotional clips for Gossip Girl (pictured) as huge audiences tuned in to England’s games as Euro 2024
ITV’s programming chief Kevin Lygo previously criticised the BBC for buying Suits (pictured), starring Meghan Markle, while ‘bleating’ about budget cuts
Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in US TV drama Suits
‘But they’re desperate to appeal to particularly younger eyeballs, and if those shows bring an audience, the question you must have, which is up to them to answer is, if you’ve done that, do you retain that audience, or are they only just dropping in and out for those big American shows?’
He added that if people watching these US shows stayed to watch more BBC British programmes then it may be ‘justified’.
A row broke out in the summer over the way the broadcaster had run promotional clips for ‘explosive US drama’ including Suits and Gossip Girl as huge audiences tuned in to England’s games as Euro 2024.
An ITV boss had branded the practice ‘peculiar’ and said he did not understand how when the BBC was struggling to properly fund shows like Newsnight it could ‘find the money’ to buy these US shows.
ITV’s programming chief Kevin Lygo criticised the BBC for plugging imported US shows rather than homegrown productions.
He described the BBC’s adverts for US dramas during Euro 2024 as ‘peculiar’ and previously criticised the BBC for buying Suits, starring Meghan Markle, while ‘bleating’ about budget cuts.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘Our spend on acquisitions remains very small compared to our overall budget, where we are the largest producer of originated programmes in the UK.
‘We spend less than 5 per cent of our annual content budget on acquired programmes, far less compared with other broadcasters.
‘Promotional trailers over the summer featured original and acquired scripted series to highlight the wide range of content available on BBC iPlayer.’
