News and Events

New empirical research on TV formats

18 June 2009

A high-profile seminar has revealed successful strategies to tackle format copying of shows such as Britain’s Got Talent and The X-Factor.

Leading academics from BU’s Business School and Centre for Excellence in Media Practice Researchers have studied an industry in which copyright protection is weak, yet copying is addressed through a combination of sophisticated commercial exploitation strategies: Television format development.

The findings of the research were released earlier this week in a seminar held at FremantleMedia, London. ‘The exploitation of Television Formats: Intellectual property and non-law based strategies’ was presented to an international audience of television executives, lawyers, academics and policy advisors.

The research, funded by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC), was led by Professor Martin Kretschmer and Sukhpreet Singh from BU’s Centre for Intellectual Property Policy & Management and Jonathan Wardle (of BU’s renowned Centre for Excellence in Media Practice), in conjunction with FreemantleMedia Ltd. (the producers of Britain’s Got Talent, Pop Idol, Grand Designs and The Bill).

The researchers say: “While certain sectors of the creative industries remain obsessed with copyright law in the digital environment, television format developers have shown that alternatives can work. Formalizing know-how, localizing brands and shaping norms in social networks provide a powerful combination of exploitation strategies.”

The research will be highly relevant to other sectors of the digital economy: The Digital Britain report, released by Government on 16 June 2009, has again aired concerns about the scale of unlawful copying, and raised the prospect of enforcement action involving Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

An online resource was launched at the seminar, designed for use in Higher Education (media management and law), as well as by businesses, supporting the competitiveness of the UK formats industry.

For more information on this story, including research findings and accompanying notes, please see our Business School webpages listed below.