Int’l buyers target stacking rights

LA SCREENINGS: International buyers here in LA are following their US counterparts’ lead by pushing harder for stacking rights to series they acquire.

This year’s Upfronts season has been dominated by the issue of stacking as networks strive to improve on deals that currently only allow them to host a rolling set of five episodes on their catch-up services.

Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, said that stacking was “the future” of the company’s business during the Peacock network’s Upfront presentation last week.

Meanwhile, in March, ABC and Warner Bros TV Group agreed what they called an “unprecedented stacking rights deal” to allow the US network to offer all in-season episodes of any new Warner Bros show on its various VoD platforms for the next two years.

C21 has this week spoken to various acquisitions execs at international channels who, with serialised drama high up on their shopping lists, are keen to similarly expand on their licensing deals with the US studios.

This comes as viewers increasingly expect to be able to watch whole seasons of shows online as they do with SVoD services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, or at least all episodes that have aired to date.

Catherine Mackin, director of acquisitions at UK multi-channel operator UKTV, told C21 in LA this week that an acquired show’s performance online now has a huge bearing on how its overall success was judged.

“Certainly, stacking is going to become more and more important as we go along, while catch-up rights are something that we have to have,” said Mackin.

UKTV, which is co-owned by BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, airs US imports such as Quantico, Code Black, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, Parks & Recreation and Suits on its channels Dave, Alibi and W.

Nick Lee, acquisitions manager for UK broadcaster Channel 4, agreed with Mackin that stacking rights are going to increase in importance, while catch-up rights are now a necessity, particularly for dramas.

“It’s a new trend this market that the US networks are looking to secure stacking rights as part of their pick-ups and I imagine that trend will continue internationally as viewing habits migrate towards convenience,” Lee said.

Channel 4 has secured a number of extensive licensing deals with distributors for non-US scripted programming for its VoD service Walter Presents, which specialises in foreign drama.