Barclays doubles SVoD prodco fund

Barclays helped Roughcut TV in its deal with Netflix for Cuckoo

UK bank Barclays has doubled its fund for TV production companies working with SVoD services, with £200m (US$256m) now available.

The Barclays SVoD Financing scheme was launched last year and is designed to meet the evolving needs of the sector brought on by the emergence of SVoD.

The bank says its fund helps prodcos cope with new financing models, where they receive payment on delivery of the content rather than at the time of commissioning.

Funding recipients include Drama Republic, which received £17.5m for BBC/Netflix coproduction Black Earth Rising; Lime Pictures, which received backing for Netflix show Free Rein; and Silvergate Media, which picked up finance for a series of Octonauts specials.

One of the first firms to benefit from the new fund was Roughcut Television, the indie behind comedies such as Sky1’s Trollied and BBC3’s Cuckoo.

Barclays has purchased Roughcut’s fee from Netflix for the streaming of Cuckoo, giving the company the money upfront for its multi-year streaming deal.

Lorraine Ruckstuhl, head of media at Barclays Corporate Banking, said she had seen an “increasing need for tailored financing that meets the specific needs of both the production company and the subscription service.”

“With more SVoD platforms on the way and a growing focus on original content, demand is set to increase further and finance providers will have to keep innovating to meet changing funding requirements.”

Barclays set up its media team in 1986 and was the first to develop a three-way lending structure that brings together the broadcaster, prodco and bank to allow productions to be funded via a loan.

A range of funding products are available from Barclays to support UK TV production, from simple project-based loans to wider multi-project funding facilities for larger production companies.