GEITF 2002: Disney Rules Out UK Broadcasting Acquisitions
Anne Sweeney, president of Disney Channel Wordwide and ABC Cable Networks, has ruled out the possibility of Disney acquiring UK broadcasting assets in the near future.
Sweeney, who is generally regarded as one of the most powerful TV executives in the world, used her keynote speech at this year’s Guardian Edinburgh International TV Festival, to welcome the Government’s proposals to relax foreign ownership regulations. However, she insisted that Disney has no “specific plans” to acquire any TV or radio assets in this country in the near future.
Disney, along with other American conglomerates such as Viacom, Clear Channel and AOL Time Warner, has been hotly tipped as one of the key beneficiaries of the proposed liberalisation of the media ownership laws, which currently prevent non-EU investors from owning British broadcasting assets. The UK is Disney’s largest market outside the US and as well as owning the Nickelodeon channel, the company also has a significant stake in GMTV.
It had been assumed that Disney would be keen to extend its UK presence into the terrestrial TV or radio sector. However, Sweeney dismissed such speculation as “inappropriate” and “premature” and refused to comment on what new investments Disney may or may not consider in the future.
She acknowledged that the Communications Bill would bring “exciting new opportunities” for American investors and implied that Disney would keep a keen eye on the British market, saying: “We want to help ensure that British television continues to be both vibrantly creative and economically robust. US programming clearly has a place in the British broadcasting environment and there is a healthy demand for it.”
Those in opposition to the Government’s plans to open the UK media sector to non-EU investment claim that American broadcasters would flood the market with cheap, imported programmes, which would spell an end to regional diversity.
However, Sweeney was keen to dismiss these accusations, arguing there is “greater regional diversity and local interest programming in the USA than here in the UK.” She said “ownership is not nearly as important to viewers as programming” and insisted that American broadcasters would help drive the British TV industry forward.
She said: “Britain has so much to gain from the more open environment that these legislative changes could bring. One that would allow the British broadcasting industry to compete more vigorously on a global scale.”
Also speaking at this year’s GEITF, chairman of the Joint Scrutiny Committee, Lord Puttnam, warned that the Government would face defeat in the House of Parliament if it tried to force through changes to media ownership regulations (see GEITF 2002: Puttnam Calls For BBC To Come Under Ofcom).
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Reports on this year’s Guardian Edinburgh International TV Festival will appear on NewsLine throughout the week.