{"id":1727,"date":"2026-07-08T15:48:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T10:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=1727"},"modified":"2026-07-08T15:48:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T10:48:48","slug":"bbc-to-review-content-acquisitions-amid-scooby-doo-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=1727","title":{"rendered":"BBC To Review Content Acquisitions Amid &#8216;Scooby-Doo&#8217; Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/bbc\/\" id=\"auto-tag_bbc\" data-tag=\"bbc\">BBC<\/a>\u2018s new director general will review the UK broadcaster\u2019s foreign content acquisitions strategy amid anger over the corporation outbidding commercial rivals for U.S. series.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/matt-brittin\/\" id=\"auto-tag_matt-brittin\" data-tag=\"matt-brittin\">Matt Brittin<\/a> said he wished to examine whether the BBC is getting the \u201cbalance right\u201d with buying in content, opening up the possibility that the broadcaster could cut its acquisitions budget.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tBrittin\u2019s comments follow concerns from ITV, Sky, and Channel 4 over the BBC using licence fee cash to outspend rivals for shows like <em>Schitt\u2019s Creek.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThere was also frustration over the BBC\u2019s decision to poach Warner Bros. Discovery-owned cartoon <em><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/scooby-doo\/\" id=\"auto-tag_scooby-doo\" data-tag=\"scooby-doo\">Scooby-Doo<\/a> <\/em>in a competitive situation last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tBrittin was asked about the <em>Scooby-Doo<\/em> deal during a hearing held by UK Parliament\u2019s Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Wednesday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cWhat\u2019s the public service value in outbidding commercial broadcasters for things like <em>Scooby-Doo<\/em> when you could be investing in Britain?\u201d asked Natasha Irons, a Labour member of Parliament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tBrittin, who is six weeks into the job, said less than 5% of the BBC\u2019s content budget is spent on foreign acquisitions and that the shows can drive viewing to public service content, such as <em>Newsround<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s part of a deliberate strategy to serve audiences,\u201d Brittin said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tHe added, however, that the BBC will examine acquisitions in the context of the corporation striving to save \u00a3500M ($670M) over the next three years. \u201cThat\u2019s something I\u2019m looking at reviewing as part of the cost savings,\u201d Brittin said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tITV has consistently raised the issue in recent years. In a written submission to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, ITV said: \u201cWe can see no reason for the BBC to use public funds to compete for content that would otherwise find a home on free-to-access commercial services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cFor this reason, we would urge the government to include a new rule in the charter preventing the BBC from using public service broadcasting expenditure for any non-UK acquired content except where the BBC is the purchaser of last resort, and for the BBC to be more transparent about the titles it acquires.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tIn its submission, Sky added that the charter, the BBC\u2019s operating agreement, should prevent iPlayer from \u201cevolving into an aggregation platform for third-party content.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The BBC\u2018s new director general will review the UK broadcaster\u2019s foreign content acquisitions strategy amid anger over the corporation outbidding commercial rivals for U.S. series. Matt Brittin said he wished to examine whether the BBC is getting the \u201cbalance right\u201d with buying in content, opening up the possibility that the broadcaster could cut its acquisitions&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/p0mxsyf9-e1783504752511.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}