OPEN

…how long will it be before international licensing deals for shows go by the wayside or just start to seem a lot less important than they were?

Dan Sabbagh reports in the Times yesterday that Fox is planning to allow people to buy episodes of its programmes online the day after the are broadcast.

A sensible step in the right direction? Yes, except that you won’t be able to buy them in the UK:

Programmes will be made available online the day after transmission.
However, separate rights agreements mean that British viewers will
probably not be able to view Fox content from Britain. This will only
happen once Fox and the British broadcaster that holds the rights to a
programme reach an agreement.

Considering that people can get hold of programmes that have been broadcast in the US via the web almost immediately, it seems like half an answer to the issue on online distribution to me.

There will be a balancing act to pull off for content producers between meeting the demand from their customers for online distribution and the lucrative licensing fees from selling their wares abroad. Be interesting to see how it plays out…