10 Stories You Should Know:10/20/2022

Saudi Arabia gets its own version of "Doctor Foster," the Philippines considers banning K-Dramas & 80% of South Africans don't pay their TV licensing fee.

Here are the TV and streaming stories that should be on your radar this morning:

Warner Bros. Discovery To Release ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ NFTs (Deadline)
Warner Bros. Discovery has become the first major studio to sell a movie’s NFT bundle, with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring dropping tomorrow.

Big Changes For TV Licences Are Coming – As Millions Of South Africans Refuse To Pay (BusinessTech South Africa)
The broadcasting commission noted that the TV licence fee evasion rate is, therefore, still a concern as the licence fee collection rates indicate an evasion rate of 81.7% in 2022 – similar to that of 82.1% shown in 2021.

The SABC has a database of 10.5 million licence holders – meaning roughly 8.6 million TV Licence holders are still holding out.

Judi Dench Slams “Crude Sensationalism” of Season 5 of ‘The Crown’: “This Cannot Go Unchallenged” (The Hollywood Reporter)
Judi Dench has joined the growing chorus of voices that have taken umbrage with the upcoming season of Netflix’s The Crown, with the two-time Oscar winner accusing the producers of the royal drama of blurring “the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism.”

Netflix Is Changing The Way Britons Travel – And That May Not Be A Good Thing (Telegraph)
At a recent gathering of friends in one of those north London small plates restaurants that masquerades as a pub, a couple mentioned they were jetting off to Modena for the weekend. 

They didn’t need to give any further details – the whole crowd knew exactly what this Italian break would entail. Obviously they were going to have lunch at Osteria Francescana, the three Michelin-starred restaurant from Massimo Bottura. It wasn’t a particularly foodie group but we all had an intimate knowledge of the restaurant due to its starring role in not one but two hit Netflix shows. 

Netflix Sets Suspense Series ‘The Bequeathed’ From ‘Hellbound’ & ‘Train To Busan’s Yeon Sang-ho (Deadline)
Netflix is staying in the Yeon Sang-ho business, confirming production on his latest creation, The Bequeathed. A suspense drama, it weaves an intricate family history into a subject matter deeply rooted in Korean tradition: family burial grounds. 

Bruce McKenna, David Broyles And Nick Jones Writing-Producing ‘Buffalo Rangers’ Series On Korean War Heroics By All-Black U.S. Military Unit (Variety)
In 1951, during the Korean War, they participated in the first Ranger combat jump, and then, undermanned, ill-equipped and worn down by months of combat — outnumbered more than fifteen to one — held off an attack of over a thousand Chinese infantry at Hill 581.

BBC Studios Licenses Doctor Foster Format To MBC GROUP (Rapid TV News)
The local adaptation is already in production with Medyapim, which successfully produced the Turkish version of the format, Sadakatsiz, at the helm. The series will air across both MBC’s linear channels and its Shahid VOD streaming platform, reaching across territories including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and the Maghreb. Doctor Foster has previously been adapted in markets such as France, Turkey, India, Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia. The Philippines version of Doctor Foster recently won the award for Best TV Format Adaptation (Scripted) at the Content Asia awards.

Netflix In A Tight Spot As Paramount+, Prime Video Attract UK Subscribers: Report (GEOTV)
The report cited Kanter Worldpanel figures, that painted a dismal picture for Netflix, Paramount+, Prime Video, and Disney+ added on the vast majority of new subscribers in the third quarter, 29.4%, 24.6%, and 17.5%, respectively, while Netflix drew in mere 2.1%

Chito Miranda, Pokwang On Idea Of banning K-dramas: ‘Not The Solution’ (Philippine Inquirer)
Chito Miranda and Pokwang were among the celebrities who weighed in on the idea of banning foreign shows, particularly Korean dramas, after Sen. Jinggoy Estrada floated the idea in a recent Senate hearing.

Estrada made his comments on K-dramas during the hearing of the 2023 budget of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), when he said it had crossed his mind to have foreign-made films and TV shows banned in the Philippines to possibly boost shows by Filipinos.

Netflix Targets Global TV Ad Market As Next Business To Disrupt (Cyprus Mail)
PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore said Netflix’s embrace of advertising will potentially deal a serious blow to TV networks and broadcasters who rely on advertising as a major source of income.

“This could prove to be the final nail in the coffin for those players,” said Pescatore.