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UK is the main hub for European TV channels

New report finds that almost 30 per cent of EU28 TV channels are established in the UK

A new Brexit report from the European Audiovisual Observatory has found that the UK is the main hub for TV channels established in the European Union.

According to Brexit in context: The UK in the context of the EU audiovisual market, 29 per cent of EU28 TV channels are established in the UK, making it by far the main country of establishment in the EU28 for TV channels and on-demand services.

The UK hosts three of the top 10 EU28 audiovisual groups (Sky, BBC, ITV) as well as European subsidiaries of the major US media groups.

TV channels established in the European Union (end 2017)

Meanwhile, the report found that the UK is, together with Germany, the largest audiovisual market in the EU28. With 12 per cent of TV households, the UK accounts for 21 per cent of the EU28 audiovisual market.

The European Union Audiovisual market (2016, bn EUR)

The report suggests that the UK market is slightly more dynamic, on average, than the EU28 as a whole, due to the solid performance of pay-TV and highly-developed on-demand services.

It says the average annual growth rate between 2011 and 2016 was 2.1 per cent for the UK vs. 1.7 per cent for the EU28. The UK ranks fourth in terms of number of TV fiction hours produced, underpinned by a focus on high-end drama with a strong export potential.

The report will be presented at the Observatory’s Brussels conference this autumn: The impact of Brexit on the audiovisual industry: a European point of view.