Channel 4 has lost the right to show Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror in the UK six months after the acclaimed drama was snapped up by Netflix in a reported $40m deal.
The broadcaster believed it still had a “first look option” to premiere the show in the UK following last year’s Netflix deal, but negotiations between Channel 4 and its producer, Endemol Shine, have ended without a deal being struck.
Channel 4 management publicly expressed its disappointment at losing the show, which began on the broadcaster in 2011 with an episode that featured a fictional prime minister having sex with a pig.
Privately they are understood to be hugely frustrated with its producer, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox and Apollo Global Management, at the turn of events which means the drama will not be returning to Channel 4.
In an unusually strongly worded statement, Channel 4 chief creative officer Jay Hunt said: “Black Mirror couldn’t be a more Channel 4 show.
“We grew it from a dangerous idea to a brand that resonated globally. Of course it’s disappointing that the first broadcast window in the UK is then sold to the highest bidder, ignoring the risk a publicly owned channel like 4 took backing it.”
Both Hunt and Channel 4 chief executive David Abraham were involved in negotiations over the future of the show.
Channel 4 is understood to have made what is described as a “serious and significant offer” for the rights to premiere the new run of Black Mirror in the UK.
But it was outbid by Netflix and it is thought it was not given the opportunity to make a further bid by Endemol Shine.
Channel 4 is not interested in the secondary rights to show the programme in the UK after its premiere on Netflix. “We don’t follow others, we believe we are a home for first transmission content,” said a station insider.
A spokesman for Endemol Shine said “every avenue” had been explored with Channel 4 and said the broadcaster had passed on opportunities to recommission the show before it was picked up by Netflix, which tweeted a trailer for the new series on Tuesday.
All new episodes. Coming soon. #BlackMirrorhttps://t.co/Ug5LY66VoY
— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) March 29, 2016
In a statement, Endemol Shine said: “It is unfortunate that having explored every avenue with Channel 4 an agreement was not able to be reached.
“Channel 4 have had the opportunity to recommission since 2013, and passed on this and subsequent co-production options put to them.
“Only following this and the first series’ exceptional performance when aired on Netflix, did Netflix offer a longer order of twelve with an increased budget that allowed producers [Endemol Shine-owned] House of Tomorrow to realise their ambitions for the series.
“Further efforts were made to try to reach a settlement regarding a UK window for Channel 4 but these were also sadly to no avail.”
In response, Channel 4 said it was not true they had passed on the show, saying they had “offered to recommission Black Mirror”.
As reported by MediaGuardian earlier this month, relations between the broadcaster and Endemol Shine were on the verge of breaking down over the right to broadcast the drama.
The loss of the UK rights, confirmed by Channel 4 today, is likely to signal a new low between the two.
The state-owned commercially funded Channel 4 has invested millions in both on and off air marketing for several Shine-Endemol shows including Black Mirror and two of its biggest hits, The Island and Hunted, over the past few years.
Channel 4 commissioned the first ever series of the show described as a Twilight Zone for the digital age and went on to air two, three-part series of Black Mirror along with the 2014 festive special starring Jon Hamm, Rafe Spall and Oona Chaplin, watched by nearly 2 million viewers.
Netflix will make new, 12-part series of Black Mirror, with Brooker describing the US subscription video-on-demand service as “the most fitting platform imaginable”.
Last year’s merger of Endemol and the Fox-owned Shine created one of the world’s largest programme-making and content businesses. As well as Black Mirror, the Island and the Hunted, Endemol Shine produce Channel 4 hits Deal or No Deal and Eight Out of 10 Cats.
Yet over the past 15 months, nine senior executives have left the merged group including Shine Group chief executive Alex Mahon, Just Spee and Tim Hincks, formerly Endemol chief executive and chief creative boss respectively.
Endemol Shine chief executive Sophie Turner-Laing, who formerly reported to James Murdoch at the satellite company Sky, has appointed Peter Salmon, the BBC’s director of studios, who will start in May.
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