Marcus Arthur tells Deadline about walking a tightrope in a streaming-first world where linear remains a big money-spinner.
Arthur is running a huge and complicated business. Having been upped from CEO of channels group UKTV to chief exec of global channels and streaming at BBC Studios, he faces a sizable challenge. Positioning the commercial arm of the 100-year-old BBC for a streaming future while managing the traditional linear channels that still do great business in many international territories.
“Streaming is definitely our future, and building for a streaming-first future is absolutely paramount,” Arthur says. “But linear is still hugely important right now for the profits that the businesses make and will be for the next five to 10 years. The art is that clutch-control between building for a streaming future, but still trying to maximize the benefit of the big linear businesses.”
BBC Studios has an enormous catalog of shows that it sells around the world — it rolled into MIPCOM with a shiny Dancing with the Stars spinoff — but its channels and streaming business remains a big earner, with revenues of £788 million ($1.1 billion) for the 2025/26 financial year.
Arthur’s portfolio comprises channels and digital services spanning linear pay-TV nets, branded ad-supported channels, direct-to-consumer services and SVoD U.K. streamer BritBox International is in the mix, with Arthur overseeing it outside of North America.
“The difficulty for broadcasters is that the new [streaming] paradigm doesn’t come about overnight. It takes time to develop your digital services and your routes to market,” he says. “And all the time you’re investing [in streaming], you still need to keep your linear businesses warm. You don’t get a free hit. You need to do both of those.”
BBC Studios is not beholden to shareholders in the same way as a company like Comcast, which has split its legacy channels and streaming businesses. Arthur says these moves have contributed to a narrative that does not always acknowledge the value of linear.
“People don’t always recognize that there’s still growth in linear in places like South Africa, or that you can still grow your linear share in Poland and other markets that we are in, like Turkey, because they have read about a few of the big broadcasters that have decided to bifurcate their linear and streaming businesses. There’s an equally long list of people who have decided to keep those assets together, whether that’s Fox, ITV or AMC.
“The businesses that decide to keep them together are the ones who believe that they can still benefit from those linear sides of their business for a long period of time for their future profitability, and most of them are using those profits to invest in the digital side.”
With a smorgasbord of channels, meanwhile, there will always be fine-tuning and rebrands. Drama network BBC First is an example: It was rebranded as BBC Belgium in that European country and there has since been an uptick in viewership with a launch lineup that included the likes of Wild Cherry, Foyle’s War and Call the Midwife. That rebrand followed a similar move in the Netherlands where BBC First was rebadged BBC NL.
Major Player
Last year, BBC Studios teamed with CosmoBlue to distribute channels and launch a new general entertainment network across the Middle East and North Africa regions and Turkey. Part of the deal was also the integration of the BBC Player service into the CosmoGO streaming app.
TheBBC Player on-demand services can bridge the traditional and the new, providing a streaming service that can sit next to regular channels.
“We’ve grown that to 21 products in the EMEA region,” Arthur says. “We have taken the existing channels’ businesses and put the very best digital product alongside it. When we’re speaking to the pay platforms we have relationships with, we’re now talking to them about a linear business that has a really strong digital future.”
BBC Player is multi-genre, including drama, and there is also the scripted-focused BritBox service. In line with the plethora of business models within the BBC Studios channels and streaming business, BritBox runs as an SVoD proposition in Australia, going direct to consumers, while it operates in conjunction with regional pay TV platforms in the Nordics.
Elsewhere, BBC Studios-owned channel group UKTV did a deal last year to launch content from its ‘U’-branded on-demand service on Channel 4’s streaming platform. It meant Channel 4 bolstered its streaming offering with UKTV programs including the Bergerac reboot, as well as classic BBC shows that air on UKTV channels including The Office and Red Dwarf.
Arthur offers a progress report: “We have experienced very healthy growth and we have managed not to cannibalize our standalone service. That deal was great for Channel 4 because it got really good content from the BBC, the archive, and the UKTV originals. For UKTV, it took us onto a platform that, by nature, is younger and exposed us to a whole load of new people.”
FAST Facts
Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (FAST) is a smart way to make the most of a big catalog and BBC Studios has been steadily launching channels. Arthur tells us that it is about to launch a suite of new channels in the U.K., pegged to some big-ticket brands.
The services will carry the aforementioned U branding from UKTV, with Top Gear on U, EastEnders on U and Antiques Roadshow on U among eight launches.
“You can test and learn with FAST,” Arthur says. “You can get channels up and see if they grow, and then move and change.”
Across EMEA, BBC Studios said there were 53.6 million hours of viewing of its FAST channels in the first seven months of this year, a year-on-year increase of more than 50%.
FAST can also plug the gaps where BBC Studios does not have services. “They’ve done exceptionally well for us where we don’t have any big pay deals or our own channels. It’s a very effective way to launch into marketplaces.”
Charter For Change
Outside of the commercial Studios business, pubcaster BBC is making eye-watering cuts. For BBC Studios, the knock-on effect is a greater recognition of the importance of the cash it returns to the public service mothership.
BBC Studios has argued that U.K. regulations are putting its operations at a disadvantage compared to its peers in the international business. One bone of contention is its borrowing cap, which will sit at £750 million ($1 billion) in 2027.
“We have a good track record, when we do have funds, of spending them well and getting returns, but whether we get more cash availability as part of the Charter is for the government and for [BBC director general] Matt Brittin,” Arthur says.
Looking ahead for the next year, Arthur says the BBC iPlayer service will be modernized in terms of look and feel. And, of course, his channels and streaming division needs to make money.
“We need to grow our revenues,” he says. “Despite the fact that advertising in the U.K. might be incredibly challenged, I want to grow our EMEA revenues. I want to grow our APAC revenues and our revenues in both Australia and New Zealand.
“We want this to be a growth business, and to show that we have things in place that can make that true,” he continues. “I don’t want to just be managing businesses where the revenue is flat and all you’re doing is looking at costs. I mean, life’s too short.”