Podcasts & Debates

Our annual conference, OTT Question Time Live, takes place in London every January. For the rest of the year – during the spring and autumn – I host online debate shows with senior industry execs, and podcasts with Lydia Fairfax.

In these sessions, we discuss industry news and developments, analyse data, and try to explain why broadcasters, streamers and film studios have made the decisions they seem to have made (and the ones they haven’t) across everything from advertising models and technology budgets to product launches, partnerships, and market dynamics.

Watch all episodes, free and on-demand. And join our mailing list to find out about upcoming sessions.

  • Riffs Season 2, Episode 2 – Who Really Controls Streaming?

    In last week’s pod, Lydia tried valiantly to get me interested in the Media Act and the consultation that is currently taking place between government, Ofcom, broadcasters, streamers and TV manufacturers. It worked! I did some reading. 

    And in the course of my research, a wider question surfaced: who really controls …

  • Riffs Season 2 Opener – Industry Talking Points for Q2/3

    Lydia and I are back for Season 2 of our Riffs podcast and in this, episode 1, we discuss topics past, current and future. They include:

    00:00 Welcome Back to Season 2
    03:06 Netflix’s Withdrawal from WBD Transaction
    09:47 ITV’s 2025 results and an update on the potential Comcast deal
    16:14 …

  • Riffs Episode #10 – End of Season Show

    Sure, it’s only an industry podcast / webcast but in this final episode of Season 1, Lydia and I discuss some genuine cliffhangers:

    • An update on the Netflix / Paramount Skydance bids for Warner Bros Discovery
    • The future of the BBC licence fee following the publication of a new consultation document which …

  • Riffs Episode #9 – Netflix, WBD & Are We Legacy?

    In this episode, Lydia and I discuss the Netflix bid for Warner Bros Discovery which, in the Netflix comms that followed, made it sound like a done deal.

    I think it’s fair to say that whereas Lydia was quite bullish about the acquisition, I was (and still am) sceptical. Why? Regulatory …

  • Riffs Episode #8 – BBC Resignations & Comcast bids for ITV

    When the news broke that Comcast had bid £1.6bn for ITV, Lydia and I thought, hands down, it would be the biggest story of the week. But then Tim Davie, Director General of the BBC resigned. Cue hasty updates to this episode where we discuss both developments. 

    On the BBC, we …

  • Riffs Episode #7 – Netflix Numbers & Product Placement

    Lydia and I were on a break last week (not in the Ross and Rachel in Friends kinda way!) so we didn’t get a chance to comment on Netflix’s Q3 financials. That’s easily fixed – we discuss them in this episode where we particularly focus on what Netflix spends on …

  • OTT Question Time Online, Season 6, Episode 5 – The Changing Face of News

    On this week’s OTT Question Time Online we discussed the changing face of news provision – on linear and OTT – with Joe Harbinson, Head of Commercial Partnerships from Sky News, Stephen Hull, Head of Digital Content & Strategy (News) from ITV, and Jonny McGuigan, Executive Editor: Growth, Social & …

  • Riffs Episode #6 – Channel 4 & ITV

    On last week’s Riffs episode, Lydia and I talked about the BBC and potential changes to the licence. This week, and to share the love, we focused on Channel 4 and ITV, who have both made a number of announcements lately.

    Channel 4

    Channel 4 …

  • Riffs Episode #5 – The BBC Licence Fee

    At the Labour Party conference last week, Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media & Sport, said that she was looking at a mixed funding format for the BBC to help protect it from future government interference. Options included a “mixture of licence fee, commercial funding …

  • OTT Question Time Online, S6, Episode #4 – Collaborative Content Strategies

    At the recent RTS Conference, the key theme was “Where Do We Grow From Here?”. Collaboration between broadcasters was touted as one way of doing this and over the last few months we’ve been seeing more and more examples of content sharing, FAST channel launches and strategic tie-ups, as …