Netflix and other transnational online video streaming services are disrupting long-established arrangements in national television systems around the world. In this paper we analyse how public service media (PSM) organisations (key purveyors of societal goals in broadcasting) are responding to the fast-growing popularity of these new services. Drawing on Philip Napoli’s framework for analysing strategic responses by established media to threats of competitive displacement by new media, we find that the three PSM organisations in our study exhibit commonalities. Their responses have tended to follow a particular evolution starting with different levels of complacency and resistance before settling into more coherent strategies revolving around efforts to differentiate PSM offerings, while also diversifying into activities, primarily across new platforms, that mimic SVoD approaches and probe production collaborations. Beyond these similarities, however, we also find that a range of contextual factors (including path-dependency, the role and status of PSM in each country, the degree of additional government support, cultural factors and market size) help explain nuances in strategic responses between our three cases.

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The market for overseas trade in television programming is changing, and this demands new ways of examining complex and evolving trends in the international distribution of content. Traditionally there have been countries that made television programs and sold and marketed primarily drama worldwide. Traditionally as well, US transnationals have dominated this market, selling to other broadcasters and marketing their own content on video and later DVD. With the fragmentation of audiences and revenues in recent years, we have seen growth in international co-production and the sale of formats. While there have been new players, particularly in formats, the US has remained the key exporter and distributor of television content on a global scale. The latest developments center on over-the-top delivery directly to television sets, as offered by major US players Apple, Netflix, Google, and Amazon. This has led to suggestions that linear TV viewing is likely to disappear in the face of multiple multimedia platforms, and that apps will replace channels. Looking beyond the US, what does this new distribution model mean for the funding and delivery of televisual content? Is there a conceptualization of the processes and theories associated with the international circulation of content that will help explain its implications for production industries?

This article examines the evaluation and regulation of public service broadcasting’s (PSB’s) contribution to home-grown children’s content, a key marker of difference with commercial rivals. UK experience forms the core of the analysis, but throughout we connect findings to experiences in other European countries. We concentrate on PSB’s interventions in TV, but consider this within the wider scope of multiplatform and online activities that occupy increasing proportions of children’s time. We start by outlining the rationale for children’s PSB, before briefly unpacking the pressures it faces. Using schedule analysis of children’s channels in five European countries, PSB’s distinctiveness from US transnationals is demonstrated by higher levels of domestic content. This opens up discussion about the value of domestic content, as well as market failure in children’s broadcasting. We consider different policy tools for ensuring domestic content and public service goals, before considering the effectiveness and evaluation of PSB approaches, which now extend beyond television.