Flexibility, Innovation, and Precarity in the Television Industry

Abstract

In TV production, there has been a worldwide move from a system based on established broadcasters, to a system requiring outsourcing to independent producers. The theory of flexible specialisation suggests this change should increase flexibility and innovation In TV production. Testing these claims in the UK market – which has a large Independent sector and an international reputation for innovative reality TV formats – this chapter find the claims for flexibility and innovation to be largely unsupported by the evidence.