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Figures out today for the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's WOCC (Window of Creative Competition) for financial year 2009/2010 show that competition continues to thrive between ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ in-house production and independent production companies.

Overall, network programme hours within the WOCC have remained broadly the same between in-house and independents but seen a growth for in-house, from 27% to 30% and a slight dip for independents, from 73% to 70%.

Within individual genres, however, there have been changes in the numbers which shows the WOCC's success in demonstrating creative competition in action (see numbers below).

Jana Bennett, Director ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Vision, says: "The WOCC is designed to stimulate creativity through competition for the £250 million programming budget. The most recent shows to have come out of it have generated some of the highest quality ratings ever seen, showing that the system is clearly thriving and is bringing huge benefits to viewers.

"The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's raison d'etre is providing excellent programmes that audiences love but today's figures show there are broader benefits from in-house and indies across the UK that stretch far into the digital and creative industries. They show the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is a vital source of stability and creative competition across the whole UK broadcasting industry at a difficult time for our economy."

Bal Samra, Director, Vision Operations, says: "The WOCC continues to be a system which drives competition. Over the three years we've seen big movements in individual genres, with year-on-year change in favour of both indies and in-house."

During 2009/2010 the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ worked with 276 independent production companies across the UK strengthening the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's supplier base.

Proportion of network commissions in the WOCC won by genre – 2009/2010

Knowledge: In-house produced 30% of the WOCC (25% last year) compared to 70% independent (75% last year)

Drama: In-house produced 21% of the WOCC (41% last year) compared to 79% independent (59% last year)

Children's: In-house produced 50% of the WOCC (30% last year) compared to 50% independent (70% last year)

Entertainment: In-house produced 36% of the WOCC (41% last year) compared to 64% independent (59% last year)

Comedy: In-house produced 23% of the WOCC (24% last year) compared to 77% independent (76% last year)

How it works

• The WOCC applies to entertainment, comedy, drama, factual and children's but not news or sport
• Across the WOCC genres, 50% of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ output must be made in-house and 25% by indies. Both compete for the remaining 25%
• The levels of the WOCC and the guarantees apply across all ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ output but can differ in size within genres, to fit with the corporation's editorial strategy
• In-house and indies must fill their respective guarantees within each genre before competing for the WOCC
• Output is measured by network hours for the financial year. All hours made outside of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ count as indie output, even if the producer does not have official indie status

TM2