Discovery ramps up production, taps Irwin family for life in bubble

US media group Discovery has ramped up production in Australia, thanks to a “production bubble” created during the coronavirus crisis.

Discovery’s local boss, Rebecca Kent, says the company has been busy during lockdown: ‘We moved quite quickly to quarantine the crews,’ she said. Picture: Britta Campion

Discovery has ramped up production of documentaries and filmed a special about the Irwin family, thanks to the creation of a “production bubble” at the start of the coronavirus crisis, which has halted other filming projects.

The US-based media group’s local boss, Rebecca Kent, says the company has been “very fortunate” that it has been able to continue to film programs in remote locations, such as Coober Pedy in South Australia and Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, during the coronavirus crisis.

It has also taken advantage of the unusual COVID-19 situation by filming a special program about the Irwin family, called Crikey! It’s The Irwins: Life in Lockdown.

“When the pandemic first broke in Australia, we moved quite quickly to quarantine the crews that we had out in our remote and regional locations, and we created kind of like a production bubble,” Ms Kent said.

“And this meant that we could continue filming in those locations, and we’ve actually brought some of our filming schedules forward so that we can continue production. And this has been great because some of our productions internationally have had to stop due to COVID.

“But the fact we can continue producing means that we’ll have great content here for Australians and we can distribute that content to our international channels too.”

Terri and Robert Irwin feature in a Discovery special called Crikey! It’s The Irwins: Life in Lockdown. Picture: Richard Dobson

Discovery, which owns pay-TV channels HGTV and Food Network channels, has about 80 people in Australia and New Zealand, of which 50 are scattered around the country.

A string of Australian TV shows, including The Bachelor, Neighbours, The Block, Home And Away and The Real Housewives of Melbourne, stopped filming in late March over fears about the spread of the virus. Following the easing of restrictions, filming has resumed. However, social-distancing measures are enforced with cast and crew.

Discovery continues to increase its local investment, and is set to premiere more than 100 hours of local content this year. That compares with 56-plus hours in 2019 and 33 hours in 2016. Its big shows are Aussie Gold Hunters and Outback Opal Hunters, which are also popular with international viewers.

Ms Kent has also been busy expanding Discovery’s local presence, most recently by striking a joint venture with Nine Entertainment to set up a new free-to-air TV channel called 9Rush in March. It is Discovery’s first foray on local free-to-air TV.

“Australia is a very important market for Discovery, like it is for many international media companies,” Ms Kent said.

“The content out of our US and UK pipelines resonates really well here in Australia, but also Discovery Australia produces a lot of content that flows back out to our international markets.”

Ms Kent said Discovery has had a “strong partnership with Nine for many years” as a constant supplier of content.

“And I think (Discovery is) the main supplier for their 9Life channel from our HGTV content portfolio,” she said.

“So it was not a stretch to expand that further into a different genre of content, which is more of a male-skewing content, which is what makes up 9Rush.”

Discovery also signed a new multi-year deal with its first Australian partner, pay-TV and streaming group Foxtel, last December. The deal means its flagship brand Discovery Channel will remain on Foxtel’s platform, plus TLC, Discovery Turbo and Animal Planet content. It also includes a new channel, Investigation Discovery, which focuses on criminal cases.

Across the Tasman, Discovery acquired two free-to-air NZ TV channels, Choice TV and HGTV, at the end of last year, Ms Kent said.