Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: doctor who

Doctor Who: Streaming Rights to The Modern Era: The Real Holy Grail?

The 2005 Doctor Who revival is the reason the series is a global success, and the streaming rights might be the key to who gets the show next.

Published Sat, 10 Jan 2026 08:37:06 -0600

by Adi Tantimedh

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Article Summary

The streaming rights for Doctor Who's 2005 modern revival are crucial for future international deals.
BBC's licensing and merchandising from Doctor Who generate over £100 million annually for the broadcaster.
The Disney streaming deal ended, and streamers now compete for access to the modern era's popular library.
David Tennant's era drives fan demand, making the modern Doctor Who run a hot commodity for streamers.

With the endless speculation over the future of Doctor Who, where it's going to end up, and who's going to co-finance it, there's one thing often overlooked in the endless speculation: the streaming rights for the library of the modern revival of the series. Russell T. Davies brought the series back in 2005 and gave it a modern, updated approach, which launched it into a global success it hadn't achieved before. The run of series that began with Christopher Eccleston, followed by David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, and Jodie Whittaker, before the deal with Disney, is the reason the show is so popular and sought after now. And that library might be the key to which international streamer will get to co-produce future episodes next.

Doctor Who: The Modern Era with David Tennant Might Be the Real Prize — BBC

Steven Moffat has said of Doctor Who, "Everyone talks about ratings as if they matter. I was in a position to know how much money that show generated. That's the number you want to look at. And that's why Doctor Who still gets made."

Of course, ratings matter, but it's not just about how many people watch it in the UK anymore. It's about how much money the series generates from across the world for the BBC. That's how it works for all TV series for any company. It has been reported that the BBC earns over £100 million a year from merchandise sales and international licensing deals alone. The series also generates half a billion pounds for the Welsh and UK economies every year through the jobs it creates. The BBC made the most money off Doctor Who ever, most recently from the Disney deal: Disney wasn't just contributing to the production budget. They were licensing the worldwide streaming rights, which meant compensating the BBC for the money they would have made by licensing the streaming rights to individual countries and territories. The exact figures have not been disclosed.

Now that the Disney deal is over, the BBC has to find another co-financing partner for Doctor Who, as it does for every drama series it produces, because the license fee can no longer cover the full costs of a series anymore. It has been said that the major streamers are also interested in a fuller package: namely, the library of the modern series. The classic series, which ran from 1963 to 1989, has already been licensed to many streamers. It is the popularity of the modern series that has created its current, younger fandom, which every broadcaster and streamer wants to attract. Ever since HBO's American streaming rights to the modern run lapsed in 2025, no major American streamer currently offers that run of shows.

Even if the BBC rest Doctor Who for the next two or three years, they can still make money from merchandising and licensing, especially the rights to the modern series. That whole era is hot. Every streamer wants it. Tennant's run is the most popular and what modern fans most want to revisit and binge again and again. It is likely that the modern run will be part of any future international deal for Doctor Who. Until then, it is available on BBC iPlayer in the UK.

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