The formation of a TV GVC was decades in the making. At the core of the historical process lies the industry’s global shift, which began into the last two decades of the twentieth century (the end of the broadcasting age) and accelerated in the new millennium (towards the streaming era). Documenting the latter part of this shift is the purpose of this chapter, which surveys the streaming landscape and focuses on the distinctive feature of the TV industry in the digital era: the rise of platforms. It contextualises the advent of streaming by raising the following question: is it an evolution or revolution in the history of screen entertainment? This chapter highlights the importance of scale, before introducing the concept of the platform to explain how it is achieved. It distinguishes three types of streaming platforms (internal, multisided, and transactional), which connect to three business models (SVoD, AVoD, and video-sharing).

The chapter delves into the transnational dimension of the global TV system. Transnational media have evolved, and this chapter contends that a new generation has emerged. The first, which developed in the later part of the twentieth century, consists of cross-border TV networks and formats. The second is the rise of streaming platforms. During the first generation, the transnational remained a professional practice out of viewers reach. With the arrival of the second generation, the transnational has become an everyday mode of media consumption and interaction. The chapter’s second purpose is to examine the key organisational characteristics of the transnational media firm. It compares four types of organisational configuration (multinational, global, international, and transnational), and analyses the latter in depth. It connects organisational theory to the GVC framework, demonstrating how the nature of a firm’s activities and position in the value chain play a determining role in the type of organisational structure it is most likely to adopt.