Number of television series broadcasting
or streaming new episodes in the United States, for the first time, saw a downfall
in 2020 since the tally started, AFP reported analysts as saying on Friday.

2020 saw close to 493 fiction programmes
being offered to the audience on television or online platforms, amounting to a
drop of 7% in a year, Disney group subsidiary FX Research said.

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The year prior, however, saw close to
532 such programmes were being made available, a record high and an almost two-and-a-half
times increase compared to a decade earlier.

Reportedly, newer platforms, such as
Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max and Peacock, have introduced a host of new series
between November 2019 and July 2020, although that has not improved the situation
for Hollywood, which has faced filming difficulties ever since early 2020 due
to pandemic-related concerns.

FX Research, in its analysis, has not
made any observations pertaining to the decline in number – the first instance
of so happening since it started publishing the tally annually in 2009.

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Results of the analysis displayed a
numerical scarcity in recent years for series in both American cable and the major
US television channels, even though titles offered by the online platforms
increased heavily in the same time.