ITV

Tag: Mark Thompson

  • BBC DG Thompson & Apple’s Jobs top UK’s media power list

    BBC DG Thompson & Apple’s Jobs top UK’s media power list

    MUMBAI: BBC DG Mark Thompson has topped the Guardian’s list of the most powerful figures in the UK media once again.

    Three people in the top 10 come from technology companies, including Apple head Steve Jobs who is at number two. Jobs rises four places in this year’s list, keeping News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch in the third spot for the second year in a row.

    The Guardian notes that Thompson has recently been in the news for his £619,000 salary and also for his radical restructuring of the corporation. This year’s list was dominated by the digital media revolution. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are in fourth place.

    As far as Google is concerned Guardian notes, “So ubiquitous has Google become that it is hard to imagine what we ever did without it. The ultimate convenience research tool, its founders Brin and Page are in the midst of transforming it from a search engine into a technology giant.”

    Rising from 19 to five on the list is Channel 4’s CEO Andy Duncan, who the paper notes, “ has overseen an unprecedented year of growth and ambition”.

    Jonathan Ross who hosts film shows for the BBC is at number 19.

  • BBC Governors report points out to achieving of increased efficiency

    BBC Governors report points out to achieving of increased efficiency

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC’s board of Governors has published the BBC’s Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) for 2005/2006. It records further progress in delivering an efficient BBC focussed on providing licence fee payers with quality content across all platforms.

    BBC chairman Michael Grade noted that this was the last ARA from the Board of Governors who will be replaced by the BBC Trust at the end of the year. The chairman singled out increased efficiency as a key achievement, but noted also that further work was necessary.

    “The challenging first year target of £105 million cash savings has been met. This is a considerable achievement but, the pressure is still on. The Governors have prescribed very clear measures to ensure the year two target of an additional £112 million of cash savings is also delivered, ensuring the continuing cash savings target of £355 million annually is met from 2007/2008.

    “These savings will release the funds that are necessary to address audience expectations of quality content. But achieving the savings will require transformational change in ways of working, and not just the reduction in headcount that is already being implemented.”

    Grade went on to highlight improved performance that was in response to the concerns of licence fee payers and linked to the savings already achieved. “Last year, as a direct result of consultation with the public, the Governors requested a reduction in repeats in peak-time on BBC ONE. These have fallen from 9.7 per cent to 8.9 per cent and a new target of five per cent to be met by 2008/09 has been set.

    “The BBC’s distinctiveness from the commercial sector must be evident in a willingness to take creative risks – even if that means the inevitable occasional failure.

    “But it also requires the confidence to end successful programmes that have reached the end of their natural creative life, to create space for the next round of innovation. CBBC and CBeebies demonstrated particular evidence of this last year, having the courage to discontinue some of their most acclaimed titles that could have been damaged if continued, to make way for new ideas and programmes.

    “On behalf of audiences – who have identified tired formats and worn programming as indicators of poor quality – we will be looking for more evidence of creative renewal in the year ahead, and expect BBC ONE to make a particular effort in its early evening schedule. Overall, the Governors assess the BBC to have had a better year creatively and are pleased that total BBC reach to audiences is broadly stable.”

    He noted that two years ago, together with the Director-General, he launched Building Public Value, a prospectus for radical change at the BBC. At that time a new system of governance that would place the interests of licence fee payers was promised and not the interests of BBC management, at the very heart of the Board’s remit.

    “The Governors demanded that the BBC should become more efficient, and that the editorial teams should concentrate on providing a quality of content that is distinctive from what is provided by the commercial sector. We asked for renewed efforts by the BBC’s commercial businesses, and set a target for Worldwide of doubling its profits in two years.

    “We asked the BBC to prepare for the next Charter period by ensuring its services will be universally available to all licence fee payers. At the same time we also made clear that the BBC could not, and should not, attempt to do everything, and that it must work constructively alongside the rest of the industry in preparation for the digital future.”

    Commenting on the BBC’s overall performance, BBC DG Mark Thompson said, “The BBC is going through huge change, moving from traditional linear broadcasting to the challenging and exciting world of interactive, on-demand digital media. It means the BBC’s relationship with audiences is also constantly changing.

    “Over the last year audiences have been telling us what they love and value from the BBC. There was huge appreciation for innovative drama and adaptations like Bleak House, Life on Mars and Doctor Who, to Strictly Come Dancing, The Apprentice, Martin Scorsese’s Dylan epic No Direction Home, Catherine Tate and Facing the Truth.

    “And on radio The Raj Quartet, the dramatisation of Paul Scott’s novel about India in the 1940s, was a creative highlight; meanwhile, The Archers, the world’s longest running radio drama, marked its 55th anniversary. Our website continues to set new records for reach – now over 15.3 million a month – and our radio portfolio continues to carve its distinctive path.

    “Evidence of the changing nature of our relationship with audiences came on 7 July last year when audiences used bbc.co.uk to share their own pictures and experiences of the London bombings. Radio 3’s Beethoven Experience and Bach Christmas and our ongoing podcasting trials show a real appetite for different ways of accessing, using and enjoying the BBC’s content. New investment in content is coming through the value-for-money savings highlighted in this year’s report.

    “We have also launched our Creative Future content vision for the on-demand world. The next challenge is to bring about transformational change within the BBC to achieve that vision, to simplify how we bring the best creative ideas to our audiences and deliver the public purposes, including leading digital switchover, which have been laid down for us for the next Charter.”

  • BBC Worldwide’s profits rise 62 per cent

    BBC Worldwide’s profits rise 62 per cent

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide, UK pubcaster BBC’s commercial arm, has published its annual review for 2005/2006 and announced record profits of £89.4 million for 2005/2006, a year on year increase of 62 per cent, with sales up by 11 per cent to £784.4 million.

    The increase in overall profits was achieved by a combination of trading and efficiency improvements across the business and by selling, closing or turning around loss-making operations.

    In 2003/2004, the company produced a profit of £37 million. In 2004/2005, this rose 50 per cent to £55 million. This year, it exceeds £89 million – a 144 per cent increase from two years ago and 62 per cent up on last year. Across the business, the return on sales was 10 per cent in the year and the EBITDA margin was 22 per cent. For the first time, over 50 per cent of revenue came from overseas sales.

    The underlying profit, excluding one-offs, disposals, restructuring and legal costs, is £92.1 milion, up from £53.3 million in 2004/05, and an increase of 73 per cent in the year. This figure has also doubled over two years.

    Following a strategic review and reorganisation, the company is now focused on profit and growth. It operates seven businesses: global channels, global TV sales, magazines, home entertainment, children’s and digital media, plus the recently created content and production business.

    Both through its own operations and via partnerships and joint ventures, BBC Worldwide seeks to drive commercial benefit from rights and content on behalf of the BBC and other UK rights holders. In the UK, its products and services help to extend audiences’ appreciation of BBC programmes. Internationally the company promotes the best of British talent and culture across a range of media.

    BBC Worldwide CEO John Smith said, “It has been an outstanding year. Our turnaround and repositioning strategy has enabled us to exceed our targets, streamline the business and prepare for significant growth both in the UK and abroad. 2006/2007 will see us deepen our commitment to digital media with the proposed development of the commercial iPlayer and bbc.com, the digitising of the archive and more VoD deals. We will continue to invest in acquiring rights and maximising returns across all media. We will also be rolling out new channels and content and production strategies later this year.”

    BBC DG Mark Thompson says, “We set BBC Worldwide an ambitious target to double profits over two years, and I’m delighted they’ve managed to exceed it. The ongoing work in focussing the business and increasing efficiency is drawing direct investment back into programmes and services for UK licence payers.”

    Highlights of the year include:

    Global Channels
    Sales £165.4m – up 18% from £140.6m. 
    Profit £6.9m – up 73% from £4.0m.

    UK’s No 1 TV Channel operator with 18 channels including ten in the UK held in joint venture with Flextech (UKTV) Channels will be an important growth area in the future.
     
    Channels reach 288 million homes globally – up from 245 million last year; BBC America reached target of 45 million US homes and is now in half cable homes in USA. Ratings rising 20 per cent in primetime 
    UKTV delivered £4 million dividend to BBC Worldwide, over 90% up on 2004/2005.
     
    Darren Childs who was earlier previously Sony Pictures Television International MD was recruited to head up business. 

    BBC Japan ceased broadcasting, but BBC Prime launched in South Korea. 
    2005/2006 was an intense period of assessment and review. 

    Global TV Sales

    Sales £173.1m – up 9% from £158.8m.

    Profit £31.7m – up 3% from £30.9m.

    No 1 Exporter of television programmes.

    30th Year of BBC Showcase where 500 broadcast buyers attend to browse and buy from a catalogue of some 40,000 TV hours. Second year of BBC Showcase in Latin America.

    It re-focussed strategy into ’emerging’ and ‘developed’ markets. Growth expected in certain territories – India, China, Latin America, Russia and Poland.

    New contemporary drama re-ignites market for British shows.

    Seven pitches for Indian FM radio licences were won with partner Mid Day Multimedia.

    It also distributes Indie-produced programmes commissioned by ITV, C4 and Five.

    Content and Production

    Sales £36.1m – up 173% from £13.2m.

    Profit £3.2m – up 220% from £1.0m.

    New division, headed up by director Wayne Garvie (joined from BBC Entertainment), comprising the Independent Unit, Investment Unit, format sales and local production.

    Voted No 1 Distributor of Choice by UK Independent Producers (Broadcast, Sept 2005).

    Production office opened in Los Angeles in 2005.

    Dancing with the Stars – the international format for Strictly Come Dancing – has now been sold in 27 countries and won several awards including the Broadcast award for Best International Programme Sales. It is ABC’s top rating entertainment show (US) and on Series 5 in Australia. Following success of Deep Blue, the film Earth is now in development with BBC Production.

    Magazines

    Sales £163.7m – down 3% from £169.4m.

    Profit £19.3m – down 12% from £22.0m.

    UK’s third largest consumer magazine publisher, sold over 90 million magazines in 2005/06 UK’s third largest consumer magazine publisher, selling over 90m magazines in 2005/06 – ie- 170 every minute.

    One in four adults reads a BBC title every month.

    Profit shows an apparent reduction on 2004/05, but that year included a number of one-off items such as the sale of Eve magazine, which if excluded, leaves a year-on-year improvement of 2.5%.

    Post year-end, 61% of specialist publishing company Origin (and the non-BBC titles it publishes) was sold to a management buy-out team. BBC Worldwide will retain a minority stake for a period of time as part of a staged exit.

    CBeebies Weekly and BBC Sky at Night launched (and Doctor Who Adventures and Amy just after year end).

    Radio Times is the UK’s biggest-selling premium-priced listings magazine and No 1 magazine brand.

    Subscriptions are approaching 600,000 and a key area of growth. Dovetail joint venture formed to grow fulfilment business.

    International activity grew: Top Gear now published in 30 countries and international licensing contracts increased to nearly 30.

    Joint venture with The Times of India, Worldwide Media, now one of India’s largest magazine companies; Top Gear magazine launched there in 2005/2006.

    Home Entertainment

    Sales £175.3m – up 9% from £160.8m.

    Profit £25.8m – up 197% from £8.7m.

    First full trading year for 2 entertain – a joint venture with Woolworths plc. Sales of £115m delivering £25.8m profit, largely on DVD sales (also from music and film production). No 1 UK-owned DVD/Video distributor.

          

  • BBC publishes Statements of Programme Policy

    BBC publishes Statements of Programme Policy

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC has published its Statements of Programme Policy (SoPPs). The statements detail, service by service, how the BBC will deliver its public service remit across its portfolio over the year ahead. The priorities outlined for 2006/2007 reflect what audiences have said they want from the BBC.

    BBC DG Mark Thompson says, “The style of SoPPs has changed this year to reflect the BBC’s transition to new governance arrangements. However, we have yet again demonstrated our ongoing commitment to meeting audience needs and to delivering excellence and value across all our services.

    “We will offer diverse television, radio and new media content, as well as non-broadcast services such as the orchestras. Our efforts to provide the best in information, education, and entertainment are enhanced this year with innovative services like the Creative Archive and pilots such as BBC iPlayer [subject to approval by the Board of Governors, which will include a public value test]. For the first time this year we have a new public purpose: to help build digital Britain.

    “Without exception every BBC service now provides some digital interactivity – whether podcasts or a website – designed to encourage and include everyone, and to expose us all to the benefits of the future. It is fitting, therefore, that this year’s SoPPs are only available online. Regional, national and international network news bulletins, as well as rolling news on BBC News 2, remain integral to our programme offering and will continue to deliver precise and up-to-the-minute news and information.

    “Across our channels, programmes like Robin Hood, New Street Law and an adaptation of the novel The Line of Beauty will demonstrate our commitment to new and original drama, and several comedies from new and established UK writers will launch over the year. Successful factual output like Springwatch will return to BBC Two, while Restoration Village will expand the concept of restoration from single buildings to villages around the UK.

    “We also plan to pilot, on BBC One, a new weekday evening magazine show compiled from the nations and regions of the UK – a 21st-century version of Nationwide to complement our existing core news output.”

  • BBC unveils ‘Creative Future’ to address digital vision

    BBC unveils ‘Creative Future’ to address digital vision

    MUMBAI: The BBC has unveiled Creative Future, a new editorial blueprint designed to deliver more value to audiences over the next six years as laid out in the recent Government White Paper. For the past year, ten teams have been exploring what the world may be like in 2012, what audiences may need and want and what the BBC needs to do about it. It explores quality content for the on- demand world .

    The plans build on opportunities created by new and emerging digital technologies and confront the challenges of seismic shifts in public expectations, lifestyle and behaviours and on building new relationships with audiences and individual households, informs a press release.

    Delivering a lecture, BBC Director-General Mark Thompson will say: “The second wave of digital will be far more disruptive than the first and the foundations of traditional media will be swept away, taking us beyond broadcasting. The BBC needs a creative response to the amazing, bewildering, exciting and inspiring changes in both technology and expectations.

    “On-demand changes everything. It means we need to rethink the way we conceive, commission, produce, package and distribute our content. This isn’t about new services it’s about doing what we already do differently. The BBC should no longer think of itself as a broadcaster of TV and radio and some new media on the side. We should aim to deliver public service content to our audiences in whatever media and on whatever device makes sense for them, whether they are at home or on the move.
     
    “We can deliver much more public value when we think across all platforms and consider how audiences can find our best content, content that’s more relevant, more useful and more valuable to them. I see a unique creative opportunity. This new digital world is a better world for public service content than the old one.”

    Key recommendations include:

       -Relaunching the BBC’s website to include more personalisation, richer audio-visual and user generated content
        Create a new teen brand delivered via existing broadband, TV and radio services, including a new long-running drama and comedy, factual and music content
        -Create easy access points for audiences via broadband portals around key content areas like Sport, Music, Knowledge Building, Health and Science
        Start commissioning more 360 degree cross-platform content
       – Shift energy and resource into continuous news on TV, radio, broadband and mobile, making News 24 the centre of the TV offering, moving talent to it and breaking stories on it
        Improve the quality of Sports and Entertainment journalism and appoint a specialist Sports Editor
        -Create one single, pan-platform BBC Music Strategy and develop big events like this Autumn’s first BBC
        -Electric Proms as well as more personalisation enabling people to create the equivalent of their own radio station
       – Take entertainment seriously, learn from the world of video games and experiment with commissioning for new platforms
       – In Drama – create fewer titles with longer runs, find creative space for outstanding writers and cherish the programmes audience love best like EastEnders, Casualty and Holby City
        In Comedy – improve the creative pipeline across all platforms, pilot more shows, find new talent and build the big hits for BBC ONE
        -Give sharper age targets to the CBeebies and CBBC brands and integrate all children’s content – including online and radio – under these brands
        Pilot a Knowledge Building online project called Eyewitness – History enabling people to record and share their memories and experiences of any day over the last 100 years

    The release adds that the Creative Future plan provided a map for the on-demand future where compelling, content, easier navigation and greater audience understanding were essential. “We need to focus on making great creative content which our audiences love and is relevant to their lives. It is that simple, ” says Thompson.

    But he also warned that unless the BBC worked harder to reach younger audiences and those that felt increasingly distant more effectively, the BBC could lose a generation forever.

    The plans have emerged from the year-long Creative Future project, sponsored by Thompson and the BBC’s Creative Director Alan Yentob. The project has involved hundreds of people across the BBC, the independent sector and other industry partners, underpinned by one of the largest audience research and insight initiatives the BBC has ever undertaken.

    Some detailed key recommendations by genre are:

    Journalism
    #A new pan platform journalism strategy, including mobile devices, is already underway, putting 24/7 news on the web, broadband, TV and radio at its heart for unfolding stories as well as analysis.
    #Sport and Entertainment journalism will be improved. Responsiveness and authenticity are important qualities to audiences.
    #Current affairs will be reshaped and BBC News will work with the education sector to get BBC journalism into secondary schools across the country through initiatives like Schools Question Time.

    Sport
    #Creating a BBC Sport broadband portal with live video and audio, journalism, specialist sports and interactive comment, which builds on the recent success of the Winter Olympics and reflects the diversity of sport across the nations and regions of the UK.
    # Launching a new flagship Sports News programme on TV, appointing a BBC Sports Editor and phasing out ‘portfolio’ programmes like Grandstand, a brand which no longer has impact, in favour of BBC Sport branded live events and highlights.

    Music
    #For the first time, a single BBC music strategy across all platforms, with regular cross platform events like this Autumn’s Electric Proms, including TV Music Entertainment and commissioning in Radio & Music.
    # The aim is be the premier destination for unsigned bands and to seize the opportunities of broadband, podcasting and mobile.

    Kids & Teens
    #All children’s output, including radio, online and learning will eventually be consolidated under the CBeebies and CBBC brands which will be given tighter audiences targets – up to 6 and 7-11 years respectively.
    # Create a broadband based teen brand aimed at 12-16 years, including a high volume drama, comedy, music and factual content.

    Comedy
    #Developing the creative pipeline for comedy across all radio and TV networks – local and national – and kickstarting contemporary sitcoms by increasing the number of pilots, investing more in rehearsal time and script development, maximising access through new media and experimenting with bespoke content.
    # Improving training, nurturing talent, relaunching the comedy website and holding an annual BBC Comedy day for those involved in creating comedy for the BBC.

    Drama
    #Intensifying the pace, energy and emotion of TV dramas, such as the award-winning Bleak House or The Street currently on BBC ONE, while continuing to cherish the big runners like EastEnders and Casualty that audiences love.
    # Creating more writer-led radio landmarks, opting for fewer TV titles with longer runs and higher audience value, supporting single dramas and writers and experimenting with the drama inherent in gaming and interactive – such as the online drama Jamie Kane.

    Entertainment
    #Deliver more consistent, braver, high production value entertainment on Saturday nights on BBC ONE, plus at least two stripped entertainment events on the channel each year.
    # More effective piloting, cross media commissioning and closer collaboration with other genres like factual and leisure to build top shows of the future like The Apprentice – from factual entertainment.

    Knowledge Building
    #BBC content which documents the world and inspires audiences to explore, learn and contribute should come as one proposition and be available permanently after transmission. Knowledge Building content should be as big an offer from the BBC as BBC News.
    # The appeal to people’s interests and passions has a long term value so the BBC will rethink its approach, pan platform, to key areas like Natural History, Health and Technology.
    # It will also pilot Eyewitness – a national grid marking every day over the last 100 years –giving anyone with a story to tell about a particular day the chance to record and share their memories with others.

    Cross platform content and commissioning
    #Building on big ideas and events that can work across platforms as well as on linear channels, while meeting specialist interests via on-demand.
    # It will mean a different approach to commissioning and integrating key output areas.

    Thompson said these and more detailed recommendations in each area were just the beginning of creative renewal and would be facilitated by other important initiatives. These include: feeding more audience insights and research into the creative process and developing new cross platform measurements; also putting technology and its potential at the heart of creative thinking; developing a pan BBC rights strategy; launching a more powerful search tool as bbc.co.uk is upgraded, cracking metadata labelling as a priority and ensuring that the BBC is organisationally and culturally ready to make the Creative Future recommendations real.

    “Audiences have enormous choice and they like exercising it. But many feel the BBC is not tuned into their lives. We need to understand our audiences far better, to be more responsive, collaborative and to build deeper relationships with them around fantastic quality content,” says Thompson.

  • British government asks BBC to adapt to digital era

    British government asks BBC to adapt to digital era

    MUMBAI: The British government has granted the BBC its license fee for the next 10 years, but also asked the broadcaster to adapt those principles to the digital era and that it needs to return to its roots of “informing, educating and entertaining”.

    Suggesting that the corporation should put entertainment at the heart of its mission, these recommendations came in the form of a White Paper on the future of the BBC.

    It also called for the BBC to avoid copycat programming and expensive foreign acquisitions, and confirmed new regulations designed to prevent the BBC from bullying commercial competitors.

    Both the charter renewal, valid until 2016, and the White Paper come just two years after the devastating Hutton Report, which found that the BBC had engaged in irresponsible journalism.

    The paper did lay out some new goals for the BBC. One of them is that the broadcaster should convert to full digital transmission by 2012. Another is that the BBC’s programs and websites should be of high quality and engaging.

    According to media reports, the report also commends the announced goal of BBC director general Mark Thompson to cut 4,000 jobs and re-invest the resulting £355 million a year in savings back into programming.