ITV BBC partnership

In a sign of increasing desperation, ITV is now apparently pinning its hopes on a partnership with the BBC to safeguard the future of regional news on the channel. The newly promoted director of News and Sport, Micheal Jermey has written to staff stating that the partnership idea is now 'ITV's preferred option for the future'. This is worrying news for a number of reasons; The announcement by the BBC late last year, looked like a back-of-a-fag-packet job; a poor attempt at diverting the heat over top-slicing. It follows previous initiatives such as the 3sixty media partnership which was a disaster, especially for the staff who transferred into an ill-conceived venture. The new idea now seems to be playing a part in ITV's political manoeuvring as the end game for PSB takes shape. Many staff both at the BBC and ITV are opposed to the move as ill-thought out, unworkable and counter-intuitive. At a time when many members at ITV are losing their jobs, the thought of BBC staff providing the material that ITV journalists once produced leaves a pretty sour taste in the mouth.

ITV talks to continue Monday

The NUJ ballot for strike aciton at ITV is due to begin on Monday. Both sides have agreed to last minute talks to see if a dispute can be avoided. Press Gazette story here. 

Cloud Cuckoo Land

Increasingly bizarre claims from ITV Chief; My personal favourite being the fact that staff are suprisingly upbeat about changes to ITV regional news.

Bonfire of the vanities

Yesterdays comments by ITV chief Exec and Charmian M Grade must feel like a knife through the heart for those who work on the commercial broadcasters regional news service. Ofcom has already paved the way for mass redundancies across the regional map and the destruction of the local news proposition. He now threatens those who will remain with 'outsoucing' - here

It's such a bad job it makes Mr on-digital, Charles Allen look good. As the share price tanks and staff lose all faith, far from being the saviour of ITV it looks like the current chief may well preside over its destruction.

  

bad day for news

Ofcom has finally published its plans for ITV and the future of Public Service Broadcasting. The launch was not as slick as usual, for some reason no-one at the briefing was given a copy of the report and had to rely on a few hastily photocopied sheets - a good start for the communications regulator. As the plans emerged it went downhill from there. ITV to be allowed to butcher its regional news service, cut back to virtually nil its regional non news output. The cheery news is not confined to ITV, both the BBC and Channel Four will suffer, a slice of licence fee hived off, and a half hearted commitment to a sustainable model for C4 all adds up to a bit of a mess. We are meeting ITV in the coming days and planning our resistance in order to try and save ITV from itself and an old style, non-regulatory regulator.

No such thing as a free launch?

BBC and ITV launched their version of freesat today. It will have significant reach and hopefully provide a viable alternative to Sky. However the details are still very unclear. Channel four is involved but not with its HD channel. Five are conspicuous by their absence. For what might be a very significant venture, it's odd that it didn't merit a press release from ITV plc. The ITV component includes exclusive HD content. HD seems to be one of the main marketing propositions, yet with the launch today all that could be said was that ITV HD will come 'in the next few weeks' and no clear idea of what it will contain. Reactions from potential viewers have been predicable. We meet ITV plc on a regular basis and have often raised concerns over their HD proposition. Unlike the BBC and Sky, ITV has been slow to recognise the importance of this format to its overall business approach. They prevaricated under Charles Allen when others acted. It''s early days for the new freesat, but the lack of joined up thinking by the PSBs seems to be a missed opportunity.

learning lessons from others

I saw this at The Register - a piece about Tescos setting up a digital download service next year:
A couple of extracts;
"...buying digital music isn't a habit that has caught on. The global market is worth $3bn annually, but that's a drop in the ocean; Reg readers pour scorn on people who actually fork out real money for digital songs - on a song-by-song basis - calling them "paytards"."
and
"Our commercial broadcasters - and the BBC - are hoping that we'll get into the habit of paying for TV shows and movies. The Beeb already sells Dr Who through iTunes in the USA, and is awaiting the arrival of Kangaroo to sell us repeats here, too. But if current behaviour patterns persist, that's only going to increase the attractiveness of PirateBay."

Apart from the fact that the Tescos venture will probably come about five years too late. I was struck by the fact that digital music downloads only produced $3bn dollars revenue last year. This makes you realise what a state the music business is currently in. With UK mainstream broadcasters - BBC and commercial - looking for salvation, with a business strategy involving Internet revenues and online programme sales, they should be careful. Illegal music downloads are outstripping legal sales by a factor of 20 to one. There is no obvious reason why the market for quality television output won't go the same way. At best the broadcasters plans look risky at worst they could be a recipe for disaster.

NUJ Parliamentary briefing

A group of us went to the House of commons yesterday to discuss the state of ITV and public service broadcasting. We had a good turn out of around forty MP's. Amongst the group group are; Laura Davison, Assistant Broadcasting Organiser (far Left), Adam Powell NUJ Border TV (next to Laura) and Martin Fisher NUJ Yorkshire TV (Red coat). The event was a good primer for the Ofcom PSB review which we expect to be launched second week of February.

dancing dads

Talks today about a new grading structure for journalists at ITV. It's been a very slow and, at times, tedious process but we're nearing the end of it and it should produce benefits for members at ITV. We're now at the business end, talking about the money attached to each grade. We are trying to get it in before Ofcom allows them to dismantle regional news or the company implodes as the share price disintegrates. Meanwhile, a sign of ITV's online strategy emerges as they announce a deal with Bebo to supply content for the site. The first produce of the deal, a promo for 'gossip girl' is short on content. It feels like ITV is desperately trying to catch up and appear cool, however, the results can be embarrassing, a bit like your Dad dancing.

barking up the wrong tree

ITV has just announced a tie-in with a dog food company to fund one of its programmes. It is also reported that a deal is pending concerning a new 30 sec themed ad to run during or around News at Ten. Sponsorship is not currently allowed for News prgrammes but the broadcaster has made no secret of its wish to go further down this route. This is difficult territory. There is sympathy for ITV's poor performance and it is in the public interest to have a strong, viable ITV. But this support doesn't come at any cost and cannot be taken for granted in these fragile times. ITV has previously crossed the line between news content and promotion; At the height of the premium rate phone 'gold-rush', journalists were being asked to phone round local businesses to drum up free products that could be offered as competion prizes during regional news programmes.

Too close a relationship between a particular advertiser and a news programme will inevitably raise questions over conflict of interest. With traditional news services under increasing threat and rebuilding public trust a priority, a clumsy move could be shortsighted and counterproductive. A real debate is needed of funding models for PSB but impatiality is not a comodity and shouldn't be squandered, at any price.

healing self inflicted wounds

The OFT have given an indication of the timetable for ITV's much lobbied for, review of the contract rights renewal system . CRR has the effect of limiting the revenue that ITV can generate from advertising. The reason we have the current system is due to the fact that previous management of ITV played a very poor hand when tying up the merger of ITV. The system was in fact proposed by ITV itself. The so-called 'straitjacket' is said by some analysts to cost around £50m a year to the broadcaster. A little more than the proposed level of cuts to its news output and commitments. To us it's a no-brainer - give ITV some leeway on CRR so long as they back off on cutting local news. Meanwhile the share price is flatlining.

Vive La France

Just picked up the story on FT.com about Sarkozy's intention to take advertising off state TV and replace revenues with 'taxes on mobile phone operators, internet service providers, plus a levy on the advertising revenues of private television channels'. The intention it would seem is to create a BBC for France.
Each country has a very different broadcasting history and comparisons are not always that helpful, however, if true this proposal is the kind of thing the NUJ has been seeking in a UK context for years.
The current system in the UK whereby the vast majority of public service broadcasting is provided by the BBC in exchange for a public licence fee is sustainable, providing the BBC gets the transition through Bill Gates 'digital decade' right. The trick being not to alienate your core audience by rushing headlong after the new. The jury is out on the current BBC strategy. However, if long term funding for the BBC is uncertain, amongst commercial broadcasters the funding picture is distinctly bleak. Channel Four is asking for Government intervention to bolster and sustain its PSB offering; ITV is currently trying to divest itself of its remaining commitments, killing, in the process, the very goose that laid the golden - licence-to-print - eggs.
We have argued that those commercial operators who benefit from access to broadcast systems in the UK - such as Sky and others, should be obliged to pay a levy allowing others to produce PSB programming. On the other hand. if a commercial entity is committed to producing such programming they could then be given an exemption from the new tax.
It will be interesting to see what happens in France. The marriage between a right wing populist leader who launches a full scale attack on workers rights and a trade union is an unlikely one, however, with so much riding on the outcome, sometimes needs must.

reading room

Lots of announcements today. Ofcom bringing our its statement on the Digital Dividend Review. The BBC Trust with a report on procurement and spectum use and ITV gave a trading update. Too tired to read them now.

add insult to injury

Has M Grade lost his touch? Once feted as an extremely able lobbyist, his recent track record has been poor. Leaving the BBC in the middle of failed licence negotiations doesn't look good on your CV, nor does presiding over a collapse in ITV's share price endear you to investors. However, stating that viewers won't really notice any difference if ITV guts and closes newsrooms across the country, is an insult to those who currently work for the broadcaster. They may ultimately be the judge of the permanently temporary boss of ITV.

withering on the vine

Talks with ITV about pay and conditions yesterday. The share price is at an all time low. The Grade strategy relies on a massive rise in internet income - multiplying income in this area tenfold by 2010. On this issue there is little detail. Equally within ITV's strategy no account is taken of the potential damage that will be done if ITV abandons PSB commitments. Analysts may not care much about the loss of regional news and programming but the public associate ITV with regionalism and quality content. In the afternoon we went to Westminster to talk about the fight to save ITV regional news, we have the support of more than 150 MP's but we need to galvanise them.

playing catch up

After a relentless series of meetings with members and the BBC, today was spent catching up on the endless emails that seem, like the universe, to be ever quietly expanding. Meanwhile, the writers strike in America is providing an interesting diversion. The issue is one of residual rights and the fact that the Guild was stung previously when, according to the Economist; The writers agreed to a residual payment for DVDs of 0.3%, which translates into about four cents for each sale of a DVD—or one-tenth of what DVD-box manufacturers get.
So far, the strike seems to have had a powerful impact, with personalities and actors queuing up to lend support and many of the top shows off air. Working for a Union, I know that to any serious negotiator, a strike is a tool of last resort, however, when employers fail to listen to reason, then members sometimes have to exercise their will.

Britney BBC

It was a long day yesterday. It began with an early start, out leafleting at Television Centre. We've been there countless times for lots of reasons. Even though it was cold, I don't think I can remember a warmer reception. Then we met with News management as they tried to explain themselves. Changes would have been made even if there were no funding issues, they said. As if major cut backs in journalism were a good thing. There was talk of less 'lives' for the one and more 'lives' for the six and ten. For video on the web; some stories will be selected and resourced according to popularity. Well, as the most searched for term on the news site is 'Britney Spears' you'll know where to go for in-depth analysis of this important story. A lunchtime meeting with members was followed by more talks. The evening ended in a high as there was a do for the Stand up for journalism campaign, and the chance to hear Tony Benn once more,

the endangered species

Last week was dominated by the BBC cuts. We managed to negotiate a framework agreement on Monday, which sets the terms for divisional talks. Meanwhile people started top realise just how bad the plans are. Met with the Secretary of State at the DCMS, James Purnell on Wednesday. We gave him our thoughts on the future of Public Service Broadcasting. Everyone we speak with reiterates the line that they want strong independent broadcasting but none seem prepared to say how it will be delivered. If they wait long enough it will be gone, perhaps that's the idea.

Have you seen the future?

Conversations today about ITV and the future of non-bbc commercial public service broadcasters. They are an endangered species; not least because they themselves have not yet put forward a compelling case for their continued existence. Channel 4 seems to favour the 'cap in hand' approach; ITV, the 'cut our cloth'. Both want to get their hands on the digital spectrum, neither seem prepared to offer anything in return. If the licence fee settlement provides any pointers it would be wise for the broadcasters to be careful when dealing with government. Think not what Gordon can do for you but what you can do for Gordon.

Bad day for Broadcasting

The end of a long day. We started off at 7.30 am with the Director General of the BBC and his advisers. It ends with terrible scenes from Pakistan, a reminder that some are sadly dealing with life and death issues today. In terms of the BBC, it is to be hoped that this monolithic tanker can be turned round, reducing the cuts on programme makers and avoiding a loss of core public service values. The organisation is deeply unsettled and staff deserve to be treated respectfully and properly. Someone from the bridge ought to ask - isn't that an iceberg that is on its way towards us? At ITV, the findings of the Deloitte report have caused problems for the company and the industry. We are critical of ITV's approach to its public service commitments and to jobs however, it is to be commended for the way it has dealt with this issue, thus far (leaving to one side whether they sought to 'bury bad news' on a day likely to be dominated by strife at the BBC). They were the first to get in independent auditors they have now acted in a manner which has not sought to look for scapegoats. It would be good if others had acted this way in dealing with their own 'trust issues'.