2008 round-up: Television
There was a lot going on in the TV industry in 2008, with major players moving jobs, Channel 4’s funding gap and the rapid growth of digital TV just some of the big themes to emerge.
At the end of January, the Office of Fair Trading began its review of the Contracts Rights Renewal (CRR) mechanism, following a long running debate in the industry over the formula.
The OFT said that it expected the review, conducted in partnership with Ofcom, “to take about a year” (see OFT Review Of CRR To Take ‘About A Year’).
Following the phone-in scandals of 2007 (see End Of Year Round Up: Television), Ofcom announced new measures to strengthen viewer protection in participation TV, including introducing new mandatory licence conditions for television broadcasters.
The regulator also issued new guidance clarifying broadcasters’ responsibilities under the Broadcasting Code for voting and competitions (see Ofcom Announces New Licence Conditions For TV Phone-Ins).
In February, ITV hired former BBC One controller Peter Fincham to take over from Simon Shaps as director of television, while Michael Grade agreed to stay in his post as ITV executive chairman until the end of 2010, one year longer than his original three-year term (see Fincham To Replace Shaps At ITV).
April saw Dawn Airey, ITV’s managing director of global content, leave the broadcaster with immediate effect to join RTL Group’s Five (see Dawn Airey Leaves ITV For RTL). Airey had been at ITV for just eight months before she jumped ship.
Jane Lighting, Five chief executive, then announced her resignation, with Mark White, Five’s executive director of sales, serving as interim CEO until Airey’s arrival (see Lighting Resigns As Five CEO)
Lisa Opie, Five’s managing director of content, soon followed Lighting in leaving Five (see Lisa Opie Quits Five). Airey eventually took up her new role as Five CEO in October, six months earlier than expected (see Dawn Airey To Join Five In October).
2008 saw Ofcom abandon plans for a new Public Service Publisher, saying that the suggestion had served its purpose in the debate on the future of public service broadcasting (see Ofcom Abandons Plans For PSP)
Chief executive Ed Richards said: “Does anyone seriously now doubt the proposition that PSB [Public Service Broadcasting] needs to embrace new media content and distribution as well as linear TV? I think we can safely declare this question resolved. The PSP as a concept has served its purpose.”
In September, Ofcom published the second phase of its review into PSB, unveiling plans for an extra £145 – £235 million in replacement funding by 2012. The review found that in order to sustain PSB programmes on channels other than the BBC, “replacement direct or indirect funding is likely to be necessary” (see Ofcom Publishes Second Phase of PSB Review).
This followed the regulator’s warning that Channel 4 faced a £100 million a year funding gap by 2012 because of the “external situation” in the market (see Ofcom Warns That Channel 4 Faces £100m Funding Gap).
Elsewhere, analogue transmitters in the Scottish borders were switched off on November 6, marking the UK’s first major transition to digital television (see Scottish borders go digital)
Ofcom’s final Digital Progress report of the year, published in December, revealed that more than 88% of households had digital TV on their main sets (see 88% of households now have digital TV).
The regulator also published a “shorter and simpler Code” on television ads, removing rules that required 20 minute intervals between ad breaks (see Ofcom Set To Change Ad Break Rules). It followed this by launching a consultation on changes to TV advertising regulations, with the possibility of boosting the amount of TV advertising around peak-time shows (see Ofcom May Change Peak Ad Time Rules).
Finally, a new way of receiving TV launched in 2008 as ITV and the BBC unveiled free satellite service Freesat in May (see Freesat Launches Today). Five joined the channel line-up in November, giving the platform the full range of PSB channels (see Five due to launch on Freesat)
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