Big decisions for commercial television
This week’s column finds Raymond Snoddy ruminating on CRR, product placement and the Tony Ball appointment saga.
CRR sounds like one of those diseases you catch inadvertently in hospital and which is remarkably resistant to treatment
Except that ITV volunteered for a dose as part of the price of pushing through the Granada-Carlton merger in 2003 – and now none of the remedies look like having any effect.
ITV is now stuck with Contract Rights Renewal for the foreseeable future and its muted response on Tuesday to the Competition Commission’s preliminary finding was eloquent. It suggested that ITV knew the game was up already and just hadn’t let on – or more probably Michael Grade now plans to suck up to the Commission to try and get a few morsels before he departs, something that could come much sooner than expected.
The Commission neatly side-stepped the argument that “everything” has changed in the television business since 2003, with 88% of the audience now watching multi-channel television compared with 42% in 2002. Since the merger, SOCI (share of commercial impacts) has fallen from 48% to 30%.
Instead the Commission honed in on ITV’s ability to deliver mass audiences and found that ITV still produces more than 90% of programmes attracting audiences in excess of 3-6 million – even though in a fragmented world there are fewer such programmes overall. ITV could hardly complain about this line of reasoning as it coincides neatly with the commercial broadcaster’s main pitch to advertisers.
Likewise the Commission’s second karate chop. Although there are now substitutes to ITV for some campaigns, in fact ITV1’s ability “to reach mass audiences allows it to deliver many campaigns’ objectives more effectively than other commercial channels”. Indeed. What a glowing, independent endorsement of the continuing importance of ITV. Not even Michael Grade could argue against that one.
ITV simply can’t have it both ways. It either has a significant impact on the advertising market or it doesn’t.
On this occasion the Competition Commission has got it right, as opposed to its wretched decision to ban Project Kangaroo. The difference? Judging the risk of real damage to competition in an existing, mature market instead of trying to second guess future threats to competition in the IPTV market, a market that scarcely exists, yet is likely to be skewed by international billionaire players.
So ITV must learn to live with CRR, although concessions on an ITV catch-up channel and HD channel would seem eminently reasonable.
Unless Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw also has a last-minute surprise up his sleeve, ITV will in future be able to earn a pound or two from product placement – as opposed to paying large fines to regulators for breaching the product placement rules.
Whatever Bradshaw says at the Royal Television Society convention in Cambridge will not transform the balance sheet. The sums of money involved will be relatively small and likely to come out of existing advertising budgets anyway. In an ideal world, product placement should remain banned but these are tough times for commercial network television and every little helps. We already absorb product placement in American productions and on the BBC.
More mature viewers will remember the prominence given to Stella beer cans with the label pointing to the cameras in the classic BBC comedy, Men Behaving Badly. The brewers once admitted publicly that a deal was done and although there was no sign of any money changing hands you can be sure there was plenty of beer on the set.
One important condition should be set. The audience should not be deceived and should be informed of any arrangements with manufacturers outside the commercial breaks.
There is a self-policing mechanism at hand which should ensure that liberalisation of product placement rules does not make television unwatchable. If there is too much of it, or it is done too crudely or blatantly it will be a huge turn-off for the viewer.
It would also be clever if product relevance managed to accompany product placement. Remember the rows over sponsorship logos on footballers shirts when they first came in, when the BBC tried to argue they should not be more than half an inch square to keep Match of the Day free from commercialism.
There are lines in broadcasting which have to be defended but the product placement trench has long been bypassed.
The last big one in a week of decisions for commercial broadcasting, now that Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan has called a halt to his rather embarrassing non-denial denials about his departure, is the Tony Ball Show.
A slot is on hold for the former BSkyB chief executive at Cambridge should he finally accept the details of what will be his third – or fourth fortune – by becoming chief executive of ITV. The perfect platform for his re-entry to British broadcasting after five years away.
If he does, watch for a very early exit stage left by Michael Grade.
Do you agree with Raymond? Send us your opinion – news@mediatel.co.uk