Charles Allen of Granada spoke about the future of ITV; he believes that the key to business is always to be able to see through the eyes of the customer.
He gave a list of common “myths” about ITV and dismissed them all: * ITV is not commercial * ITV is only good for FMCG * ITV is too expensive * ITV gives big discounts * ITV is damaged by fragmentation * ITV is run by accountants
He also attacked Channel 4, by saying their viewers are surfers, and neither serious nor selective. He claimed that ITV’s peak time audiences pay more attention at peak times, and are less likely to be doing anything else.
To retain this superiority in the future, Allen claimed, ITV will be continuing in its policy of central scheduling, and investing heavily into networked programmes.
In response to the question as to why Granada took over LWT, he replied that the primary reason was for quality: LWT has the best group of directors and producers around.
Michael Grade, speaking next, responded to the attack by Granada with an equally vicious attack on the C4 insurance policy which requires them to hand over a share of revenue to ITV every year. He reiterated that the funding argument is still very much a “live” issue. Parliament did not intend C4 to subsidise ITV, and he expects their campaign to be succesful soon.
On the subject of privatising C4, which he claimed some ITV companies have been pressing for, he said that if the government were to privatise the channel, he would resign.
Michael Grade also commented on other key issues of the moment: With regard to Channel One he said that if Associated Newspapers get it right, they could have found a gap in the market for local news. Although one of ITV’s strengths is its regionality, it is too big to go any smaller, and C1 could exploit this.
With regard to Channel 5 Grade said that C4 do not fear the new station as much as ITV, but he does wonder what the channel should provide; he cannot think of the missing niche.
Robin Foster, in charge of commercial activities at the BBC outlined the corporation’s plans for the future. Its commercial activities bring extra benefits besides extra income for programme making. Last year £67m was earnt by BBC Enterprises, up 12% year on year, and £36m of that went directly into programming.
The commercial activities, by extending the brand, also extend and enhance services, as well as increasing involvement in new media markets around the world. Foster cited the BBC’s two new channels in Europe, covering news and entertainment.
Foster said the BBC was well aware of the need to make sure that commercial activities were not being financed from the licence fee, this is why a separate organisation was set up, BBC Worldwide.
Foster, however, does not expect the BBC’s commercial activities ever to exceed 15% of BBC’s total income. He sees it as being mostly public funded.
