ONdigital Hit By Loss Of Chief Executive
ONdigital, the digital terrestrial TV broadcaster set up jointly by Carlton and Granada, last night suffered the loss of its chief executive, Stephen Grabiner. Grabiner leaves the group after 15 months in the post following reports of disagreements with Michael Green, chairman of ONdigital and Carlton Communications.
As a further blow to ONdigital, Grabiner is expected to take the top role at Rupert Murdoch’s electronic venture capital group, eVentures. Murdoch’s News Corporation owns a 40% stake in BSkyB, currently ONdigital’s main rival in the DTV market. eVentures is joint owned by Murdoch’s epartners and Softbank (see News Corporation Invests In Internet Partnership). As head of eVentures, Grabiner will report to his previous rival Mark Booth who left his post as chief executive of BSkyB in April to launch epartners (see Mark Booth Leaves BSkyB For New Media Company).
Grabiner is to be replaced at ONdigital by Stuart Prebble who was introduced to senior managers at the group yesterday afternoon. Prebble moves over to ONdigital from his post as managing director of channels and interactive media at Granada; he has also been present on the ONdigital board since January 1998.
Playing down Grabiner’s defection, Michael Green said in a company statement: “Stephen has resigned because he is actively considering another job and we have agreed that, in these circumstances, he may leave right away.” Green added that he expects Stuart Prebble to “hit the ground running.”
Rupert Murdoch steals Grabiner at a crucial time in ONdigital’s development: less than nine months after its launch and during an agressive marketing and promotional war with rival Sky Digital. ONdigital was forced to follow Sky’s move to give away the free set-top box equipment needed to receive digital television. This investment in digital television, along with associated marketing costs, is expected to hit Carlton’s and Granada’s profits heavily. By mid-morning today, shares in Carlton had dropped down 9p to 547˝p and Granada was down 4˝p to 612˝p.
ONdigital, which launched only a month after Sky Digital in November last year (see ONdigital Takes To The Air), last week announced that it has secured just under 250,000 subscribers (see ONdigital Doubles Its Subscribers). Sky Digital, which has the advantage of a recognised brand name and an existing analogue subscriber base, is understood to be edging close to the one million customers mark. Sky is to release official digital take-up figures next month.
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