Who's watching? Fact and fiction in streaming TV - Plus - Royal Television Society
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February 2017
Who’s watching?
Fact and fiction
in streaming TV
Plus
Mark Thompson’s encounter with the President
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RTS NEWS Your guide
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regional events
NORTH WEST SOUTHERN
National events Local events Wednesday 22 February Wednesday 22 March
Student media conference Meet the professionals
RTS EARLY EVENING EVENT BRISTOL Followed by the Student An opportunity for students
Thursday 23 February Sunday 19 March Television Awards. The from production-based courses
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What is the future for honest Venue: Bristol Old Vic, King Sessions include: How to get media production professionals.
journalism in a post-truth world? Street, Bristol BS1 4ED into TV; Using digital media 2:00pm-5:30pm
Panellists include: Nick Robinson, ■ Belinda Biggam in drama; Exploring virtual Venue: Bournemouth University,
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editor, ITV News, ITN; Patrick DEVON & CORNWALL place, email rachelpinkney@ ■ gordonjcooper@gmail.com
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John Whittingdale OBE MP, former ac.uk Lowry, Salford Quays, Salford Wednesday 15 February
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Media and Sport. Chair: Stewart EAST Student Television Awards Speaker: Ian Trow, senior direc-
Purvis CBE. More speakers TBA. ■ Nikki O’Donnell Presented by Roger tor, emerging technology and
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4
TV diary
Jess Fowle celebrates a historic week for
True North, which seems to have grown
too big for its pizzas
A
n auspicious start on the four-hour train ride to pitch from tales of Bake Off’s drawn-out ges-
to the week. The in London. There are times when I tation. In the meantime, we’re deter-
news breaks that board the East Coast main line from mined to prove the concept works.
Sky has taken a Happy Valley to Medialand slightly
majority stake in resentfully. ■ Our development exec is teaching
True North. Our But, today, I’m feeling philosophical. herself piano and I am training for
baby, born 16 years The post-Brexit world presents an a particularly masochistic challenge
ago, is all grown-up. What started with enormous challenge to all of us media called Up the Buttress (The Buttress
three people, one desk and one com- luvvies, and something tells me that being a ridiculously vertiginous,
puter regularly employs more than those 200 miles that separate us from slimy, cobbled local “snicket”, to be
150 talented programme-makers the metropolis are going to give us a conquered on a mountain bike).
across bases in Leeds and Manchester creative edge in years to come. The only way I can train is to do it
and has 11 series in production. Rather than seeing the M62 as secretly – at 6:00am – while no one is
The deal with Sky has been a long a long, thin car park, we’re now watching. Today I manage 25 metres
time in the making and it’s both excit- reimagining it as a cultural fault line before coming off. Tomorrow, I am
ing and a relief to finally tell our team. across modern Britain. And we’re determined it will be 30.
We’re all fiercely proud of our inde- perched right on top of it.
pendent Northern roots and massively ■ The week that started so well has
invigorated by what the future holds. ■ One of our shows, Building the ended even better. True North is
Dream, is exactly half way through a named as one of the best places to
■ I’m woken slightly befuddled after five-year, 100-part order. We want to work in TV. A near crisis is averted
last night’s fizz. Our development make sure that we’re not missing any after Dominos says our celebratory
WhatsApp group is going crazy. My tricks. Thankfully, we have some ded- order is too big to deliver.
co-creative director, Andrew Sheldon, icated viewers inside the company. Our brilliant office manager heads
is at Realscreen with executive pro- Today, we’re running a programme into town to pick up the pizzas and
ducer Fiona O’Sullivan - creator of review. It’s like a book group but we finally celebrate with a Skype
our toe-curlingly honest relationship without the wine. The brilliant series hook-up between the teams in Leeds
show, The Lie Detective. Three US net- producer is remarkably resilient as and Manchester.
works are fighting over the format. his colleagues analyse and question
Andrew and I have been partners every part of the format. ■ Various members of the True North
in crime for 23 years and he had felt We come away with lots of tweaks cycling team nobble me – to ask if
torn – having to be away from base – all within budget – that will give Sky will provide brand new Pinarellos
for our Sky announcement. He the show even greater production for our little team or if Chris Froome
seems to have cheered up now. values and creative edge. can be our coach. I say I will investi-
gate. Maybe some jerseys, perhaps?
■ Try to run off the hangover with a ■ We’re developing a dramatic trans-
headtorch-lit riverside run at home formation show with a BBC commis- Jess Fowle is creative director and
in Hebden Bridge, before setting off sioning editor and I’m taking heart co-founder of True North.
Television www.rts.org.uk February 2017 5
Streaming facts
from fiction
H
ave Netflix and Amazon surrounding both shows. In December,
Prime Video finally come Audience research the Mail on Sunday reported that Clark-
of age as viewing son’s The Grand Tour was the most ille-
platforms in the UK, gally-downloaded TV show in history.
thanks to the uber-hyped How big are the The source was a piracy data firm
The Crown and The Grand
Tour? But how many people have
changes in UK viewing called Muso.
The story was picked up by the
watched these, the first two big British habits that Netflix and Guardian, Independent, Daily Telegraph,
commissions by the streaming Fortune and other media.
companies? And what impact are the
Amazon are fostering? But Variety checked the details with
video-streaming companies having Torin Douglas Muso and squashed the claim. It said
on our viewing habits more generally? The Grand Tour may have had piracy
With their huge budgets and endless investigates problems but it “was not even close to
press and online coverage, there is a lot being the most-pirated show over the
riding on the return of Jeremy Clark- change is far less dramatic than the last three weeks” – let alone ever.
son and co, and the drama series about internet cheerleaders would have us Similarly, when Netflix launched The
the young Queen Elizabeth. believe. Crown, the Times proclaimed: “Stream-
Since neither company will share its “We are experiencing profound ing upstarts seize traditional televi-
viewing figures or UK subscription change, with new ways to watch, and sion’s crown. Britain is turning into
numbers, it i s not easy to gauge their new global providers of content,” says a digital couch-potato economy, with
real impact, but we can try to sift the Jonathan Thompson, Chief Executive four in five of us subscribing to at least
fact from the fiction. of Digital UK, which co-ordinates the one streaming service.”
If you believe the headlines, services Freeview DTT platform. “But it is really Thompson publicly challenged this
such as Netflix are carrying all before important that we separate rhetoric claim at Digital UK’s stakeholder con-
them. But, while everyone agrees that from reality and not get carried away ference: “The survey’s ‘four in five’
viewing habits are changing – particu- with a Silicon Valley view of the future figure was for people subscribing to
larly among the young – the stalwarts of broadcast TV.” any type of service, not just streaming
of terrestrial television insist that the There has been a fog of hype – gym membership, publications,
6
compared directly, because Amazon 1.8 episodes, considerably fewer than
and Netflix don’t publish figures or the top US shows on Amazon.
submit themselves to Barb’s strict GfK says that this could be because
rules, as broadcasters do – though viewers were disappointed after the
Amazon has made an approach. first episode or they simply hadn’t
“We had an enquiry caught up yet. Ama-
recently from a repre- zon releases a new
sentative of Amazon
about measuring audi-
A MASSIVE Grand Tour show every
Friday (in contrast to
ences for The Grand Tour, 37% OF THE Netflix, which puts out
but it came to nothing,”
wrote Barb CEO Justin UK’S AMAZON a whole series straight
away); there were
Sampson on its website.
“I’ll leave you to draw
PRIME USERS eight episodes in
November and
your own conclusions.” WATCHED THE December.
Barb requires all
programmes to be
GRAND TOUR “The Grand Tour is
astonishing,” says Julia
measured on a similar Lamaison, insight
basis so that figures can director of GfK UK.
be shared and compared. But Amazon “I’ve never seen a pattern like that for
won’t even tell its series producers any other original programme launch.
how their shows are doing. It certainly attracted a massive number
Clarkson has confirmed that The of Amazon users and it will be inter-
Grand Tour team has not been told – esting to see whether the interest con-
and will not be told – how many tinues through time.”
people have watched the programme. But how many people have actually
Amazon has revealed only that the watched the show? GfK keeps this sort
show was its biggest premiere ever, of analysis for the broadcasters and
“with millions of members streaming platforms that subscribe to its tracker,
the first episode in the US, UK, Ger- but we can make some assumptions.
many, Austria and Japan over the first The latest Barb Establishment survey
weekend”. shows that 6.13 million UK households
Netflix’s recently published results subscribed to Netflix in the third quar-
Netflix newcomer A Series
Netflix
for Q4 2016 reveal a record quarterly ter of 2016, while Amazon Prime mem-
of Unfortunate Events
rise in subscriptions, up by 7 million bership grew strongly to 2.55 million.
to almost 94 million worldwide. At the The survey shows that 13.8 million
software, music and so on,” he said. same time, Netflix confirmed plans to adults had access to Netflix and
“It was commissioned by a company spend $6bn on content in 2017. But it 5.4 million to Amazon. A third of adults
called Zuora, which runs a subscription remains as coy as Amazon about its – 16.9 million – had at least one SVoD
management programme.” viewing figures. Chief content officer service, including Now TV.
The headline on Zuora’s press Ted Sarandos told analysts simply that Assuming, as GfK says, that The Crown
release was dramatic, echoing a theme The Crown was “very popular” in the reached 9% of 13.8 million Netflix
repeatedly peddled by internet busi- UK, and also did well across the US, adults, it would mean that 1.2 million
nesses: “Is broadcast dead? Half of Europe, and Asia. saw at least part of an episode. If The
Brits now rarely watch ‘normal TV’ due Fortunately, the UK’s wealth of Grand Tour reached 37% of Amazon’s
to Netflix and Amazon Video, finds research expertise and viewing data 5.4 million adults, the audience would
consumer research.” means we can get a clearer picture. work out at 2 million – at least for part
This assertion was contradicted by Figures released to Television by GfK of the first episode.
the release itself. It stated that a quarter UK from its SVoD Content Tracker (see That is good for a show that is not on
of British consumers subscribed to charts) show that The Crown and The “normal” TV – the best-watched epi-
video streaming services and almost Grand Tour went straight to the top sode of Game of Thrones on Sky Atlantic
half of these subscribers said they spots on their platforms in the UK. got an average audience of 2 million.
rarely watched “normal” TV. Across November and December But it’s not large in UK audience terms
“That’s 12% of the UK adult popula- 2016, 9% of Netflix users watched The (the Bake Off final topped 15 million) and
tion,” the release declared. But 12% is Crown, putting it well ahead of proven it’s a lot less than Clarkson and chums
not “half of Brits”. And, as rigorous US hits such as Breaking Bad, Narcos, got on Top Gear.
researchers know, what people say in Orange Is the New Black and Gilmore Girls. So, what impact is internet video
a survey can be very different to what On average, these viewers watched 3.9 having on our viewing habits generally?
they actually do. of The Crown’s 10 episodes. UK subscriptions to Netflix and
So how do The Crown and The Grand A massive 37% of the UK’s Amazon Amazon Prime are undoubtedly grow-
Tour compare with the most popular Prime users watched The Grand Tour, ing, boosted by The Crown and The Grand
series on “normal” TV, such as The Great four times the figure for the number- Tour, but most viewers seem to use
British Bake Off, Strictly Come Dancing, and two show, The Man in the High Castle. them as additions to broadcast TV,
Planet Earth II? Their audiences can’t be But on average they only watched not as replacements. �
Television www.rts.org.uk February 2017 7
� And change is happening faster
Orange Is the among the young. A much higher
New Black
proportion of the 16-34 age group
have access to an SVoD service and
they are watching less live TV than
they did two years ago.
According to Barb, this group’s
average viewing fell to 1 hour 54 min-
utes a day in 2016, from 2 hours 4
minutes in 2015. Ofcom’s Digital Day
diary survey agrees, and records a
steeper fall over the past two years.
But the young have always watched
less TV than all adults and, among
viewers as a whole, the drop in view-
Netflix ing to “normal” TV is much lower.
Average Barb and Thinkbox say it is down by
Top 10 Netflix programmes Percentage Percentage streams/ just three minutes a day, from 3 hours
November/December 2016 of total of total episodes 26 minutes in 2015 to 3 hours 23 min-
users streams per user utes last year. They insist that broad-
The Crown 9% 4% 3.9 cast TV remains easily the most
Breaking Bad 6% 4% 5.4 popular form of video.
Narcos 6% 3% 5.1 “TV – live, playback or on-demand,
Orange is the New Black 5% 3% 4.4 across all screens – had a 76% share
Gilmore Girls 4% 2% 5.1 of total video viewing in 2015 in the
Once Upon a Time 4% 2% 4.5 UK,” declared a recent publication,
Marvel’s Luke Cage 4% 2% 4.7 “TV in the video world”, published by
Stranger Things 3% 2% 4.7 Thinkbox and the Marketing Society.
Sons of Anarchy 1% 2% 15.4 “SVoD viewing – Netflix, Amazon
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 1% 2% 10.8 Prime and other SVoD services –
Source: GfK Subscription Video on Demand Content Tracker totalled 4%,” it said. The YouTube
figure was 4.4%.
Yet, many people in TV find it hard
The Man in the to accept this. Nigel Walley, Managing
High Castle Director of Decipher, the media strat-
egy consultancy, wrote recently:
“Speaking at a conference, I quoted
an Ofcom figure about the resilience
of linear broadcast viewing in UK TV.
“After my talk, I was accused of
lying about it by an audience mem-
ber. It was a strangely shocking
moment. They were convinced that
the truth they felt in their gut was
more true than an exhaustively
researched Ofcom number.”
The Chair of Thinkbox, Tess Alps,
Amazon Prime tirelessly challenges all misleading
Average claims about “the death of TV”. She
Top 10 Amazon programmes Percentage Percentage streams/ says: “We’ve recently published a
November/December 2016 of total of total episodes study through Ipsos, called “TV nation/
users streams per user ad nation”, which looks at marketers’
The Grand Tour 37% 13% 1.8 opinions of what consumers do. It’s
The Man in the High Castle 9% 6% 3.6 pretty terrifying. If you ask marketers
Lucifer 8% 5% 3.1 how much time they think the aver-
The Walking Dead 6% 5% 4.2 age person is watching YouTube, they
Mr Robot 5% 5% 4.3 say over an hour a day – the real
Vikings 5% 4% 4.1 number is 16 minutes.”
Black Sails 2% 3% 9.3 It may be apocryphal, but an Amazon
Arrow 2% 3% 9.2 executive was recently quoted as say-
Outlander 3% 3% 4.7 ing that no one in north London
Prison Break 2% 2% 6.3 watches broadcast TV any more.
Source: GfK Subscription Video on Demand Content Tracker To which the response was “in your
dreams”.
8 February 2017 www.rts.org.uk Television
Flying
high
under
the
radar
The Billen profile
Miranda Curtis, a key
player in the expansion
of cable TV and BA’s
all-time top woman
passenger, gives a
Liberty Global
rare interview to
Andrew Billen
W
hen you are painfully young in Japanese business bewildering summary of acquisitions
talking to a years, rather than over the hill), to her and renamings – been huge but was
woman as benefit. only really noticed by customers
successful “A Japanese colleague,” she tells me when it reacquired Virgin Media
as the former over coffee in a London business in 2013.
president of a centre, “said to me one night after Privacy is also part of Curtis’s style.
key division of Liberty Global, a multi- we’d had quite a lot of sake, ‘Miranda- When she tells me that Vanity Fair has
millionaire who has driven the expan- san, you have to understand that, to recently brought Malone back from
sion of cable television and telephony us, all western men look exactly the its “hall of fame” into the main body
across the world, and who is now same, particularly Americans: square of its annual power list because, at 75,
firmly in the ranks of Britain’s great jaw, blue eyes, same shirts. At least we he is still such a “player”, I ask if she
and good, it is hard to prosecute the can remember which one you are.’” is on any list.
case that sexism has held her back. Here, however, few people would “No. Not the power list. Nor the gay
Miranda Curtis, however, has no recognise the neat, blonde, composed power list.”
compunction in saying she has yet forthright woman, now a youthful Would she want to be? “No. Not
encountered it, not least in Japan, 61, who is talking to me. There are interested.” She is not in Who’s Who,
where she struck one of telephony’s reasons for this. Liberty Global, I notice. “Not in Who’s Who, not on
deals of the century without – for fear chaired by the low-key John Malone Wikipedia, nothing. It suits me fine.”
of frightening the locals – ever being (go on, tell me you could pick him out Why? Why doesn’t she want to
named as chair of the company on in a line-up shout about what she’s done, and as
whose behalf she was negotiating. of American tycoons), does not court a gay woman? “I just fly under the
Somehow, she turned the curse of publicity. radar. It’s the way I always was. It’s
being, as she puts it, “female, foreign Its role in British cable has – as very effective. I get on with my life
and fortysomething” (which is Curtis will explain to me in a and do interesting things and meet
Television www.rts.org.uk February 2017 9
The Curtis interesting people. I don’t feel the need
for it.” �
struction. So what we’re doing now in
the UK is bringing Virgin Media back
chronicles � This, it turns out, is only the second
full-blown press interview she has
up to the standards of some of our
other networks in Europe.”
ever given in Britain. But we should But some Virgin employees feel that,
not mistake reticence for bashfulness. under its new owners, it has lost its old
Curtis knows her worth. Early on, she Bransonian spirit, I venture. “It’s got a
tells me she is “the grandmother of the Liberty spirit, instead,” she says firmly.
British cable industry”, having written She was raised in a home full of the
some of the original cable franchise spirit of inquiry. Her father was editor
applications that created what is now of the liberal-minded News Chronicle,
Virgin Media. Of her work in Japan, she her mother, a sub-editor on The Sunday
calls it “the most successful investment Graphic. Miranda was three when they
Liberty Global has ever made”. split up, but she continued to see her
Miranda Curtis, board member of She joined the Malone empire in father, who, by then, was working for
Liberty Global, Marks & Spencer, 1992 and, although she left the staff the Aga Khan and was pleased to
RSC, Garsington Opera and the six years ago, she remains on Liberty introduce her to travel in both Europe
Institute for Government Global’s board. Malone has been loyal and Africa.
to her, and she is a loyalist back. Her mother reinforced the interna-
Born 26 November 1955; brought I ask her about the recent acquisition tionalism by sending her and twin
up in London with two brothers by the sister company, Liberty Media, sister Julie (now a Russian literature
and one twin sister of Formula One. She says that “John” don at Oxford) to the Lycée Français
Father Michael Curtis, editor of the has always invested in content, as well in London. The result was that, when
News Chronicle and later executive as distribution, and “it’s an increasingly they had something to conceal from
aide to the Aga Khan porous industry”. their mother, they’d say it in French.
Mother Barbara Gough, sub-editor He seems, I suggest, to be looking After studying Spanish at Durham
forward to President Trump loosening University, Curtis took a graduate
Single But previously in a civil the rules for the US cable industry and, traineeship at the BBC. In those days,
partnership by doing so, opening the way for some linguists tended to head there or the
Lives Central London (where big mergers. Foreign Office.
she cannot get Virgin cable) and “I think one of John’s great strengths She found a role subtitling and dub-
Oxfordshire (ditto) is that he’s never got involved in poli- bing foreign programmes, but it only
Education Lycée Français, London; tics, at all, directly,” she responds. “Is lasted a year. Rather than accept a
Durham University (read Spanish) he, by nature, on the Republican liber- secretarial job, she applied for a posi-
tarian end of the spectrum? Abso- tion in BBC Enterprises selling BBC
1977 BBC graduate trainee lutely. Is he an economic liberal? programmes abroad.
1978 Joins BBC Enterprises, Absolutely.” Aged 25, with no training, she found
followed by a spell at Robert And then there is Liberty Global’s herself travelling to the US to imple-
Maxwell-owned tech company CEO, Mike Fries, quoted at Davos, ment a new North American distribu-
Pergamon Compact Solutions worrying that Brexit may lead to less tion contract and sell shows such as Life
1988 Joins United Cable, which later investment in the UK (although not on Earth. She became commercial man-
becomes TCI from Liberty). ager for the BBC Micro computer initia-
1992 International development Liberty Global, she points out, was a tive and the BBC Domesday Project.
director for Europe and Asia, TCI major supporter of the Remain cam- Deciding that she needed a business
International paign, after “a very interesting debate education, she enrolled at London
1996 Executive vice-president, Lib- around the board table, where many Business School. To pay off the fees,
erty Media International Holdings individuals would probably instinc- she joined Robert Maxwell’s CD-Rom
2005 President, Liberty Global tively have been Brexit supporters”. publishing house and then United
Japan Division So the company favours the “consist- Cable, where her great adventure in
2010 Completes sale of Liberty ent European media and telecoms cable began.
Global’s Japanese assets regulation policy” it helped shape. Its Out in Denver, John Malone was as
2010 Takes early retirement, joins $4bn investment in British cable is safe: interested as she was in a country
Liberty Global board “In the years that we starting a cable industry from scratch,
2011 Chair of Waterstones after its didn’t own the com- and not just for TV but for telephony.
sale to Alexander Mamut pany, there was no He was interested in Curtis, too, and
2012 Joins board of Marks & Spencer investment in flew her over in May 1992 to appoint
network her as the first development director
Watching Unforgotten on catch-up con- of what was then TCI International.
Reading Barkskins by Annie Proulx “He said, ‘There is the planet. Go and
(‘not yet convinced’) tell me what we can do.’ And that was
Expertise ‘Cultural management – my job description. We divided the
which is unusual’ planet into three. I had Asia, Pacific
Hobby Scuba diving and Continental Europe. That was my
patch. And for the next 12 years – a
10
corporate history. Liberty got a pre-
mium of 60% on the share price. With
a few concurrent exits, Liberty was
handed $14bn, on a total investment
‘THERE IS THE over the years of less than $1bn.
Wasn’t the trouble with this that she
PLANET. GO AND had negotiated herself, aged 54, out of
TELL ME WHAT a job that paid her over £1m a year?
“Well, I did, exactly. So, at that point,
WE CAN DO.’ AND I thought, ‘Crikey’, but I also definitely
needed to get off a plane. At that stage,
THAT WAS MY I was in BA’s all-time top flyers. I’m
JOB DESCRIPTION still BA all-time top female passenger.
I’ve just had my 16th black card.”
Had all that flying, all that work, con-
tributed to the end of her civil partner-
ship, I ask. “I think that’s a personal
question I’m not prepared to discuss.
I think the point is that, actually, I was
spending at least two weeks of the
month on a farm [her second home
near Woodstock]. There was quite a lot
of time where, actually, I could live a
completely normal existence.”
In Denver, Malone asked her to take
early retirement – which she could
afford to do having made her own
money from the J:Com sale – but
remain in the “family”, as a non-
executive board member.
Now began a different sort of life; on
the board of Marks & Spencer: chairing,
until last July, Waterstones; director-
ships at the RSC and Garsington Opera.
She is also on the board of the Institute
for Government, an influential think
tank that examines the machinery of
government (she was “stunned” to find
that each department had a separate
123RF Photography
way of measuring its performance).In
addition, she chairs the African girls’
education charity Camfed, which, she
says, in five years has educated more
than 2 million children.
What I cannot tell, because I don’t
bit more than that ‑ I didn’t have an To begin with, the male Japanese understand the business mind, is
employment contract, I didn’t have a board she headed in all but title at the whether she would have been as bril-
job description, I never had an cable business J:Com would go behind liant in any other business. She says
appraisal. I worked my way up the her back to Malone to ask if she could she has always been interested in
ranks and I could bring back anything really have meant what she said. Yes, communication technologies and
I wanted in distribution, content and she did, he always told them. communicating between different
technology, joint ventures, directions, “In the later years, I simply became a cultures. There is a synergy there.
partnerships.” senior, genderless, hierarchical construct. I ask if Liberty’s old slogan, “Connect,
She was flying from her base in It was a very comfortable place to be.” discover, be free” – recently replaced by
Denver to Europe and Singapore. She For a year, she nursed KDDI, the “Investing, innovating and empowering”
bought content, but wholesale through second-largest wireless operator in – spoke to her, especially. “They are,”
companies such as Discovery, never Japan, as a potential buyer for Global’s she says, “useful slogans around which
imposing her will on programmes. 37.8% stake in J:Com, unsure if it would to rally executive teams.”
Between 1991 and 2002, Malone finally bid. In December 2009, KDDI Well, I say, in any case, congratula-
owned UK cable franchises and then asked for a meeting with Mike Fries. tions. She never expected to go into
he moved out. There was a setback in With unheard-of directness, they said business, and she made an absolute
Germany. So it was in Japan that glory they wanted to buy. fortune. “I hope,” she responds, “that
awaited her, once its government On 24 January, the sale was announ I’ve created an absolute fortune.”
relaxed ownership rules. ced, the fastest deal in Japanese No doubt about that, either.
Television www.rts.org.uk February 2017 11Trust us,
not them
T
rolls, bots, Russian the technology companies had inter-
hackers, fake news, Television news posed themselves between media and
disinformation and lies audience to cream off both revenue
– 2016 was the year that and valuable user data.
news seemed to collapse Objective facts are And there are editorial problems for
into Hunter S Thomp-
son’s dystopian vision of television
scarcer than ever in news online. Social media rewards
speed and sensation over accuracy.
as a “cruel and shallow money trench, an era defined by While it is true that “if you’re first and
a long plastic hallway where thieves wrong, you’re not first”, Macedonian
and pimps run free and good men die Trump and Brexit. teenagers making money from fake
like dogs”.
Which leaves those of us who still,
Richard Sambrook news don’t care.
BuzzFeed co-founder Jonah Peretti
quaintly, believe in the civic value of asks if UK broadcasters tells us that sharing is the key indicator
good journalism in a quandary: where of user value for media on the internet.
can we find the truth in a world of can rise to the challenge He’s not a man to bet against. But,
“alternative facts”? although sharing may reveal what
There’s good news and bad news. There is a crisis in print journalism. interests the public, it is no indicator
The bad news has been much dis- Newspaper advertising is still falling, of what is in the public interest.
cussed in the aftermath of Donald newsrooms are being hollowed out, Traditional media still carries an
Trump’s election and the Brexit result. and, in a race for impact, many news- inherited sense of the civic importance
Undoubtedly, the media has problems. papers are becoming more partisan, of news and information. A series of
Faced with successful political cam- fixing facts around political policy. algorithmic misjudgements last year
paigns based on lies, many have lam- Social media – which many hoped illustrated how tech companies are
basted the news for false equivalence would be a saviour with its open struggling with that public expectation
and balance. access, extensive reach, targeted and responsibility.
In a climate where politicians advertising and user convenience Social media held such promise for
increasingly see media as either “with – turns out to have problems, too. democratic engagement and collabo-
us or against us”, and where expertise Over the past two years, news ration, but too much of it has become
is actively undermined, the space for organisations piled into distributed a noxious echo-chamber undermining
neutral, open debate is shrinking. content strategies only to discover that the public interest by treating political
122016 SHOWED
journalism as a commodity no differ-
ent to the latest cat video. THAT, IN SPITE In turn, news organisations should
open up their own methods to rebuild
It is not just the media that has prob- OF ALL THAT trust. Media, more than is generally
lems: society remains deeply divided
and rancorous in spite of repeated urg- AUDIENCE acknowledged, has to work to repair its
relationship with much of the public.
ings from all sides of every debate to RESEARCH, NEWS Regional broadcasting’s proximity to
“get over it”. This seems unlikely to heal
in the short term. Polarised politics and ORGANISATIONS the audience ought to help - along
with a greater dose of humility.
“post-truth” campaigning have proved DID NOT Reuters has moved fast to introduce
highly successful in the past year – so
we should expect more, along with
UNDERSTAND greater transparency into its news
operations. Editor-in-chief Steve Adler
more shouts of “fake news” directed at THEIR PUBLIC says that it is time to “double down”
anything anyone disagrees with.
If nothing else, 2016 showed that, in
IN KEY RESPECTS on being good, dispassionate journal-
ists and “open the door” a little bit
spite of all that audience research, more on how Reuters obtains and
news organisations did not understand handles information.
their public in key respects. Public A glance across the Atlantic at what Other organisations should follow its
disenchantment with “elites” ran far has happened to US broadcasting since lead. In broadcasting, many people still
deeper than they recognised. the end of the Fairness Doctrine in the judge a devil’s advocate question to be
In return, the public doesn’t under- 1980s, which required broadcasters to tantamount to betraying the inter-
stand the media. Levels of media liter- provide balance, should be sufficient viewer’s personal view. Or fail to see a
acy remain low; and trust, even in warning not to follow suit. distinction between a political editor’s
broadcasters, continues to fall. The sins Furthermore, at a time when audi- professional judgement and their per-
of toxic media have cross-contaminated ences are questioning who they can sonal opinion.
even the best – much of the public trust, regulation should be a differenti- Journalists have developed a profes-
lumps “the media” into one odorous ating mark of quality from the press sional shorthand in how they report
bucket. and online-only services – offering – understood by those inside their
So where, in all of this, is the good clear, independent accountability. bubble but, I suspect, not by many
news? Well, there is a real opportunity There are more signs for optimism outside. On Google trends, two of the
here – particularly for broadcasters. in the early response of major news most searched-for terms in the past
BBC
As the new wave of populism seeks organisations to the current moral year were “austerity” and “populism”.
to rearrange the political landscape and panic over false news. Yet, day in, day out, report after report
dismiss old assumptions, it provides The BBC’s announcement of a per- assumes these and other once-obscure
plenty of meat for journalists to dig into. manent “Reality Check” team to hunt terms are widely understood.
Weak political leadership and poor down and flag fake news, as well as Broadcasters could do more to sup-
accountability should feed a renaissance fact-check the politicians, is welcome. port greater media literacy among the
in investigative journalism. And broad- Fact-checking is clearly going to public by explaining the complex world
casters still have the resources to do it. become a more central part of the news we are now in, as well as better
Those of us who have been judging offer – building on Channel 4’s success explaining how they report it and
this year’s RTS Television Journalism with FactCheck, and sites such as Full arrive at their own news judgements.
Awards cannot fail to be impressed by Fact. It is one clear way of increasing the Greater transparency and accounta-
the quality of Britain’s broadcast jour- cost of political lying, which currently bility are much needed in the current
nalism. Fresh, original investigation on appears to be too cheap. climate of misinformation, political lies
topics outside the main agenda, such as and widespread distrust.
Michael Crick’s pursuit of Tory election But, above all, the strength of broad-
expenses for Channel 4 or the BBC’s
long-term commitment to investigating FAR FROM casting’s case to “trust us, not them”
will lie in sharp, confident, fair report-
mental-health provision. We don’t INHIBITING A ing. That means journalism that is
celebrate it enough.
Perhaps unfashionably, I believe BROAD RANGE differentiated and breaks from the
pack, that is clearly in touch with pub-
that this strength is rooted in broadcast OF VIEWS, lic concerns and attitudes, and which
regulation. We will shortly face, I am
sure, another round of argument to PROPERLY is confident in holding the powerful to
account and calling out lies or spin.
loosen the impartiality rules that apply APPLIED These are the qualities that will keep
to broadcasters – it would be a mistake
to do so.
IMPARTIALITY news out of Hunter S Thompson’s
media sewer. They are the traditional
From the BBC to ITV, Channel 4 to REGULATION strengths of British TV journalism –
Sky, we keep each other honest and
raise the bar. Far from inhibiting a
SHOULD and are needed now more than ever.
broad range of views, properly applied ENCOURAGE Richard Sambrook is professor of journal-
impartiality regulation should encour-
age such views.
SUCH VIEWS ism, Cardiff University, and a former
director of BBC News.
Television www.rts.org.uk February 2017 13The
insider’s
insider
D
avid Clementi is the for what is intended to be a full-time
BBC governance first Chairman of a job, might put off potential candidates
single, unitary BBC less financially fortunate than himself.
Roger Bolton Board, his appointment
confirmed by Parlia-
Presumably, he will give up his current
roles as chairman of both World First,
profiles the BBC’s ment and the Sover- a currency exchange firm, and King’s
eign. He is now Mr BBC and the Cross Central, the company overseeing
new Chairman, Director-General works directly to him. development of the land around the
David Clementi, From now on, there is no debate
about who runs the corporation, no
London station.
He is relatively old: he is 68 this
who arrives at discussion about whether the gover- month. He is, therefore, unlikely to be
nors or the Trust are more powerful looking for another job following this
the corporation in than the Executive. There is only one one. This could make him more inde-
testing times Board and he runs it. Indeed, he
designed it. So he can hardly blame
pendent (although a peerage would be
a nice reward for being a successful
anyone else if it goes wrong. And, of BBC chairman).
course, things often go wrong. Clementi certainly knows about
In many ways, Sir David is well money. He has been, among other
qualified for the job of which he is the things, Chairman of Virgin Money,
architect. He is rich and, according to a Chairman of the Prudential, a Deputy
friend, “has never had to worry about Governor of the Bank of England and
money”. Vice-Chairman of Kleinwort Benson.
That will help, as his £100,000 salary, He advised Margaret Thatcher on the
14chaired by an ex-head of defence pro- BBC can cut around 25% – according
curement and included a former private to some estimates – off its spending
secretary to the Queen and a permanent over the next few years. It seems cer-
secretary of the DCMS. One might be tain that more services will have to go;
tempted to say that the Establishment salami slicing will not be enough.
has got its man. Clementi arrives just as BBC Studios
Clearly, if you think the most impor- prepares to begin operating as a com-
tant thing about the person running one mercial division. In one of its final acts,
of the greatest broadcasting organisa- the Trust recently gave the go-ahead to
tions in the world should not be tainted the revamped BBC Studios, but the
by any experience of broadcasting, trade unions are going to ballot their
David Clementi is the ideal choice. members about strike action.
However the job of the BBC is not to Some independent producers think
make a profit, but to produce brilliant that the only way Studios can cut its
public service programmes. Its job is to cost base is by making more staff
reflect the complex and varied cultures redundant, changing employment
of the UK. practices for the worse and issuing far
Its job, more necessary than ever in more short-term contracts.
these divided times, is to speak truth In other words, greater casualisation
to power. The BBC should, on occa- and a widening of the gap between
sions, embarrass and anger govern- pay levels at the BBC. This is unlikely
ments. Is Sir David up for that? to enhance staff morale.
Does the new Chairman know how If Studios is to make a profit, surely
to create the best conditions for crea- it will have to concentrate on popular
tive talent? Will he encourage those formats, returning series and shows
THE BBC who have an appetite for making
trouble?
that have foreign sales potential. The
purely public service programmes that
SHOULD, ON Is he ready for the full fury of the only the BBC can provide will have to
OCCASIONS, Brexit debate as we move towards
withdrawal, or the Trumpian blasts
be subsidised in some way.
So much now depends on brilliant
EMBARRASS that blowing across the Atlantic?
Who wants a well-run, efficient
commissioners with a passion for their
subject matter and the confidence to
AND ANGER organisation that makes dull pro- fight their corner. Does the new Board
GOVERNMENTS. grammes and safe journalism? Perhaps
certain members of the Establishment
know what is needed to find, enthuse
and empower them?
IS SIR DAVID UP do, but not the licence-fee payers who Clementi, like most politicians in
FOR THAT? are the BBC’s shareholders.
By the way, does the new Chairman
Westminster, knows about The Great
British Bake Off and the Today programme
have any ideas about how to make the – but how much else? The lifestyles of
BBC
corporation properly accountable to such public figures leave them little
those who pay for it, as well as to those time for watching or listening. But he
privatisation of another great British who regulate it? appears to be an exception, having
organisation, BT. Clementi’s in-tray is full to overflow- recently told the Commons that he is
He is, in other words, the epitome of ing. He has to form an effective relation an avid TV watcher, and that his “spe-
the City grandee. ship with the BBC’s new regulator, cialist subject is BBC One and BBC
Clementi knows about regulation as Ofcom. He has to select the other new Two between 8:00pm and 11:00pm”.
well, having undertaken a wide-ranging members of the unitary Board. Clementi does have interests beyond
independent review of the regulation There are, at present, four seats set his professional world. For example, he
of legal services in England and Wales aside for members of the executive. is a keen yachtsman and seems pas-
in 2003. The DG, Tony Hall, and his deputy, sionate about sport.
City colleagues, such as Lord Myners, Anne Bulford, get two of them. Pre- The new Chairman will be on a
have called him “an inspired choice” sumably, James Harding, director of steep learning curve and will have to
and “very wise and sensible”, “a man news, gets the third. take some crucial decisions very early
of high integrity”. He certainly feels at That seems to leave a choice in his tenure. We must all wish him
home in the establishment. between director of content Charlotte luck and hope that he goes a little, but
Clementi’s grandfather was Gover- Moore and director of radio and edu- not too, native.
nor of Hong Kong, and his father was cation James Purnell for the fourth. At the very least, he should be pre-
an air vice-marshal. He was educated And Clementi has to make this deci- pared to lose some friends in the Gov-
at Winchester and Oxford and then sion with a view to developing poten- ernment and the Establishment. He
qualified as a chartered accountant. tial successors to Tony Hall as DG. In ought to find that being Chairman of
He has been Warden of Winchester that case, Purnell’s political past as a the BBC is a lonely job.
College and Master of the Mercers’ Labour culture secretary will, presum-
Company. ably, count against him. Roger Bolton is a former BBC and ITV
The panel that appointed him was Another pressing problem is how the executive, and independent producer.
Television www.rts.org.uk February 2017 15TV sport
Is TV’s coverage of female sport finally heading into the
mainstream? Ross Biddiscombe canvasses opinion
Promotion year for
women’s sports?
I
n a year when women’s sports committed as ever to women’s sports. being regarded as secondary to the
events will be at the forefront She argues that it is not necessary to male equivalents.
of many broadcasters’ operate any kind of quota system “We judge all sports the same,” he
schedules, it’s a legitimate because audiences are increasing. says. “It’s about the potential audience,
time to ask if these sports are “We have provided live TV coverage the brand that we have developed and
poised for a breakthrough. of women’s football since the mid-1990s the commercial reality. We welcome
More women are taking part in sport and audience interest has grown con- great women’s sport because what we
than ever before and there are more siderably,” says Slater. “More people really want is the best sporting stories,
hours of women’s sport on TV, includ- watched the 2015 Women’s World Cup wherever they come from.”
ing significant numbers of live fixtures. on BBC TV than our live coverage of Both the UK’s pay-TV sports chan-
But is the coverage better and is the men’s Open golf championship.” nels, Sky Sports and BT Sports, are big
change happening fast enough? For new women’s football broad- supporters of women’s cricket. Sky
Some observers would argue that, caster Channel 4 and Eurosport (the Sports has been broadcasting the game
judged by audiences, commercial pan-European channel covering the for two decades and is showing this
return on investment and scheduling, women’s Euros), the national game is year’s women’s World Cup. BT Sport,
women’s sports on TV still lag woefully seen as one of the breakthrough sports meanwhile, has just announced its
behind men’s. for women. Strong performances by coverage of the women’s Ashes series
A level playing field for coverage either England or Scotland in the tour- and the Big Bash league from Australia.
with men’s events is rare. The obvious nament would develop that trend. In addition, Sky Sports News
exceptions are grand slam tennis tour- Although Channel 4 is very selective launched the SportsWomen magazine
naments, major track and field events in broadcasting any sporting event show in 2012. It was one of the many
and both winter and summer Olympics. – male or female – its commissioning initiatives that grew out of the success
Everywhere else, the inequality editor for sport, Stephen Lyle, wants to of the London Olympics.
remains a sensitive topic for partici- build on his channel’s reputation for SportsWomen producer Anna Edwards
pants, administrators, fans and view- innovation: “Our remit is always to go believes women’s sports need to have
ers, as well as broadcasters. for programming that has an underdog their own identities. “We want to get to
There, it seems, is no shortage of quality, and this falls into that category. a point where we don’t have the term
goodwill for events such as the UEFA “We’ll try and bring something new ‘women’s sport’,” she insists. “We actu-
women’s European football tourna- to the coverage, but the women also ally have debates about this and, just to
ment, the women’s cricket World Cup have to step up, entertain and show make the point that it’s all just sport, we
and Ashes series and golf’s Solheim the audience what they can do.” dropped the word ‘women’ from the
Cup to succeed on screen, but question Eurosport CEO Peter Hutton argues caption when referring to Mark Samp-
marks remain. This month, Sky that producers and broadcasters must son, the England women’s manager.
announced that it would show live not skimp on production quality, if “Those are small points, but changes
domestic cricket for the first time on they are to stop women’s competitions like that make a difference. If we sat
UK television, this summer, with eight here in five years’ time and the situation
matches from the Kia Super League. was the same, then I’d be concerned.”
Inevitably, the BBC has the longest
history of broadcasting women’s WE WANT TO When BT Sport launched in 2013, one
of its justifications for claiming to be a
sports. These days, however, the rights GET TO A POINT game changer in British TV sport was
are spread around – Channel 4, for
example, has outbid the Beeb for UK
WHERE WE DON’T the signing of high-profile presenter
Clare Balding.
rights to the women’s Euros. HAVE THE TERM She was given her own chat show,
BBC head of sport Barbara Slater
says the corporation remains as
‘WOMEN’S SPORT’ with a brief to focus on women guests.
The channel has also heavily backed
16live women’s sport: BT Sport has a stadium means more exciting TV.” One Football Union’s policy of staging Eng-
particularly high profile for tennis and strategy that both the federations and land women’s test matches ahead of
hockey. the broadcasters want to avoid is the men’s Six Nations games will ben-
“There are nearly 1,000 hours of live “ghettoisation” – in other words, gath- efit from live Sky Sports
WTA tennis on our channel and, in ering women’s sports in a separate coverage this season.
terms of hours, that’s more than the part of the schedule. “It is naive to
English Premier League or Champions Every broadcaster thinks this is think that only
League or MotoGP,” says Simon Green, inappropriate, especially given the women watch
head of BT Sport. efforts of female athletes to appeal women’s
He adds: “We’re doing much of it to male viewers as well as female. sports,”
with our own commentary teams and Instead, many sports are moving says Sky’s
our own personalities on screen. It’s towards Olympic-style formats that Edwards.
the same with the Women’s Super allow men and women to perform at “More aware-
League in this country. We treat those the same time and location, as with a ness will breed
OBs the same as we do men’s football.” grand slam tennis event. more viewers, both
But Green also understands that The Boat Race on the BBC adopted men and women.”
there is plenty of catching up to do. He this approach in 2015, with male and None of the channels,
knows that high production values do female crews racing on live TV on the it seems, are holding back
not necessarily guarantee big audi- same day over the same course. on raising awareness. Sky
ences or enough commer- It took three years of logistical Sports has held both a netball
cial interest. discussions and the support month and a women’s sport
“Of course, we want to of the event spon- week (estimated to have
fold women’s sports sors for reached almost 3 million
into whatever else we viewers).
do and have it be seen BT Sport has developed annual
as part of the normal Action Woman Awards. And the
agenda of what we put BBC put six women on to the Sports
to air, but it’s a sensi- Personality of the Year shortlist last
tive subject,” he December. They were almost 40% of
concedes. “Where the finalists, a far higher proportion
we can, we give than if the list had been based on hours
marginal sports of coverage or size of audience.
– and that means Advocates of women’s sport believe
many women’s events that, over time, the equality issue
– due exposure, while always main- will fade and women’s sport will
taining a nod towards the main sub- not be discussed as a separate
scription drivers – which are men’s this to issue.
sports.” happen. BT’s Green says the tradi-
One sport that is very much about “The tional macho culture of sports
women is netball, and this is receiving viewing media is breaking down. He
special treatment from Sky Sports. A figures wants women’s sports organi-
four-year deal to broadcast the Netball have been sations to work more coher-
Superleague was signed last November. excellent,” ently to help the broadcasters:
For once, there is no men’s game to says the BBC’s “Women’s sports need to stop
compare it with. Head of multisport Slater, “and the acting unilaterally and co-
Georgina Faulkner says that a strong programme is a ordinate more across a calen-
relationship with England Netball is far better proposi- dar that has a narrative that the
what makes this kind of deal attractive tion for having two press can follow in a construc-
to the channel. high-quality races tive way.
“We’ve worked hard with the govern rather than just one.” “That would make it easier
ing body to make the coverage more The British Darts for women’s sports to get
creative and we’ve even sold game Organisation world attention and allow the
tickets,” she says. “There are now 9,000 championships, covered involvement of broad-
or 10,000 people coming to some of by Channel 4 last month, casters to be con-
the games. They’re certainly not all adopted the same plan. structive and
women and nor are the viewers. A full Meanwhile, the Rugby realistic.”
Christopher Lee–IDI/Getty
West Indies Women captain Stafanie Taylor
at practice in Bangladesh during the 2016
Women’s Twenty20 championships
Television www.rts.org.uk February 2017 17You can also read
