Annual Report 2011

AGM 24 May 2012 at 6:00pm at the RTS Kildare House, 3 Dorset Rise, London EC4Y 8EN Patrons

Principal Patrons RTS Patrons

BBC APTN BSkyB Autocue Channel 4 Television Avid Technology Europe ITV Bloomberg Channel Television International Patrons Digital Television Group Granada Television NBC Universal HIT Entertainment RTL Group Ikegami Electronics UK Viacom International Media Networks ITV Anglia Walt Disney Company ITV London ITV Meridian ITV Tyne Tees Major Patrons ITV West ITV Yorkshire Channel 5 Panasonic Broadcast Europe Deloitte PricewaterhouseCoopers Enders Analysis Quantel FremantleMedia Raidió Teilifís Éireann IMG Media House Reuters Television ITN University College, Falmouth Jonathan Shalit/ROAR Global UTV Television KPMG Vinten Broadcast S4C UKTV

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Patrons 2 Board of Trustees report to members 4 1 Achievements and performance 4 National events 2011 4 Centres report 2011 24 2 Structure, governance and management 34 3 Objectives and activities 34 4 Financial review 35 5 Plans for future periods 35 6 Administrative details 36 Independent auditors’ report 38 Financial statements 39 Notes to the financial statements 42 Notice of AGM 2012 49 Agenda of AGM 2012 50 Form of proxy 51 Minutes of AGM 2011 52 Who’s who at the RTS 54 Picture credits 56

The Board of Trustees (who are also the directors of the Royal Television Society for the purposes of company law) presents its report and consolidated accounts for the year ended 31 December 2011. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the Memorandum and Articles of Association and the Statement of Recommended Practice – Accounting and Reporting by Charities (March 2005).

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Throughout this report, the Trustees have sought to highlight “Every year or two, [we take] the bottom 10% or 20% and the ways in which the Society’s activities have provided real move them out, giving others more responsibility. A lot of benefit to the public at large, whether by extending the reach these people really should be somewhere else, where they’d of its publications and web-based initiatives or by engaging be more successful.” with the public in ways that are easier and more affordable, One of the highlights of the convention was a demon- and targeting particular audiences that might in the past not stration of smart TV sets and their implications for existing have been involved in the debate, discussion and learning broadcasters. The session was chaired by a highly entertain- opportunities that the Society offers. ing and incisive David Mitchell. During the year the RTS maintained its unique and influ- He first interrogated analyst Alex Street of Redshift Strat- ential role in furthering public understanding of the huge egy, who conducted an eye-opening demonstration of a changes sweeping through British television and the wider series of connected-TV devices. Street revealed how Google media landscape. TV could be controlled via an Android smartphone – potentially generating a huge amount of information about view- RTS Cambridge Convention ers’ likes and dislikes that they might have assumed were The RTS Cambridge Convention Advisory Committee was totally confidential. RTS Cambridge chaired by Adam Crozier. The Convention took place in Sep- More worrying for the broadcasters in the audience, the US Convention speakers: tember and was opened by the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, sec- version of Google TV provided a fast track to Amazon and 1 ‘Beyond the retary of state for culture, media, Olympics and sport. Netflix, but the main TV networks such as ABC, NBC and CBS Bridge’ session In a bravura performance without notes, Hunt encouraged were all conspicuous by their absence. “The broadcaster is panel; 2 Discovery the UK’s creative industries to think big, and outlined the key out of the loop,” stressed Mitchell. Communications role that the once-threatened regulator, Ofcom, would play One of the panellists, RTL Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler, argued president and CEO in “turbo-charging” growth and maintaining plurality. He also that the US networks’ absence was understandable. “They are David Zaslav (right) fleshed out his proposals for building a vibrant local-TV market. not stupid,” he said. Pressing the same theme as Discovery’s with Pat Younge, BBC The international keynote speaker was David Zaslav, pres- Zaslav, Zeiler claimed his company would never agree to Vision Productions; ident and CEO of Discovery Communications. He empha- separating its shows from its channel brands – nor would it 3 Secretary of state, sised that television has a great future, provided broadcasters let other video platforms sell airtime around them. Provided DCMS, the Rt Hon can offer attractive content (with preferably global appeal) these two conditions were met, he was happy to negotiate Jeremy Hunt MP; together with strong consumer brands. with online content aggregators and have RTL programmes 4 ‘Data, data But he warned that if broadcasters ever become just “a list on their platforms – around which RTL could sell ads. everywhere’ session, of shows, we’re going to become commoditised”. They must The other panellists were Skype director Linda Summers, from left: Richard therefore jealously protect channel brands and maintain a YouView CEO Richard Halton and Virgin Media COO Andrew Marks, Kantar Media close relationship with audiences. Barron. Audiences; Matt Zaslav also underscored a significant cultural difference The next session confronted the ethical and commercial Brittin, Google; and between US and UK television companies when he turned issues presented by the approaching avalanche of viewer David Abraham, to Discovery’s approach to staffing. “We took out a tonne of data that internet-connected TVs will bring. Channel 4 core staff and it really liberated the organisation,” he said. The world had moved on from quarter-hourly paper8

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RTS Cambridge 8diaries maintained by television viewer panels in the Convention session 1950s, pointed out chair Dawn Airey, to – potentially – real- ‘Smart thinking – time reports about individual viewers. “At what point does the opportunities this innocent act of measuring become spying?” she asked. of converged TV’: 1 “Data, data everywhere”, brought together Channel 4 CEO chair David Mitchell David Abraham, Google’s Matt Brittin, BigChampagne Media (left) and presenter founder Eric Garland, Kantar Media Audiences’ Richard Alex Street, Red Shift Marks and Colin Petrie Norris of Specific Media. Strategy; speakers Petrie Norris came the closest to answering Airey’s ques- 2 Linda Summers, tion. “Handle this with care,” he said. “It can blow up in your Skype; 3 Richard 6 face – there are risks around privacy. We have to be very Halton, YouView; careful and respectful.” 4 Andrew Barron, The sixth session turned to “Breaking windows”. Not liter- Virgin Media; and 5 ally, but to the once orderly – and profitable – system whereby Gerhard Zeiler, RTL content progressed through a series of windows on succes- Group. 6 ‘Breaking sive media, such as cinemas, DVDs, pay-TV and terrestrial windows’ session TV. This system is breaking down as platforms multiply and speakers (from left): fears of piracy grow. Josh Berger, Warner “Things are about to become disorderly, more crowded, Bros; Michael Comish, confused and less controlled,” warned Oliver and Ohlbaum Blinkbox.com; Mike Associates CEO Mark Oliver. Funding for films and TV pro- Darcey, BSkyB; and grammes will, in turn, be less secure. Fru Hazlitt, ITV. 7 ‘The The panellists, Josh Berger (Warner Bros Entertainment smart money’ session UK), Michael Comish (Blinkbox), Mike Darcey (BSkyB) and with Sir Martin Fru Hazlitt (ITV), sparred on behalf of their respective links Sorrell and Laura in the licensing chain. But they agreed that – at least for UK Kuenssberg, ITN drama producers and those involved in big live events and sports – it was not yet time to panic. The next session asked whether the UK’s spectacular success in exporting TV programme formats can continue. The panellists – Alex Mahon, president of Shine; Tony Cohen, CEO of FremantleMedia; and John Smith, CEO of BBC Worldwide – gave a qualified yes, but warned that a combination of domestic changes could spoil their party. Mahon and Cohen concentrated on mooted changes to the terms of 7 trade between UK broadcasters and independent producers.

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The session also featured a fascinating, fact-packed pres- RTS Cambridge entation by Mathew Horsman of Mediatique that put TV Convention speakers: exports in context: they are worth some £520m a year, but 1 Lord Patten, BBC only represent 0.12% of total exports. Trust (right) with Sir The eighth session saw Sir Peter Bazalgette quiz Lord Pat- Peter Bazalgette. ten on the challenges of his first four months as chair of the ‘The Bill and beyond’ BBC Trust. Inevitably, the corporation’s financial constraints session speakers: 2 dominated the discussion. Despite the difficult decisions Lord Burns, Channel 4; involved, Patten said: “If you can’t run a damn good broad- 3 Dido Harding, caster of television, radio and online on three and a half bil- TalkTalk; 4 Steve lion a year, then God help you.” Morrison, All3Media; Next in the hot seat was Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP. He and 5 Richard Allen, was characteristically blunt about the dangers of the tech- Facebook. ‘Building nological changes sweeping through the media: “The people a £1bn business’ in this room are much more vulnerable than we [advertis- session speakers: ing companies] are. Free-to-air television is as narrowly bal- 6 7 6 Alice Mahon, Shine anced as newspapers.” Furthermore, he added: “Our clients Group; 7 Tony Cohen, spend about 17% of their budgets online [yet] we know that FremantleMedia; consumers spend 25%-30% of their time online.” 8 John Smith, BBC Confronted with the urgent task of reshaping their busi- Worldwide; and the nesses, Sorrell said TV companies need to move much faster global export format, than they have demonstrated they are willing to do. In one 9 The X Factor of the convention’s more memorable quotes, Sorrell said: “If you don’t eat your own children, someone else will.” Session nine asked whether there is a need for another Communications Act. Lord Burns, chair of Channel 4 and a former permanent secretary at the Treasury, thought pressure on Parliamentary time might squeeze the Bill out, especially since Government action in many areas would not require primary legislation anyway. Representing other major sections of the communications field, Dido Harding of TalkTalk, Facebook’s Richard Allan and Steve Morrison of All3Media, laid out their priorities for any new laws. But it was noticeable that their wish lists were a combination of things to be kept out 9 8 of a Bill and items that were nice-but-not essential.8

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8When chair Steve Hewlett asked the audience for a show to learn how to get their ideas made into programmes. 1 RTS Futures event of hands on whether they thought a new Communications Director Billy McQueen explained: “The majority of money ‘Speed dating the Act was necessary, not a single hand was raised. [for children’s shows shown in the UK] now comes from out- specialist factual The last session took in “The view from the bridge” with side the UK and the problem is that you have to dilute your gurus’ participants. the captains of the major networks: BSkyB, ITV, Channel 4 idea to sell it around the world.” RTS Futures event and the BBC. If there was a clear theme it was that public Furthermore, “everything we do could and should have a ‘Creating Spooks’: service broadcasters are not looking to the Government for web idea attached to it,” added Nickelodeon’s Nina Hahn. 2 team scripting help, but that “pragmatic bilateral and multilateral conversa- The second RTS Futures event, “Creating Spooks” was held session and 3 team tions [are preferable to] new legislation,” in the words of BBC in May. After watching the climax of the previous season presentation; D-G Mark Thompson. finale, six teams of young, would-be dramatists were given speakers 4 Miranda But equally, this is a competitive environment, and this the task of scripting an alternative end-of-series cliffhanger, Raison, 5 Chris Fry, showed in a spat between BSkyB’s Darcey and Channel 4’s using the same characters or introducing new ones. The 6 Simon Crawford Abraham over access to viewer data. The latter argued that prize for the winning team, whose ending offered “a really Collins and 7 (from free-to-air broadcasters should have access to information good, intriguing hook” in the opinion of Spooks producer left) Jonathan that Sky had amassed on the grounds that most of the time Chris Fry, was a visit to the set of the drama’s next series. Brackley, Sam Sky’s subscribers are actually watching the PSB channels. The audience also heard from the lead writers on Spooks, Vincent and Rebecca Darcey didn’t see it that way. Darcey argued that Sky’s data Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent, and from script editor Ferguson. 9 RTS arose from 20 years operating as a direct retailer of pay-tele- Rebecca Ferguson, executive producer Simon Crawford Col- Futures event ‘Speed vision services and was nothing to do with Channel 4 or any lins and actor Miranda Raison. date the children’s other free broadcaster. The third event, “How to get a quick hit”, focused on online gurus’ one-to-one The RTS is extremely grateful to the convention’s principal comedy. Comedy, unsurprisingly, is the biggest driver of online session with: 8 Greg sponsor, ITV. It is only with the generous support of all its viewing. And a lot of established comedy talent is keen to Lynn, Chapman Patrons that the Society is able to stage the range and calibre make online shows because they believe they will have more Entertainment (right) of the events that it does. creative freedom than they do on broadcast television. and 9 Nina Hahn. As managing director of ChannelFlip, RTS Futures panellist Nickelodeon (left). RTS Futures Wil Harris has overseen the production of more than 1,000 10 RTS Futures event The RTS is delighted with the continued success of this initia- web videos. “The voodoo is the ability to move audiences ‘The million-pound tive, which was launched in 2007 to engage a younger audi- between shows. It’s that personal recommendation thing – ‘If pitch’ brainstorming ence in the Society’s educational activities. Registration as a you like this, you might like this as well,’” said Harris. session member of RTS Futures is free, and gives access to online dis- The other panellists were Hat Trick’s Jon Davenport, Ben cussion forums. Tickets for events are priced at a modest £10. McOwen Wilson from YouTube and the BBC’s Martin Trickey. In the first of five events, the RTS Futures Committee In July “The million-pound pitch” gave seven teams of par- organised one of its signature speed-dating evenings that ticipants the chance to brainstorm a better gameshow – in have proved very popular. “Speed date the children’s gurus” just 45 minutes – and sell the idea to the creator of The Million marshalled 11 of the leading practitioners in the field to Pound Drop Live, David Flynn, and BBC daytime controller spend three minutes with a succession of young people keen Liam Keelan.8

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8“Game shows are the most difficult thing to pitch to a commissioner,” said Keelan. “The premise is everything; the game play is secondary. Can you describe what the quiz is about in one line?” The winning idea, Face Off, was praised by the judges and won its creators tickets to The Million Pound Drop Live. In the week that “Speed date the specialist factual gurus” was held in October, a glance at the ratings would show that tried- 2 3 4 5 and-trusted programmes, such as Countryfile and Antiques Road- show, currently dominate the genre. But others are beginning to run out of steam and broadcasters are looking for new ideas. RTS Futures assembled nine of the country’s top producers and commissioners to talk about how they are trying to fulfil that demand, but also to discuss ideas and questions from people keen to shape the next generation of specialist factual shows. Arrow Media’s John Smithson said: “It’s about stories – finding that story and then finding the best way to tell it.” Lion Television’s Richard Bradley emphasised that online and interactive ideas need to be integral to new shows: “Any- thing that takes off, takes off in more than one medium – people want another life to it.” The final RTS Futures event was “The only way is… structured reality”, which brought together some of the producers and stars of The Only Way Is Essex and Made in Chelsea to explain how these shows are constructed. TOWIE creator Sarah Dillis- tone described the show as “essentially a living soap opera”. “The key is to have a team you trust and who can get on 6 with the cast,” added executive producer Clare Faragher. The Society is grateful for the hard work of the RTS Futures RTS Futures event ‘How to get a quick hit’ (like 1 Misery Bear and 6 Lauren Luke) participants: Committee chaired by Camilla Lewis. 2 Ben McOwen Wilson, YouTube; 3 John Davenport, Hat Trick; 4 Martin Trickey, BBC; and 5 Wil Harris, ChannelFlip. 7 RTS Fleming Memorial Lecturer Lord Patten. 8 RTS Huw Wheldon Memorial Lecturer RTS Lectures Bettany Hughes. 9 RTS Futures event ‘The only way is… structured reality’ participants The RTS Fleming Memorial Lecture was presented by Lord Ollie Locke, Made In Chelsea, and Amy Childs, TOWIE; 10 writer Daran Little; 11 executive producer Patten, in his first major speech as chair of the BBC Trust. Claire Faragher; and 12 executive producer Sarah Dillistone. 13 Fleming Lecture attendees He said his and the Trust’s priorities were to: “increase the

10 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 8 9 distinctiveness of programmes; improve value for money; set new standards of openness and transparency; and do more to serve all audiences across all four nations”. He promised “to be resolutely boring in sticking to them for the next four years”. Patten also said that the BBC “needs to be less apologetic and less defensive about its mission and its cultural value”. In particular, it “provides a public space for argument and creativity” and “is a party of the public’s engagement with democracy”. He said he would defend the BBC from criticism that was “nakedly commercial” or because “a challenging brand of journalism or drama takes programme-makers into ultra- sensitive areas”, but warned that “waste, self-indulgence and inefficiency at the BBC are inexcusable”. In her RTS Huw Wheldon Memorial Lecture, Bettany Hughes argued that history has finally begun to fulfil its true 10 11 12 potential on screen – and not before time. She illustrated her lecture with clips that demonstrated, among other things, the indefensible delay in allowing women to present serious history programmes. “TV history is not just an optional extra, [it]… has a vital job to do, as a tool to help us live our lives well,” she proposed. “TV should be an active agent in the historical process.” As an example, she talked about a programme she had made explor- ing the history of the idea of forgiveness over two millennia. Her lecture was recorded and broadcast on BBC2 in October. Early-evening events The Society’s early-evening events continue to provide an accessible and low-cost way for the public to hear and question television practitioners on a wide range of issues. The first of three e-events asked: “What’s wrong with sports reporting?” The evening was umpired – a particularly apposite description, as it turned out, for her role – by the former culture secretary, the Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP. Pressing the case that lazy sports journalists have been giv- 13 ing corrupt officials a soft ride, were two of the four panel-8

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RTS early-evening events: 1 ‘Is TV too posh?’ generated a lot of audience discussion on whether television is now only open to those born with a silver spoon. The panellists were: 2 Marcus Ryder, BBC Scotland; 3 Donna Taberer, BBC Academy; 4 Alex Graham, Wall to Wall; and 5 writer Toby Young. ‘What’s wrong with sports reporting?’ 6 contributors: 6 investigative writer Tom Bower; 7 the Times’s sports news correspondent, Ashling O’Connor; and 8 investigative journalist Andrew Jennings

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8lists: investigative reporter Andrew Jennings and writer Tom “The power of PR and spin has multiplied hugely.” RTS early-evening Bower. Defending the honour of their profession on the panel There were disagreements about the biggest obstacles to event inspired by the were Times sports news correspondent Ashling O’Connor and investigations. Fiona Stourton of Ten Alps blamed legisla- Arab Spring: ‘Twitter the BBC’s director for London 2012, Roger Mosey. tion, but Channel 4’s Dorothy Byrne said: “It’s not the law vs tanks’. 1 Tahrir Jennings claimed that the majority of sports journalists that gets in our way every day, it is people threatening us.” Square; 2 Alex show “no will to get the story that the readers, viewers and However, Ware, Stourton and Byrne all agreed, when pushed Thomson, Channel 4 listeners want to know, and it’s a tragedy for British journal- by chair Steve Hewlett to name a subject where they encoun- News; 3 Jacky ism”. He was backed up by Bower, who claimed that journal- tered intimidation from interested parties, that programmes Rowland, al-Jazeera; ists fear losing their access to executives and players “if they concerning the Middle East were particularly hard. 4 Mohamed Yehia, report things accurately and truthfully… they fear to bite off There was general agreement, too, when the BBC’s direc- BBC Arabic; and the hand that feeds them.” tor of editorial policy and standards, David Jordan said inves- 5 Simon Bucks, Sky Ashling’s robust response was that “sports governing bod- tigative journalism is under threat precisely “because investi- News ies [in the UK] get a much rougher ride than they do in Spain, gative journalism costs money”. for example.” The third e-event, “Is TV too posh?”, confronted the glaring Mosey denied that there was any “crisis in sports jour- inequality of opportunity for those who wish to break into TV. nalism” or any “complicity between people who buy sports “Prejudice is rife in TV,” stated the BBC’s Marcus Ryder. rights and reporting… it’s not true”. “We’re not looking for the best people. We’re looking to miti- He was backed up from the audience by Sky Sports News gate the risk of getting bad people.” Writer and fellow panellist boss Andy Cairns, who said that now was “the best time to Tony Young agreed, but cautioned: “TV isn’t remotely unusual be a sports journalist. We have some of the best sports jour- in that regard.” Broadcasters don’t create the inequalities, he nalists in the world. Twenty years ago there was hardly any added, they merely channel existing inequalities in society, sports news on the TV main bulletins.” which “need, to a large extent, to be addressed at the level of Even more forthright in their defence of sports journalism education”. were print journalists in the audience, particularly from the Wall to Wall boss Alex Graham said television companies Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and Guardian. could still take practical steps to “abolish long-term unpaid “The future of investigative journalism” in November gen- internships” and create apprenticeships. He was backed up erated a rich discussion about what can be done to counter by the BBC Academy’s Donna Taberer, who described the the serious threats to this vital aspect of television. BBC’s training scheme for runners, co-ordinators and jun- The combined pressure of lobbyists, legislators, aggressive ior researchers aimed at people from less privileged back- libel lawyers, parsimonious accountants and timorous broad- grounds, and the BBC Academy’s outreach work in colleges. casters is, of course, hardly new. But there was general agreement among the panellists and the equally high-powered RTS Dinners audience that the chilling effect on sleuths is getting harsher. This format is reserved for special occasions and outstanding “There are bigger lobbies than there used to be,” said Pano- speakers. At this year’s RTS Dinner the new chief executive rama reporter John Ware. “Editors do think twice about tack- of Channel 4, David Abraham, made his first major public ling certain subjects.” Philanthropist David Potter agreed: speech. He presented his vision of “What 4 is for” and8

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RTS early evening 8outlined the significant changes the broadcaster would be Even so, he is not just overseeing preparations for thou- event: ‘The future making under his stewardship. sands of hours of live sporting action – his portfolio extends of investigative His first theme concerned how Channel 4 would navigate to the 80 days of the London 2012 Festival – which he called journalism’ through what he called the second digital decade, which will “the biggest cultural celebration in our lifetimes” – the 70 participants: 1 John be shaped by the rise of connected TV, and therefore gener- days of the Olympic torch relay, and the three days of the Ware, Panorama; ate previously unavailable volumes of data about how view- Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. 2 Elena Egawhary, ers interact with content they enjoy. Mosey said: “We want to show a tolerant, vibrant, diverse, Newsnight; 3 Fiona Abraham proposed “a new compact with our audiences inclusive Britain. That is a challenge for the nation. The chal- Stourton, Ten Alps; that can potentially underpin commercially funded PSB in the lenge for us is how we tell that story.” 4 Lord Inglewood; digital age. If they are willing to give us permission to share 5 Stephen Grey, some of their anonymised data to secure advertising support, Television magazine Reuters; 6 Dorothy then we can invest the proceeds in original, risk-taking and The Society’s monthly magazine, Television, is very highly Byrne, Channel 4; imaginative programming that they won’t see elsewhere.” regarded for its topical and incisive coverage of key media 7 David Jordan, BBC; His second major theme was the effects of a “prolonged debates. and 8 David Potter, economic winter on people’s lives”. Abraham said: “Just as Television analysed subjects as diverse as: connected TVs; philanthropist we did in the 1980s recession, C4 has much to say about how social media and video content; 3DTV; the state of the acting this affects people’s lives.” He name-checked shows such as profession; international format sales; micropayments; plural- This Is England ’86, The Arbor, Fairy Jobmother, Shameless and ity and media regulation; online games; and mobile TV apps. Superscrimpers. The magazine profiled more than two dozen channels, producers and leading individuals. These included: Sky News RTS Veterans Arabia HD; CNBC; Sky Sports at 20; the US-based lifestyle and The first of two RTS Veterans lunches saw former ITN chief cooking specialist, the Scripps Network, which also has chan- executive Sir David Nicholas CBE in conversation with Sir nels in the UK; al-Jazeera; The Killing’s producer, Danmarks Paul Fox CBE, formerly managing director of television at the Radio; ITN; Starz; BBC Worldwide as it prepared to launch its BBC and then chair of ITN. global iPlayer program; and 15 of the best and brightest small Meeting at the House of Lords in April, they compared notes and medium-sized independent production companies. on their good and not-so-good decisions over decades in Among the notable individuals profiled and interviewed which they were friendly rivals. Nicholas noted that the BBC in were: Lord Attenborough, Peter Chernin, Adam Crozier; Lucy the 1960s “had two class distinctions in journalism: there were Lumsden, John de Mol, Wayne Garvie; David Lynn; David reporters in Alexandra Palace who did the nightly news – they Zaslav. were the poor bloody infantry. When a big event came along, In order to balance the inevitable metropolitan bias of the the BBC turned to the Household Cavalry in Lime Grove.” RTS (given London’s dominance in UK television production In October Roger Mosey, BBC director for London 2012, and commerce) Television invited Manchester-based entre- was the guest. “We think that only today is about innovation, preneur Alex Connock to write a monthly column, Our Friend but people working on the 1948 Olympics were pioneering in the North. Through the year, he maintained an incisive probably more than we are today,” he suggested. focus on important television trends that Londoners all-8

14 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 1 RTS Veterans speaker Roger Mosey. RTS early-evening event ‘Media regulation – new ideas’ participants 2 David Elstein, BSAC, and chair Oona King and 3 Tim Suter, Communications Chambers. RTS Veterans speakers 4 Sir David Nicholas CBE and 5 Sir Paul Fox CBE and 6 their audience at the House of Lords. 7 RTS Dinner speaker David Abraham, CEO of Channel 4

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Television covered 8too-easily overlook, even when they have the capacity to subjects as diverse transform the way programmes are made. as: 1 gambling on The first issue of the year unearthed the previously secret TV; 2 workforce story of exactly how the BBC licence-fee settlement was diversity; 3 profiles negotiated in a few hours of high drama. The consequences of companies such as of this deal dictate the corporation’s budget until at least Netflix,4 the Scripps 2017. Networks (notable for The following month, Television probed the financial model its celebrity chef Guy pioneered by Sky Sports and emerging threats to its domi- Fieri); 5 the impact of nance, together with an investigation into how the regula- social media on two- tor Ofcom shrewdly reinvented itself to escape the bonfire of screen viewing; 6 the quangos. And analyst Toby Syfret argued that hardware 3DTV (in which BSkyB companies and, to an extent, entertainment companies have has led the way in the committed too heavily to 3DTV to let mere public indiffer- UK with programmes ence thwart their attempts to build a mass market for the such as Flying format. But he predicted it might take 10-20 years to realise Monsters); and 7 their ambitions. Starz, producer of the In March Television looked at the pitfalls of remaking Brit- Spartacus franchise ish formats to appeal to US audiences. A complementary article concentrated on NBC Universal’s progress in building up a UK programme-production empire. Elsewhere, the spot- light was turned on television gambling and on S4C – whose independence has been compromised as a result of management schisms. In April, Simon Callow reflected on how acting styles, particularly for television, have changed. Drawing on his experience as an RTS Programme Awards juror, he said: “It is thrill- ing (and reassuring) that this country continues to produce such a breadth and depth of acting talent.” In the same issue, Television investigated “What our kids teach us about media”. Tomorrow’s typical viewer is growing up as a multitasking “media-stacker” – but behavioural experts and broadcasters are divided about what this means for their appetite for, and expectations of, television once they have grown up. 4 In a typical, hallmark piece in May, Television reported

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an RTS-organised roundtable discussion entitled, “Twitter vs tanks”. A high-powered group of practitioners provided a more nuanced analysis of the Arab Spring than that frequently offered when shrill cyber-utopians argue with flat- earth, cyber-abstainers. The participants were Mohamed Yehia of BBC Arabic, Jacky Rowland of al-Jazeera, Simon Bucks of Sky News and Channel 4’s Alex Thompson. The discussion of whether it was social media wot won it against the despots was moder- ated by Richard Sambrook. Yehia said: “Social media (and citizen journalists) brought us news we couldn’t have got in any other way.” Equally impressive was an extended debate between veteran media journalist Raymond Snoddy and his son, Oliver, on whether social media would kill television. And, rather more urgently, whether a generation gap in media consump- tion has rendered many experienced television professionals unable to appreciate the danger they are in. They agreed, at least, that the generation gap is real. The May edition also covered the renaissance of BBC science documentaries and, in contrast, the US History Net- work’s bold shift from documentaries to reality shows in pur- suit of bigger audiences. The June issue concentrated on the evolving battlefield of connected TVs, where numerous manufacturers and content aggregators are jockeying for advantage. Analyst Theresa Wise sized up the combatants and alliances in this multi- cornered fight. Elsewhere, Television explored Tesco’s plans to move on from the kitchen to conquer the nation’s living rooms using its investment in the online video service, Blink- box. In September BBC Scotland editor of current affairs Marcus Ryder explored the insidious processes by which fair-minded, usually male, TV executives end up discriminating against job 6 applicants who are women, disabled or from ethnic minori- 7 ties, especially for senior positions. The real problem8

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8in television is very rarely overt racism or sexism, but ITV’s Fru Hazlitt, Camilla Lewis of TalkbackThames, Profes- trust, he believes. sor Stewart Purvis CBE, Simon Shaps. “The big question will never be whether you like me The TV diarists were: Colette Bowe, Claire Enders, Jeff enough to invite me round for dinner, but whether you trust Ford, Steve Hewlett, Sophie Jones, Sophie Turner Laing, John me enough to put me in charge of your next multi-million- Smithson, Jane Tranter, Beryl Vertue OBE and Pat Younge. pound project,” Ryder argued. “If you are still going on vague gut instincts, then we’re unlikely to see any progress in diver- Website sity in broadcasting [employment] anytime soon.” The RTS has committed resources to upgrading its web pres- In the same issue, historian John Trenouth recounted the ence and to integrating online services more fully with the story of the studios that started the world’s first high-defini- Society’s databases. The first phase of this project, a com- tion TV services in 1936. Alexandra Palace is the world’s last pletely redesigned and enhanced website became operational surviving television station from that era and has frequently in March. Later phases involve membership and e-commerce. faced the threat of demolition, despite its cultural and his- The Society’s website was visited by 71,882 unique users, toric value. who viewed an average of 3.45 pages (including repeat On the eve of the 75th anniversary of BBC television, Tre- visitors, the total number of page views was 419,155); their nouth told how the station launched with two competing average time spent on the site was two minutes 26 seconds; transmission systems to determine whether the future would 43.42% were returning visitors. belong to Marconi-EMI or Baird. As a result, the BBC’s sec- On the main site the most popular pages related to the ond TV programme was also its first repeat. Society’s events and awards. Each issue of Television is pub- He revealed that the Baird system required camera opera- lished as a PDF magazine at the same time as the print editors to be sealed in a glass box with a wet floor, with 10,000 tion, but the articles are only viewable by RTS members. One volts running through their machine and the ever-present risk month after the print publication date, the full issue is made of cyanide poisoning. Marconi-EMI’s 405-line system won. available to all online viewers. A longer version of the article with more illustrations was published on the RTS website. RTS Awards The October issue was devoted to in-depth coverage of the The RTS’s Awards continue to provide the gold standard of RTS Cambridge Convention and IBC for the benefit of those peer recognition. The ceremonies, produced by RTS Enter- unable to afford the cost of attending those events. prises, continue to be well attended thanks to the unparal- As the Leveson Inquiry continued its forensic dissection of leled integrity of the judging process, the continual refine- media practices, the final issue of the year looked at how the ment of award categories to match emerging technologies debates around media regulation moved on in the course of and new areas of creative expertise, and the level of profes- 2011. Other articles analysed the travails of online film rental sionalism with which they are mounted. service Netflix, the place of pornography on British television Although these events help fund the Society’s charitable and the management turmoil at al-Jazeera. activities, the RTS has modified the presentation and kept Over the year Television’s book reviewers included: Chan- ticket prices as low as possible in response to the economic nel 4’s David Abraham and Dorothy Byrne, Malcolm Baird, climate. The Society recognises the financial pressures on8

18 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 5 4 3 01 CoverNovemberv2.indd1 the money Speed datingSpeed thenext Apprentice Always on How make theDanes aKilling Has Netflix hit thebuff ers? The strugglefor al-Jazeera Porn’s placeonTV Peter Chernin Peter Chernin Simon Shaps Shaps Simon profi les John Smithson Leanne Klein Rob Carey Liselle Bailey Andrew O’Connell Richard Bradley Julia Harrington

 Alex Connock

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 Dan Korn Dan Colette Bowe

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 Kath WorrallKath

 Adam Bullmore Jonathan Hewes Clarissa Smith Clarissa 13/11/2011 22:14

November 2011

Plus: With: Hard graft The Apps to ofmobile therescue TV television actor’s craft Callowonthe Simon R Jana Bennett Beryl Vertue Beryl

iPlayer goes global oyal   TheresaWise Alex Connock 

A new dotcom bubble T  

Roger Graef What kids teach usaboutmedia elevision 

RTS Awards

April 2011 trends, suchas:4 what childrenteach adultsaboutmediaconsumption; can and5mobilevideoapps. News and3 thelaunchofSky ITV; Arabia.Television provided authoritative butaccessible coverage ofmedia Television alsocovered from themajorbusinessstories NAB;2 Adam suchas:1 reports Crozier’s plansfor 01 CoverJulyv3.indd1 King ofdocsandstocksKing Liam Keelan Liam John Smithson David Flynn Alex Connock Ben McOwen Wilson and how to score online Bear Misery Plus: David Abraham And: Viacom’s hub UKproduction David Lynn: Tough love for theBBC Lord Patten: David Zaslav : S ociet y   

Wil Harris

Stewart Purvis 

Jon Davenport 

Martin TrickeyMartin John Cassy John Discovery’s miracleworker

Repor t 2011 10/07/2011 20:55 July/August 2011 19 RTS Student Television Awards winner 1 Mike Please. 2 RTS Masterclass speaker Carolyn Reynolds. 3 The ‘Doctor Who and beyond’ masterclass, with (from left): Phil Ford; chair Diana Muir; Charles Cecil; and Gary Russell. 4 RTS Craft & Design Awards winner for The Crimson Petal 2 and the White, Annie Symons.

1 3

8producers and broadcasters and has sought to balance three of their creators to explain the complicated develop- these against the relatively inflexible costs of providing public ment process. opportunities to celebrate the highest standards of achieve- Successful dramas and reality shows both depend on good ment in broadcasting. storytelling skills, argued Lime Pictures chief executive Car- The RTS Television Journalism Awards 2009/10 were pre- olyn Reynolds in the second masterclass. The Only Way Is sented in February at the London Hilton. The evening was Essex had succeeded precisely because of Lime’s experience hosted by Krishnan Guru-Murthy. Sky News cemented its as a drama producer, she said. dominance by again winning News Channel of the Year, In the factual masterclass, True North’s CEO, Glyn Middle- while Sky’s correspondent, Alex Crawford, was declared Tel- ton, and creative director Andrew Sheldon, shared with the evision Journalist of the Year, for the second year running. assembled students the secrets of “Making crime pay”. Tel- The Judges’ Award also went to Sky, but jointly with the evision audiences have an insatiable demand for true crime BBC and ITV negotiating teams that finally wrung agreement stories, they explained, but getting crime programmes right from politicians to hold three Prime Ministerial Debates during demands good contacts and reporting skills. the General Election. The judges noted that the negotiations Undergraduate and Postgraduate Awards were judged in took months and involved agreement on 76 separate rules four categories: Animation, Fiction, Entertainment and Factual. governing the debates, one each being produced by Sky, ITV Entries for the Undergraduate group were judged on a and the BBC. “It was a genuinely historic agreement and in regional basis and these regional winners were then put most people’s eyes the debates more than lived up to their forward for national judging. The national juries selected billing,” they added. three nominees per category and the winner was selected The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to David by secret ballot. The Postgraduate nominees were judged at Dimbleby – in his 50th year working for the BBC. The 2010 Gen- a national level only. eral Election was his eighth as a presenter for the corporation. The ceremony was hosted by comedian Seann Walsh and The RTS Programme Awards 2010 were held at Gros- the awards were presented by the director of BBC North, venor House in March and were hosted by comedian Dara Peter Salmon. O’Briain. The awards were presented by RTS President, Sir The title of RTS Young Technologist of the Year 2011 was Peter Bazalgette. presented to Freesat UK’s Peter Sellar by a panel of judges The Judges’ Award went to screenwriter Steven Moffat chaired by digital media consultant Terry Marsh. The jurors and the Lifetime Achievement Award to Peter Bennett-Jones. included: John Ive, director of business development and The Actor awards went to Jim Broadbent, for his role in Any technology, IABM; Paul Mason, head of Olympic Broadcast- Human Heart, and This Is England ’86 star Vicky McClure. ing Services London and Peter Weitzel, broadcasting con- Twenty-six awards were presented, with the BBC accounting sultant, Siemens. for 17 of them. The purpose of the award is to advance education in the The RTS Student Television Awards 2010, held in May at science, practice, technology and art of television and its the National Media Museum in Bradford, were accompanied allied fields, giving the winner the opportunity to attend IBC 4 by three RTS Masterclasses. The first was devoted to the in September. Judges look for applicants to demonstrate how spin-off Doctor Who: The Adventure Games, and assembled the award would enhance their understanding of technol-

20 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 1 3

6 5 2 4 ogy’s role in television and related fields, and how the appli- East and the Border Centre organised a major debate in RTS Television cants propose to share their understanding. Newcastle. “An unsuitable job for a woman?” involved Lib- Journalism Awards AM Beresford-Cooke, in whose memory the award is pre- erty Bell’s Dianne Nelmes, news presenter Fiona Armstrong, winners: 1 Alex sented, was a distinguished engineer who made a substan- BBC sports presenter Dawn Thewlis and Tom Harvey, chief Crawford, Television tial contribution to British broadcasting technology, helping executive of screen agency Northern Film & Media. Journalist of the Year; to pioneer VHF and UHF transmission. In May 120 people attended a discussion of Channel 4’s 2 ITN, News The RTS Craft & Design Awards 2009/10 were presented series, One Born Every Minute. The main success of the South- Programme of the in November at the Savoy in London, and hosted by Myleene ern Centre event lay in bringing together producers, partici- Year. RTS Programme Klass. Director of photography Martin Hawkins received the pants and public to debate issues such as gaining access and Awards winners: Lifetime Achievement Award, while the Judges’ Award went trust from both the hospital and the couples portrayed. 3 Jim Broadbent, to the Spooks production team. June’s Anthony H Wilson Lecture saw Sita Williams and Actor – Male for One programme, The Crimson Petal and the White, scored Jimmy McGovern talking about how to write and create great Any Human Heart; a hat trick by winning: Costume Design – Drama; Make-up drama. Devon & Cornwall Centre’s annual Break into Media 4 Vicky McClure, Design – Drama; and Production Design – Drama. Misfits won day at Plymouth University was attended by some 300 students Actor – Female for two awards – for its Original Score and for Effects – Digital. Several Centres organised masterclasses on various topics, This Is England ’86. Lisa Cavalli-Green won her fourth RTS award for Make-up the most ambitious of which was London Centre’s all-day sem- RTS Craft & Design Design since 2003, for Come Fly With Me. inar, Update TV. It was held at the BBC Academy’s White City Awards winner: The Society is extremely grateful to our awards presenters, studio in November and provided an in-depth look at changes 5 Misfits. 6 RTS all of whom donate their services. in production methods and techniques for around 40 people. Young Technologist of Around 150 teenagers aged 14 to 19, took part in the the Year Peter Sellar RTS Offices Young People’s Media Festival at Teesside University in May. The Society’s lease on the fifth floor of Kildare House expired Lord Patten’s RTS Fleming Memorial Lecture in July was in September. We have negotiated with the new landlords to streamed live to six venues, allowing those Centres’ mem- relocate to the seventh floor in 2012 when the floor’s refur- bers and guests to participate in the Q&A session. bishment has been completed. The Society’s regional awards nights continue to do well, with North East and the Border Centre attracting more than RTS Centres 500 guests to its awards ceremony at the Sage, Gateshead. The RTS Centres continue to organise an impressive range of Many of the Centres’ student awards ceremonies have local events, which are considered in more detail on pages gone from strength to strength, with growing numbers of 24-33. Highlights include events such as North West Centre’s entries, which are frequently of a very high standard. “An evening with Joe Godwin”, to which 250 people came to hear the director of BBC Children’s talk about his depart- IBC ment’s move to MediaCity. The Society is a partner in IBC, Europe’s premier broadcast And in the light of a Skillset survey that showed 5,000 technology event, which is held in Amsterdam’s RAI Centre women leaving the industry before or during middle age, in September. A record 50,500 visitors attended IBC 2011, compared with 750 men, over the past three years, North which is successfully evolving away from a purely broad-8

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 21 1 2

8cast engineering focus to serve a wider set of constituen- that reinvention should be far more regionalism in British TV. cies, including consumer electronics and social media. The June meeting of the Advisory Council was not quorate. The main themes on the exhibition floor and in the confer- John Hardie and Emma Scott were welcomed as the newly ences sessions were 3D broadcasting, Cloud production and, appointed Chair and Vice-Chair. The most significant item especially, multi-screen viewing. IBC launched its Leaders’ was a discussion on RTS Governance led by David Lowen, the Summit, an ambitious initiative to gather some of the most Honorary Secretary, who had been charged by the Trustees significant figures in world media for two days of discussions with the task of consulting and making recommendations. with 50 senior European broadcasters. There was a consensus that the Advisory Council was an unsatisfactory forum. Governance John Newbigin, chair, Creative England was the guest The Board of Trustees met four times in the course of the speaker. He explained that the UK Film Council was abol- year. The Trustees have complied with their obligation to ished in 2010 and the British Film Institute is now the lead have regard to the Commission’s guidance on public benefit. strategic body for the distribution of funds. The Screen Agen- The guidance is the benchmark against which the Society’s cies would be wound up on 30 September 2011 and Crea- activities are measured. tive England would come into being on 1 October. Creative The Advisory Council usually meets twice during the year. England would concentrate on talent development, business The formal division of responsibilities between the two bod- development and audience development. ies makes best use of the expertise of a large Advisory Coun- He recognised that there were strong regional differences cil, with a Board of Trustees of a size recommended by the and needs and intended to build an organisation that didn’t Charity Commission. The Advisory Council can have up to lose regionality with an all-England Board and regional 15 directly elected members serving three-year terms; and Advisory Boards covering film, television and games. Some in recognition of the vital role played by the Centres, the 14 Screen Agencies currently concentrated on film, some on tel- Centre Chairs; the four Honorary Officers; and up to six oth- evision. Creative England would try to do both. ers who may be appointed or co-opted. Attendance at Trustees’ meetings: Mike Darcey (Chair) The Advisory Council meetings receive reports from the 4/4; Paul Corley 4/4; Carolyn Fairbairn 3/3; Mike Green 1/1; Centres and review and advise on the Society’s activities. At John Hardie 1/1; Wayne Garvie 0/3; Jane Lighting 4/4; Grant the January meeting matters discussed included the stream- Murray 1/3; David Lowen 4/4; Emma Scott 1/1; Caroline ing of events, exporting events from London and the mem- Thomson 3/4; Graeme Thompson 4/4. bership proposition. The guest speaker was Alex Connock who gave a presenta- Recognition tion titled “All aboard the App Store” He concluded that the Once again we thank our Royal Patron, HRH The Prince of TV world is changing at a stunning speed and many of our Wales, the Trustees of the Society, all the RTS Chairs, Advi- paradigms are outmoded, except for one – quality counts for sory Council Members and Officers for giving us so much of everything. We’re all doing business in a kind of enlarged App their time. We are grateful to retiring Trustees Carolyn Fair- Store, which means we can be closer to the end user. We’re bairn (Chair), Wayne Garvie (Vice-Chair) and Grant Murray all reinventing ourselves at a rate of knots to keep up. Part of (Honorary Treasurer) for their support over many years.

22 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 1 IBC speaker James Cameron evangelised for the rapid take-up of 3DTV. 2 Many RTS Centres received presentations from Arqiva engineers on digital switchover. 3 Alex Connock gave a presentation, ‘All aboard the App Store’, to the RTS Advisory Council, and wrote 4 a regular column for Television. The Centres also held well- supported awards ceremonies: 4 RTS Yorkshire Programme Awards winners True North and 5 Charlie May-Clark. 6 London Centre organised the impressive Update TV training day. 7 Several Centres marked the 75th anniversary of the first TV transmissions from Alexandra 3 5 6 Palace, and 8 organised visits to MediaCity in Salford. Also, we are grateful to Sophie Jones, Jonathan Levi and 9 North East and Andrew Shaw, whose terms of office as members of the Advi- the Border Centre sory Council came to an end. organised a debate on RTS Fellowships were awarded to John Cresswell, Jane Feath- pornography’s place erstone, Peter Fincham, Andy Harries and George Jesse Turner. on TV.

RTS national events in 2011 18 January RTS early-evening event: What’s wrong with sports reporting? 23 February RTS Television Journalism Awards 2009/10 15 March RTS Programme Awards 2010 28 March RTS Futures event: Speed date the children’s gurus 31 March RTS Roundtable: Twitter vs tanks 5 April RTS Veterans Lunch: Sir David Nicholas CBE in conversation with Sir Paul Fox CBE 4 May RTS Futures event: Creating Spooks 7 20 May RTS Student Television Awards 2010 and RTS Masterclasses 23 May RTS Dinner: David Abraham 25 May RTS AGM 4 July RTS Futures event: The million pound pitch 6 July RTS Fleming Memorial Lecture: Lord Patten – The BBC: old values, new technologies 14-16 September RTS Cambridge Convention – TV everywhere – paths to growth 14 September RTS Huw Wheldon Memorial Lecture: TV: modern father of history by Bettany Hughes 26 October RTS Veterans Lunch: Roger Mosey 7 November RTS early-evening event: The future of investigative journalism 9 November RTS Futures event: The only way is… structured reality 21 November RTS Craft & Design Awards 2010/11 8 9 23 November RTS early-evening event: Is TV too posh?

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 23 National and Regional Centres

editor Paul Roberts. An Outstanding Contribution Award was Bristol also presented, in his absence, to RTS stalwart Bob McCann, who founded the Student Television Awards in the region. He The Bristol Centre continued to organise a busy meeting was sadly unable to attend due to ill health. schedule in 2011. A recently revamped Centre Committee The annual Break into Media day, held at Plymouth Uni- reflected the changing mix of broadcasters and independent versity in November, was, once again, massively oversub- producers in the area. scribed. Every college with a relevant course in the region With an increasingly active broadcast community in the applied for places and about 300 students attended. The ses- city, the RTS is now one of a variety of suppliers of “media sions included “Get in and get on” and “Behind the scenes events” but is, importantly, able to offer a neutral meeting of The Hotel Inspector”, in which members of the production ground for key television players. The Centre has found team from Plymouth-based Twofour Broadcast revealed the a ready audience for events that pull other organisations secrets behind the hit Channel 5 series. together to debate common issues alongside the Society’s The day was sponsored by Plymouth College of Art, Plym- showcase events – the West of England Awards and Student outh University and University College Falmouth, and fin- Television Awards. ished with the presentation of the RTS Devon and Cornwall The highlight of the events programme was a discussion Student Awards. on the role of social media in the news, produced in partner- The Committee’s work with colleges in the region appears ship with the University of the West of England. The meeting to be paying off, with a record number of entries this year – was hosted by the BBC and looked at the role of social media more than double that in 2010. Sam Smith, BBC presenter during the riots in England. It played to a packed house. and chair of the Student Awards jury, said the standard of all The Student Television Awards went well and continued the entries was very high, with some of advanced broadcast the trend of a steady increase in the number of entries. standard. The biggest event in the Centre’s programme was the West The Centre Committee has offered to organise bespoke of England Awards, which also received a record number “Get in and get on” sessions for those colleges that, because of entries in an increased range of categories. The awards of oversubscription, were unable to attend the Break into would not be possible without a dedicated group of judges Media day in November. – led this year by chair of judges Dawn McCarthy Simpson – In order to integrate the Student Television Awards with and without sponsorship from the media community. the main Devon and Cornwall programming awards, the The Bristol Centre is indebted to Society patrons and Centre Committee has created a new award of Outstanding to local broadcasters who continue to offer their support Student Film. The nominees for this award will be the four throughout the year. winners of the Student Television Awards categories, and the Denis Lomax, Chair overall winner’s award will be presented at the main programming awards in January 2012. Jeremy Hibbard, Chair Devon & Cornwall

The Centre’s Annual Awards were held in January in Plym- London outh, and sponsored by BBC South West, ITV West Country, Plymouth University, Silverstream TV and Pyramid Presenta- With more than half of all RTS members plus the heavy con- tions. There was a healthy number of entries for the 12 cate- centration of production in its region, the London Centre gories and the Lifetime Achievement Award went to dubbing has continued to provide events and activities aimed at the

24 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 2

1 Several Centres whole of the capital’s television community, with an empha- organised events sis on the practice of television on the ground. around the live During 2011 the Centre organised a total of 19 separate webcast of Lord events, including the regional Student Television Awards, a Patten’s first regular programme of lectures and discussions, members- major speech after only visits and the Centre’s most ambitious project for some becoming chair of time – Update TV. the BBC Trustees. The 2010 RTS London Student Television Awards were 2 Devon and presented at the ITV London Studios on the Southbank in Cornwall Centre’s January. As in previous years, working producers from each annual ‘Break into genre shared their experience in lively question and answer the Media’ day. sessions following each award and this gave the evening an 3-5 London Centre’s educational as well as celebratory value. The winning Ani- ‘Update TV’ training mation entry went on to be nominated for the national RTS 3 day Student Television Awards. Thanks to continuing and generous support from ITV, most of the Centre’s series of regular Wednesday-evening sessions were also held at the London Studios. The wide-ranging programme extended to 14 events, mostly fortnightly during the spring and autumn, covering the creativity, business and technology of television. In five “Production Focus” events production teams talked through their programmes. These ranged from the BBC’s Planet Dinosaur to coverage of the 2011 Boat Race in HD, while a heated discussion of Channel 4’s controversial My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding made national headlines. Looking at specific techniques, Aardman Animation 5 4 explored the extreme range of stop motion – from recording on a smart phone to using an entire beach – while an evening on “The creativity of post” looked at the facilities now available to editors. Technology was examined more closely in sessions that included the vast digital switchover project and a review of IBC 2011 Wider developments in television were reflected in a panel session chaired by Roger Bolton that asked, “Where will broadcasting fit in digital Britain?” Other sessions sought to “Demystify the EPG” and comprehend “The rise of the second Screen”. The annual Jane Mercer Memorial Lecture, held jointly by the Centre and FOCAL, looked at “The BBC Doomsday: the rise, fall and restoration of an interactive masterwork”.8

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 25 4

1-2 North East and 8London Centre events continue to attract large audiences, the Border Centre’s sometimes of over 100, and this has been helped by the intro- Annual Awards. duction of an online registration system linked to the Cen- 3 Panellists at the tre’s pages on the RTS website and to an email alert system North East and that reaches both members and non-members. the Border event, The Centre seeks to serve RTS members as well as the ‘TV – an unsuitable wider community and in 2011 organised three members- job for a woman?’ only visits. These were to: BBC R&D, where new develop- 4 Sky News’s John ments such as metadata were examined; Sky Studios, which Ryley presented the included a demonstration of projected 3D; and BBC Studios, Midlands Centre’s where members explored HD facilities and were able to oper- annual Baird Lecture 1 ate a 3D rig. At the end of November the Centre organised an ambitious all-day seminar, Update TV, at the White City studio of the BBC Academy, which also provided several of the contributors. The day gave around 40 people an in-depth look at the rapid and significant changes in production methods and techniques. There was a particular focus on people returning to television –often after having children –and on those looking at areas beyond their existing experience. Update TV included a total of 20 activities, comprising discussions, workshops and hands-on sessions designed to provide as much individual value as possible to a wide range of people. Detailed feedback showed that this kind of larger- scale event was very successful in meeting a real need for a 2 broad overview of new developments. And although aimed at the London television community, it attracted people from as far afield as Bristol and Manchester. In 2011 the RTS London Centre had its most active year so far and all of its activities were organised entirely by volunteers. David Thomas, Chair

Midlands

The Centre continued development of a programme of events and speakers of interest to the Centre’s members and 3 the wider public. In August, Isabel Clarke attended a Local TV Summit on

26 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 1

2 3 4 5 behalf of the RTS, hosted by culture secretary the Rt Hon Jer- ing the industry before or during middle age, compared with 1 The North East emy Hunt MP, where discussion centred on planned local TV 750 men. The panel concluded that the main reasons for the and the Border licences and when these might be released to bidders in the large number of women leaving the industry were poor pay Centre participated Midlands. and difficulties in maintaining a work-life balance. in a DCMS-organised In September, judging of the entries for the Student Televi- More than 500 sponsors and guests gathered at the Sage, meeting on local TV sion Awards commenced. Both the number and quality of the Gateshead for the annual North East and Border Awards. addressed by the Rt entries was excellent. The awards ceremony will be held in BBC North director Peter Salmon was the special guest, and Hon Jeremy Hunt MP. Birmingham in March 2012. the ceremony was hosted by BBC children’s presenter Kirsten 2 The Centre held A very successful Baird Lecture was presented by John O’Brien. The event included a film and musical tribute to the an ‘Extreme filming’ Ryley, head of Sky News at the University of Birmingham. filmGet Carter, which did so much to establish the North East masterclass focused The Lecture was entitled “Technology and journalism – a film and television sector 40 years ago. Director Mike Hodges on The Great Climb. logical partnership”; the large audience included a mix of received a special award from one of the film’s stars, Alun 3 The Centre’s practitioners and students. Armstrong. Honorary Treasurer The RTS Midlands Centre Committee decided not to hold Another well-attended event was the “Extreme filming” Tony Gaw (left) and an Awards Dinner in late 2011 and instead is planning to masterclass, staged in April at Northumbria University. It Honorary Secretary organise an event in Autumn 2012, dependent upon budgets was presented by mountaineer and author Graham Ratcliffe, Tony Edwards (right) and commitments of Committee members. producer and film-maker Richard Else and cameraman Keith stepped down after a Isabel Clarke, Chair Partridge. The event focused on The Great Climb – the world’s combined 41 years of first HD live outside broadcast of a climb, made by Else for service. 4 The North BBC Scotland. East and the Border Around 150 teenagers aged 14 to 19, from across the Centre speaker North East and the Border North-East, took part in the Young People’s Media Festival Eric Robson 5 The at Teesside University in May. Kirsten O’Brien was again on Centre also debated The year was characterised by significant change for the Cen- presenter duty and the categories included entertainment, ‘Pornography’s place tre: new faces on the Committee and the retirement, after factual, drama and professionally supported productions by on TV’ many years’ service, of both the Honorary Treasurer and schools and societies. Honorary Secretary. The year was also marked by the pass- The festival showcased the remarkable narrative and tech- ing of former Chair John Frost. nical standards of enthusiastic young people’s short films An impressive series of events ensured that the RTS main- and documentaries, said the event’s chair, Tony Edwards. He tained its profile across the North East and Cumbria main- stepped down as Honorary Secretary at the Centre’s AGM, tained its profile as a place for debate and insight into the but will continue to chair the festival. Honorary Treasurer fast-changing broadcast and production landscape. Tony Gaw also retired. Together, the two Tonys have served The year began with a well-attended event at Live Theatre the RTS for more than half a century. A special dinner to in Newcastle. “TV – An unsuitable job for a woman?” was a mark their achievement was held in Durham in July. lively debate chaired by Ruth Pitt of Tiger Aspect. The panel- In September, the annual Keynote Lecture was delivered lists were Dianne Nelmes, former ITV executive and currently by media entrepreneur Alex Connock at Live Theatre in New- MD of Liberty Bell, news presenter Fiona Armstrong, the BBC castle. He said viewing figures remained healthy and that sports presenter Dawn Thewlis and Tom Harvey, chief execu- television is thriving, thanks to live events, increased par- tive of screen agency Northern Film & Media. allel interaction and aggressive marketing across all media The audience joined in the discussion, which centred on platforms. He focused on the importance of formats and the a Skillset survey that had shown a 10% decline in the TV implications of working in a global market. workforce over the past three years, with 5,000 women leav- More than 60 people attended a lively, illustrated event,8

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 27 1 2

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1 North West Centre’s 8“Happy bedfellows – the relationship between television annual Anthony H and pornography”, in October. Wilson Lecture was Channel X programme controller Liselle Bailey debated presented jointly by the knotty issues in regulating broadcast pornography with Jimmy McGovern (left) Ofcom’s Kath Worrall and academic Dr Clarissa Smith. Audi- and Sita Williams, ence contributions also reflected the perspective of perform- and chaired by Peter ers and production professionals who make content for the Salmon (right). adult entertainment industry. The event was hosted by the 2 Republic of Ireland BBC’s Chris Jackson at the Newcastle offices of Northern Film Centre’s Student TV and Media. Awards winners. Later that month, one of the region’s best-known broadcast- 3 North West Centre ers and producers, Eric Robson, gave an entertaining talk in held an exclusive pre- Carlisle, drawing on his varied career on television and radio. transmission screening The final event of the year was the well-attended Annual of ITV1’s Scott and Review, held in December at Live Theatre in Newcastle. Once Bailey. 4,5,7 Prize again, teams from broadcasting organisations and produc- winners at the Centre’s tion companies tested their knowledge of television and Annual Awards. media events to compete for the coveted Alto Trophy. 6 Several In November the former chair of the North East Centre, Centres John Frost, died. As well as being the last person to carry organised the title, regional television manager for BBC Newcastle, he events to extend instigated the Centre’s Annual Awards – which in 2012 will public understanding celebrate their 25th anniversary. of the digital switch- Graeme Thompson, Chair over project. 8 North West Centre held ‘An evening with Joe Northern Ireland Godwin’ at the BBC’s MediaCity in Salford The annual Dan Gilbert Memorial Lecture was held in Octo- ber. Peter Heslop, digital switchover programme director at Arqiva, presented a fascinating insight into the technical planning required for the project. 6 With strong visuals and video content the 70-strong audience got a real sense of the scale of the operation to replace analogue with digital transmission. UTV kindly hosted the event, which was attended by the widow, family and friends of Dan Gilbert. The whole event was videoed by Northern Ireland Cen- tre Secretary John Mitchell and is available to stream on the Northern Ireland section of the Society’s website. Michael Wilson, Chair

28 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 7 8

celebrate the best of the region’s programme-making. The North West awards were presented by BBC Breakfast anchor Bill Turnbull. The prestigious Judges Award went posthumously to actor It was a very busy and productive year for the Centre, which Pete Postlethwaite. Other accolades were given to Songs of has attracted a lot of interest in its ambitious programme of Praise to celebrate its 50 years, and there was a posthumous events. celebration of the work of Betty Driver and North West news The Student Television Awards in January were expanded legend Gordon Burns. to include a session on careers in television. This was Alex Connock, Chair chaired by Ed Pugh, who interviewed Helen Bullough, managing editor of Entertainment Production North and also head of Vision Productions North. The ceremony was hosted by broadcaster Andy Crane. Republic of Ireland In February the Big Telly Quiz saw a pleasing turnout of 23 teams compete for dominance at Manchester’s Odder Bar. The Student Awards attracted an increased number of In May the Centre hosted an exclusive pre-transmission entries and the standard was very high. RTÉ director of tel- screening of ITV1’s new crime drama, Scott and Bailey, at evision programmes Steve Carson presented the awards at MOSI in Manchester. The screening was followed by an a ceremony in February hosted by the broadcaster. The Fic- entertaining discussion with executive producer Nicola tion winner – Small Change, made by students from IADT Shindler, Lesley Sharp (who plays Janet Scott), writer Sally Dun Laoghaire – went on to be nominated for the Society’s Wainwright and consultant and co-creator Diane Taylor. The national Student Television Awards. evening was chaired by Helen Bullough. Also in February, the creative director of RTÉ Promotions, The Anthony H Wilson Lecture 2011 was given in June at Jim Booth, gave a fascinating and enjoyable talk to the Centre, the Revolution Gallery at the Museum of Science and Indus- entitled “Promo, promo, promo”. The well-attended presenta- try. In a double-hander, Sita Williams and Jimmy McGovern tion covered all aspects of television promotions and trailers. talked about how to write and create great drama. The lec- Not long before his death, Centre member Dermot Ryle ture was hosted by Alex Connock and chaired by the director requested that the Centre Committee organise a visit to the of BBC North, Peter Salmon. recently rebuilt Lansdowne Road Stadium, now know as the There was also a very big turnout – around 250 – for “An Aviva Stadium. A tour of the stadium and its broadcasting evening with Joe Godwin” in October. The director of BBC centre was arranged in his memory in April, to which the Children’s discussed his department’s move to MediaCity Ryle family were invited. and his vision of creating a centre of excellence for children’s At the next event, UPC Television’s Simon Kelehan spoke programmes in Manchester. The event was introduced by to a large audience about the cable provider’s activities. BBC North director Peter Salmon, who outlined the implica- In June the Centre Chair and several members of the Com- tions of Delivering Quality First for the BBC. mittee were guests at the Dublin Institute of Technology’s The Centre has committed to organising a series of out- Students’ Annual Media Show. This was a very useful and reach events at universities and community colleges across informative visit for those who attended. the region. In October, the first of these saw Helen Tonge, In late June the RTÉ’s recently appointed head of digital executive producer and managing director of Title Role Pro- changeover gave a presentation to the Centre in advance of ductions, talking to University of Manchester students con- the public launch of the SaorView digital terrestrial service, sidering a career in the media. which had been on trial over the previous year in Ireland. In November the North West Awards attracted 415 con- The live streaming of Lord Patten’s RTS Fleming Memorial tent producers, performers and students to recognise and Lecture in July was hosted by RTÉ, and very well received.8

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8In September film director Darragh Byrne talked to the Cen- tre about the challenges of making a feature film in near Arctic conditions in Dublin in the terrible January of 2010. The very informative event was followed by a lively Q&A session. Eamon Moore of E-Mit provided a fascinating account of cloud technologies and their applications for media and TV production in November. The Centre Committee met on the first Tuesday of each month, apart from January, due to the severe snow and ice. Charles Byrne, Chair

Scotland

Students from the University of Stirling and the Royal Scot- tish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) dominated the Centre’s Student Television Awards in February. Nearly 100 enthusiastic students, academics and television professionals packed the viewing theatre at BBC Scotland’s Pacific Quay site in Glasgow. The Stirling team collected the Factual award for their moving observational documentary, Upon the Green, which focused on the personalities involved in running an outdoor bowling club. The judges described the film as “an outstanding piece of work”. The judges were also impressed by the overall quality, including performance, cinematography and design, of the Fiction award winner, Room 9, which was entered by RSAMD students. The awards were presented by BBC Scotland executive producer of children’s programmes Yvonne Jennings and leading drama producer Barbara McKissack of Heaton Productions. The event was organised by Christine Geraghty, professor of film and television studies at the University of Glasgow. The Centre organised two other well-attended events at BBC Scotland Glasgow. Lord Patten’s RTS Fleming Memorial Lecture in July was streamed live to an audience of 30. And David Flynn of Remarkable TV gave a masterclass on Chan- nel 4’s The Million Pound Drop, which he executive produces, 1 to a group of 50 members and guests. Director of BBC Scotland director Ken MacQuarrie was to

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7 6 have given the Campbell Swinton Lecture in 2011, but had sity, Bournemouth. Students from Bournemouth University 1 Alexandra to postpone the lecture until 2012 because of a broken leg. and University of the Creative Arts went on to win national Palace: the 75th The Centre is grateful to BBC Scotland and STV for all their RTS Student Television Awards in the Undergraduate Enter- anniversary of BBC help and support in 2011. tainment and Undergraduate Factual categories. TV transmissions Henry Eagles, Chair A special Judges Award was presented to BBC South to from the site was celebrate 50 years of regional broadcasting. To receive the marked by events award, the current South Today team was joined by Peter in several Centres. Marshall, the launch editor of South at Six, BBC South’s first 2 Thames Valley Southern regional programme in 1961. Centre held a Strong support from ITV Meridian and BBC South, sup- meeting on For the Centre’s first event of the year, Committee members plemented by sponsorship from Arqiva and Southampton ‘Capturing the perfect Peter Wright and Keith Lloyd organised a ground-breaking Solent University, meant that the event could be planned image – the future of 3D training course in conjunction with Sony at Sony’s 3D with confidence. Special thanks are due to Committee mem- camera and display training area in Basingstoke. The course, which was fully bers Alison Martin and Jenni Day for playing a major role in technology’. 3 BBC subscribed, was entitled “3D fundamentals”. It started with a organising the event. Yorkshire head Helen history of 3D and why previous attempts in the cinema had In March the Centre ran another very successful Meet the Thomas addressed failed to gain popular acceptance. It also dealt with 3D per- Professionals educational event at Bournemouth University, an emergency ception by the brain, production planning and rigging for 3D where 110 students from HE institutions in the South were debate organised and the display technologies available to viewers. The day able to meet and talk with a range of TV professionals. These by Yorkshire Centre offered hands-on experience with a working 3D camera rig. included staff from BBC South and ITV Meridian, as well as on the implications In February, 180 people attended a lively Southern Centre regional independent producers Talent South, Topical and of cuts to local TV RTS Awards evening at Winchester Guildhall. It was hosted Cloud One. and radio services. by ITV’s Fred Dinenage and the BBC’s Sally Taylor. Among In addition, Committee member Trevor Hearing chaired 4 Southern Centre’s those presenting the awards were Daybreak editor Ian Rum- a panel session on the latest trends in TV which included annual ‘Meet the sey, Seven Up’s Claire Lewis, BBC News correspondent Rob- contributions from the then-Ten Alps MD, Alex Connock, and professionals’ ert Hall and Arqiva MD Steve Holebrook. C4’s newly appointed head of scheduling, George Dixon. educational Both ITV and the BBC were well represented amongst the The following month Centre members and guests joined event was held award winners, the highlights being Meridian’s Reshmar local IET members for an update on the progress of the national at Bournemouth Rumsey winning Best Regional TV Journalist and BBC South digital switchover project at Arqiva HQ near Winchester. The University. Today winning best Regional News Magazine Programme. presenters, Peter Heslop and Tony Mattera described in detail 5 Southern Centre’s Regional indies demonstrated their ability to diversify their the scope of the DSO project, including the work needed on Annual Awards hosts programme-making as well as staying alive in a cold climate. the transmitting masts, which in some cases have had to be Fred Dinenage (left) Best Non-Broadcast Programme went to ITV Fixers for Suffer replaced. The session was attended by 60 people. and Sally Tayor. in Silence and Drink, Can’t Handle It and Best Online Produc- At the Centre’s AGM a week later John Barlow stepped 6 Scotland Centre tion went to The Behaviour Challenge from Brighton-based down from the Committee and was replaced as Vice-Chair by held a masterclass Lambent Productions. Electric Sky Productions won Best Alison Martin. The new members voted onto the Committee focused on The Single Documentary with Britain’s Fattest Man and South- were Robin Britton of ITV Meridian, Katharine Duchesne of Million Pound Drop. ampton’s Topical TV won awards for a range of entertaining Cloud One Productions, Nathalie Wilkinson of Athena Films 7 Winners of features for BBC One’s The One Show. and Stuart Ray of Southampton Solent University. Scotland Centre’s Student entries showed variety and innovation. The In May 120 attended a discussion of One Born Every Minute, Student Awards regional winners came from Bournemouth University, Uni- the Channel 4 series shot over six seeks in Southampton’s versity for the Creative Arts in Farnham and The Arts Univer- Princess Anne Maternity Hospital. The programme used8

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 31 2

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1 Several Centres 8the reality-TV technique of installing 40 fixed cameras in of Neil Dormand, who became Honorary Secretary. A lively heard presentations the hospital to capture the birth experiences of 40 women and enthusiastic group of Committee members is widening from Freesat. 2 Wales and their partners. the Centre’s network of contacts and this paid dividends in Centre’s debate on why Producers Lorraine Charker-Phillips and Dominique Fos- the second part of the year, which saw a rise in recruitment women are leaving ter from Dragonfly Films described how they and their team to the Centre. the TV workforce in worked in shifts to capture the action, how they dealt with Attendance at events in the beginning of the year was poor, such large numbers. large amounts of shot material and how they distilled the but picked up dramatically towards the end of the year, when 3 Wales Centre huge amount of raw video to create engaging narratives – lectures were incredibly well attended. This was definitely a Secretary Mari Griffith despite much of the material consisting of hours of waiting. matter of picking the right topic and then promoting it to the (right) retired after The main success of the evening lay in bringing together relevant people. Better use of social media, more effective 11 years’ service producers, participants and public to debate issues such as HTML emails and focused information not only increased 4 Producer John Mead gaining access and trust from both the hospital and the cou- attendance numbers, but widened the Society’s audience. delighted Wales ples portrayed. Future lectures will have a more technical and educational Centre members The Centre held two events in October. The first asked tone. The Thames Valley Centre is predominately a technical and guests with how social media could be used to enhance and develop pro- region in terms of its membership, but a careful marketing anecdotes form his gramme making. Social media consultant Sue Llewellyn told effort has seen public attendance at events grow, too. long career. the 90-strong audience that intelligent use of social media The Centre did not hold its traditional Annual Technical 5 Southern Centre has become a must for the career development of most pro- Colloquium this year, but an event with the same objectives discussed the ethical gramme-makers as they seek to locate contributors, tap into is being considered for 2012, albeit in a different format per- and production issues audience thinking, build communities and brands and cope haps. raised by Channel 4’s with increasing volumes of information. The Centre has a loyal following and the Committee was One Born Every Minute At the same time, social media provides new opportunities gratified to receive such staunch support during the year. for individuals to demonstrate knowledge of specific subject Jennie Evans, Chair areas, which could lead to enhance their careers. A variety of case-study material was provided by Adam McClean of Gra- nada Reports, Liesl Smith and Peter Henley from BBC News South, Robin Britton from ITV Meridian and Sarah Holmes of Wales BBC World’s Have Your Say. The second event was a review of IBC 2011. The panel- It was another good year for the Centre’s partnership with lists were: Peter Owen, chair of the IBC Council; MC Patel, Ffresh (the Student Moving Image Festival of Wales), and there entrepreneur and television technologist; and former BBC was standing room only at the RTS’s Student Television Awards engineer Peter Weitzel. ceremony during the festival in February. Students from the Gordon Cooper, Chair International Film School Newport had a clean sweep of the prizes, and two of the Welsh winners went on to be nominated for the Society’s national Student Television Awards. A March event on “Women in television” saw panellists grap- Thames Valley pling in particular with the problems facing women who return to work in the television sector. The chair, Nicola Heywood The year saw a turnover in Committee members and officers, Thomas, recounted some hair-raising stories about her treat- in which Jennie Evans returned to the role of Chair in place ment in the corridors of broadcasting power during the 1980s.

32 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 5

A second spring event gave a platform to media polymath was dominated by an extremely useful discussion about the Daniel Glyn, who presented a hilarious personal history of direction the Centre should be taking in the future. Although comedy on television, called “Making the unnecessary nec- the attendance was low given the size of the Centre’s mem- essary”. His trawl through the archives unearthed memora- bership, the debate produced a number of specific objectives ble scenes from comedies spanning three decades. that the Committee is working towards. Following its AGM the Centre organised an event, “Let’s The annual Programme Awards were held in June at the see what’s out there!”, aimed at young people either already Queen’s Hotel in Leeds. The number of entries was the high- working in television, or interested in getting into it. Par- est for several years and happily was matched by the quality ticipants expressed concern about the lack of skills training of the entries. on offer. One film-school graduate, Alyn Luker, became a More than 200 people attended the ceremony, which was pizza-parlour manager in order to pursue his chosen career. generally regarded as being a great success. Older members of the audience were appalled at evidence of The Committee is delighted that, despite the difficult eco- widespread employment insecurity, short-term contracts and nomic climate, the Centre received generous sponsorship unpaid runners’ jobs. either in cash or in kind from some of the major players in At the RTS’s annual Welsh-language event at the National the region, including ITV, the BBC, Pace, York University and Eisteddfod in Wrexham, S4C’s Aled Wyn delivered an off- Avid. beat guide to the broadcasting talents of the Eisteddfod area. In November the Centre joined forces with the National Ealing comedy actor Meredith Edwards, football legend Mark Media Museum to mark the 75th anniversary of the world’s Hughes and the late television historian, Gwyn Alf Williams, “first regular, high-definition television service”. The “Ally are all linked to this sometimes overlooked part of Wales. Pally 75” event was organised, very appropriately, by Iain In September an enthusiastic group of members and Baird. The grandson of John Logie Baird, he is the curator guests travelled to Manchester to visit the BBC’s new cen- of broadcast culture at the museum and a Centre Commit- tre at Salford Quays. In a connected event, Coronation Street tee member. Speakers included the distinguished television director Terry Dyddgen-Jones, talked to the Centre about the historians John Trenouth and Don McLean. changes the soap’s production team would see when they The detail and sophistication of the questions during the moved shortly to their new base at Salford. Q&A sessions would have graced a specialist round of Mas- In December, veteran producer John Mead regaled mem- termind. bers and guests with stories drawn from his book, Funny Later that month, the Centre held a special emergency Things Happen in Television. debate on the implications of the “Delivering Quality First” RTS Wales is extremely thankful to outgoing secretary Mari proposals for BBC television and radio services in the region. Griffith, without whose unstinting work the Centre could not This discussion formed the basis of the Centre’s formal have survived the past decade. Diolch o galon Mari. response to the BBC Trust. Tim Hartley, Chair The annual Student Television Awards, normally held in November, were postponed until spring 2012. At the turn of the year the Centre was saddened by the death of Committee member Will Venters after a short ill- Yorkshire ness. He will be hugely missed and his contribution to the region (he was also editor of Calendar at ITV Yorkshire) will The Centre’s AGM was held in March and, apart from a fun be marked at the next Programme Awards in June 2012. quiz to test the attendees’ knowledge of the media world, Mike Best, Chair

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 33 ± One person elected by the Principal Patrons Group; Volunteers ± No more than one additional person co-opted by the Board of Trustees; and The Society is supported by a team of up to 11 full-time staff, ± The Chair of the Board of Trustees. but the success of its activities is dependent on the expertise Trustees receive a briefing document that includes rules and and dedication of the many volunteers who plan and deliver background on the governance of the Society. The Society different aspects of its programme. ensures that trustees are fully aware of their duties and responsibilities to the charity and these are discussed at the regular meetings of the Board of Trustees and the Centre Officers. Fundraising activities The current organisational structure is under review.

The Society’s two wholly owned subsidiaries, RTS Enter- prises Ltd, which organises awards events and conferences, Risk management and RTS (IBC) Ltd, continued to generate surpluses which have been covenanted back to the charity during the year to The major risks to which the Society is exposed as identified fund charitable activities. by the Board of Trustees are and will continue to be regularly RTS Enterprises Ltd held a number of awards events and a reviewed and systems have been and will be established, conference during the year. RTS (IBC) Ltd holds an 18% inter- and, where appropriate, professional advisors have been or est in the IBC conference and exhibition. will be appointed to mitigate those risks.

2 Structure, governance 3 Objectives and and management activities

The Society’s objects and its principal activity are the advancement of public education in the science, practice, Constitution technology and art of television; and the advancement of the arts and culture, in particular by promoting and encouraging Royal Television Society is a company limited by guarantee the achievement of high standards of creativity in television and a registered charity governed by its Memorandum and and allied fields. Articles of Association. The Society seeks to maintain and strengthen its position as the leading impartial platform for delivering these objects through events organised nationally and through its 14 regional Centres. Organisational structure The wider public can access and contribute to the charity’s activities through its magazine, website and open events. The Society is UK-based with its head office in London. It has The Trustees meet four times a year to consider the strategy Centres in Bristol, Devon & Cornwall, East Anglia, London, for delivering public benefit and specialist committees are Midlands, North East and the Border, North West, Northern established to organise events. Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Southern Counties, Thames Valley, Wales and Yorkshire. The Society has two trading subsidiaries, RTS Enterprises Limited and RTS (IBC) Limited, whose principal activities are Activities 2011 the organising and staging of courses, exhibitions and other events related to television and broadcasting. In 2011 the Society has produced a large number of events The Society’s governing body is the Board of Trustees, to fulfil its strategic and charitable objects. Some of the most which comprises: significant events are detailed in other parts of this report. ± The Honorary Officers from time to time of the Society; The Society is fortunate to be able to call on leading special- ± One person elected by the Advisory Council; ists from the television community and allied fields to work ± One person elected by the Centre Chairs; together on planning and delivering its programme.

34 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 The charity’s wholly owned subsidiaries, RTS Enterprises 4 Financial review Ltd and RTS (IBC) Ltd, gifted profits of £71,797 (2010: £436) and £1,083,506 (2010: £989,603) respectively. The funds gifted are used by the charity to meet its charitable expenditure. The Trustees are satisfied with the current performance of both subsidiaries, which provide sufficient additional funds Reserves policy for the charity to meet its charitable objectives. Voluntary income remains an invaluable source of income In line with Charity Commission guidance, the Board of Trus- for the charity. During the year income from patrons was tees has adopted a formal reserves policy. £357,530 (2010: £289,155) and membership fees raised were This recognises that the income of the society does not £111,102 (2010: £118,144). arise evenly year on year, or across the year, and so it is prudent to hold appropriate reserves to enable the Society to properly plan its activities. The policy also recognises that the reserves that represent Investment powers, policy the fixed assets and the restricted and designated funds of the Society are not freely available and thus need to be dis- and performance tinguished from free reserves. Furthermore, the ease of digital transport and copying, Under the Memorandum and Articles of Association, the and the proliferation of new delivery channels and reception Society has the power to make any investment that the Board devices, has continued to lead to greater uncertainties about of Trustees sees fit. the future structure of television, broadcasting and related The Board of Trustees’ policy typically favours low-risk audio-visual enterprises. For the Society, as for the industry, investments to ensure that a reasonable return is generated the past no longer provides a useful compass for charting while securing charity funds. the future. As can be seen from the balance sheet, investments are The recession is having a negative impact in television and held in bank deposits, which also ensures that funds are related areas and on the organisations who are currently our available as and when required to facilitate the charity’s main funders. This will impact on our major sources of rev- reserves policy as detailed below. enue. However, we plan to increase annual expenditure to As at the year-end the group had cash balances of enhance our digital media and regional offerings. £6,014,700 (2010: £5,500,812) of which £5,858,572 (2010 : We plan to maintain annual expenditure during a period in £5,304,907) was held on deposit, generating interest income which revenues will remain insecure and uncertain. of £92,481 (2010: £52,396) over the course of the year. It is therefore the intention of the Board of Trustees to hold In the consolidated balance sheet an investment of £54,000 free reserves representing no more than four years’ average (2010: £54,000) is shown representing an 18% interest in the annual expenditure. International Broadcasting Convention. This investment The Board have taken account of the subsidiaries’ reserves generated a surplus of £1,083,506 (2010: £989,603) during when determining this figure. the year, which is included in funding sources above, and Based on the results for the two years ended 31 Decem- the Board of Trustees is happy with the continued return on ber 2011, the Society’s reserves policy would stipulate an this investment. amount of free reserves of no more than £6.1m. The level of free reserves as at 31 December 2011 is £6.0m and it is the Board of Trustees’ anticipation that free reserves will fall in the coming years, particularly if revenues remain insecure and uncertain. 5 Plans for future periods The Board of Trustees reviews the reserves policy and the level of reserves at least once a year in the light of current and anticipated levels of income and of the Society’s planned The Society will be maintaining the full range of its activities activities. and reviewing its strategy for the Nations and Regions and for the Society as a whole. Funding sources

The principal funding sources during the year continued to be the profits gifted by the charity’s subsidiaries, patron donations and membership fees.

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 35 6 Administrative details

Legal details

Legal entity Governing instrument Date of incorporation Charity number Company limited by guarantee Memorandum and Articles of 12 July 1930 313728 and registered charity Association Company number 00249462

Administrative details

Registered office and Bankers Solicitors Auditors principal address National Westminster Bank Plc Farrer & Co Arram Berlyn Gardner 7th Floor Kildare House PO Box 11302 66 Lincoln’s Inn Fields 30 City Road 3 Dorset Rise 332 High Holborn London London EC1Y 2AB London EC4Y 8EN London WC1V 7PD WC2A 3LH

Patron Vice Presidents Chair HRH The Prince of Wales Dawn Airey Jane Lighting Carolyn Fairbairn Sir David Attenborough om David Lynn (January-June 2011) President ch cvo cbe frs Sir Trevor McDonald obe John Hardie Sir Peter Bazalgette Andy Duncan Ken MacQuarrie (From June 2011) Greg Dyke Trevor Phillips obe John Hardie John Smith Vice-Chair Lorraine Heggessey Sir Howard Stringer Wayne Garvie Ashley Highfield Mark Thompson (January-June 2011) Iona Jones Emma Scott (From June 2011)

36 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 Directors and Trustees Trustees’ responsibilities

The Trustees of the charitable company (“the charity”) are its The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Annual Report Trustees for the purposes of charity law and throughout this and the financial statements in accordance with applicable report are collectively referred to as the Board of Trustees. As law and regulations. set out in the Articles of Association the Chair of the Board Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial of Trustees is elected by the Board of Trustees for a two-year statements for each financial year. Under that law the Trustees term. The Trustees serving during the period of the report are have elected to prepare the financial statements in accord- as follows: ance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and appli- Chair of the Board of Trustees cable law). The financial statements are required by law to Mike Darcey give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Society at the year end and of its incoming resources and resources Chair expended during that year. In preparing those financial state- Carolyn Fairbairn (January-June 2011) ments, the Trustees are required: John Hardie (From June 2011) ± To select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; Vice-Chair ± To make judgements and estimates that are reasonable Wayne Garvie (January-June 2011) and prudent; Emma Scott (From June 2011) ± To prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Society Honorary Secretary will continue in business. David Lowen The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time Honorary Treasurer the financial position of the Society and enable them to ensure Grant Murray (January-July 2011) that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act Mike Green (From July 2011) 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Society and hence for taking reasonable steps for the pre- Paul Corley (Elected by the Advisory Council) vention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. Jane Lighting (Co-opted by the Board of Trustees) The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and Graeme Thompson (Elected by the Centre Chairs) integrity of the corporate and financial information included Caroline Thomson (Elected by the Principal Patrons Group) on the Society’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial Chief Executive statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions. Simon Albury Statement of disclosure to auditor Deputy Chief Executive 1 So far as the Trustees are aware, there is no relevant audit Claire Price information of which the Society’s auditors are unaware, and Audit Committee 2 They have taken all the steps that they ought to have taken Jane Lighting (Chair) as Trustees in order to make themselves aware of any rel- Carolyn Fairbairn (January-June 2011) evant audit information and to establish that the Society’s John Hardie (from June 2011) auditors are aware of that information. Caroline Thomson Approval Remuneration Committee This Report was approved by the Board of Trustees on Paul Corley (Chair, January-October 2011) 22 March 2012 and signed on its behalf by: John Hardie (Chair, from October 2011) (Member June-October 2011 Carolyn Fairbairn (January-June 2011) Mike Green (from July 2011) David Lowen Mike Darcey Emma Scott (from June 2011) Chair of the Board of Trustees

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 37 Consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2011

Independent auditors’ report to the Members of the RTS

We have audited the financial statements of Royal Television of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the Society for the year ended 31 December 2011, which comprise year then ended; the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities/Income ± Have been properly prepared in accordance with United and Expenditure Account, the Group and Charity’s Balance Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and Sheet and the related notes. The financial statements frame- ± The financial statements have been properly prepared in work that has been applied in their preparation is applicable accordance with the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United King- Act 2011. dom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). This report is made solely to the charity’s Members, as a Opinion on other matter prescribed by the Companies body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of The Com- Act 2006 panies Act 2006 and to the charity’s Trustees, as a body, in In our opinion the information given in the Trustees’ Annual accordance with Section 151 of the Charities Act 2011, and Report for the financial year for which the financial state- the regulations made under Section 154 of that Act. Our audit ments are prepared is consistent with the financial state- work has been undertaken so that we might state to the ments. charity’s Members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the Matters on which we are required to report by exception fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the char- where the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011 ity’s Members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or requires us to report to you if, in our opinion: for the opinions we have formed. ± The parent charitable company has not kept adequate and sufficient accounting records, or returns adequate for our Respective responsibilities of the Trustees and Auditors audit have not been received from branches not visited by As explained more fully in the Trustees Responsibilities us; or Statement set out on page 37, the Trustees (who are also the ± The parent charitable company financial statements are directors of the charitable company for the purposes of com- not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or pany law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial ± Certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and law are not made; or fair view. ± We have not received all the information and explanations We have been appointed auditor under the Companies Act we require for our audit; or 2006 and Section 151 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in ± The Trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial accordance with those Acts. Our responsibility is to audit and statements in accordance with the small companies regime express an opinion on the financial statements in accordance and take advantage of the small companies exemption in with applicable law and International Standards on Auditing preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report. (UK and Ireland). Those standards require us to comply with the Auditing Practices Board’s Ethical Standards for Auditors. Date: 11 April 2012 Scope of the audit of the financial statements An audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and Paul Berlyn (Senior Statutory Auditor) disclosures in the financial statements sufficient to give rea- For and behalf of sonable assurance that the financial statements are free from Arram Berlyn Gardner material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or error. Chartered Accountants This includes an assessment of: whether the accounting Statutory Auditor policies are appropriate to the charitable company’s circum- 30 City Road stances and have consistently been applied and adequately London EC1Y 2AB disclosed; the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by the trustees; and the overall presentation of the financial statements. Opinion on financial statements In our opinion the financial statements: ± Give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and the parent charitable company’s affairs as at 31 December 2011 and of the group’s incoming resources and application

38 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 Consolidated statement of financial activities/ income and expenditure account for the year ended 31 December 2011

Notes 2011 2011 2011 2010 Restricted Unrestricted Total Total £ £ £ £ Incoming resources Incoming resources from generated funds: Voluntary income 3 – 468,632 468,632 407,299 Activities for generating funds 10 – 1,822,241 1,822,241 1,515,648 Investment income 4 1,532 90,949 92,481 52,396

Incoming resources from charitable activities: Events, conferences and awards 5 – 246,400 246,400 268,005 Subscriptions and sponsorship 5 – 21,509 21,509 12,042

Total incoming resources 1,532 2,649,731 2,651,263 2,255,390

Resources expended Costs of generating funds: Fundraising costs of generating voluntary income 6 – 131,924 131,924 103,418 Fundraising trading; cost of goods sold and other costs 6 – 800,662 800,662 696,263

Charitable activities: Events, conferences and awards 6 2,087 1,076,955 1,079,042 1,029,608 Magazine publications 6 – 147,058 147,058 139,226

Governance costs 6 – 42,326 42,326 43,801

Total resources expended 2,087 2,198,925 2,201,012 2,012,316

Net incoming (outgoing) resources before transfers (555) 450,806 450,251 243,074 Gross transfers between funds – – – –

Net movements in funds (555) 450,806 450,251 243,074 Total funds brought forward 100,298 5,863,923 5,964,221 5,721,147

Total Funds carried forward 13,14 99,743 6,314,729 6,414,472 5,964,221

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All incoming resources and resources expended derive from continuing activities.

The notes on pages 42 to 48 form part of these financial statements.

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 39 Consolidated balance sheet as at 31 December 2011

Notes 2011 2010

£ £ £ £

Fixed assets Tangible assets 9 1,755 3,086 Investments 10 54,018 54,018

55,773 57,104 Current assets Debtors 11 633,131 693,748 Cash at bank and in hand 6,014,700 5,500,812

6,647,831 6,194,560 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 12 (289,132) (287,443)

Net current assets 6,358,699 5,907,117

Net assets 6,414,472 5,964,221

Funds Restricted Memorial funds 13 99,743 100,298

Unrestricted General fund 14 6,013,882 5,486,816

Designated Property fund 14 172,444 204,162 Other funds 14 128,403 172,945

Funds 15 6,414,472 5,964,221

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 22 March 2012 and signed on its behalf by

Mike Darcey, Chair of the Board of Trustees

Company Registration Number: 00249462

The notes on pages 42 to 48 form part of these financial statements.

40 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 Society balance sheet as at 31 December 2011

Notes 2011 2010

£ £ £ £

Fixed assets Tangible assets 9 1,755 3,086 Investments 10 4 4

1,759 3,090 Current assets Debtors 11 675,368 741,013 Cash at bank and in hand 5,938,594 5,410,500

6,613,962 6,151,513 Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 12 (201,249) (190,382)

Net current assets 6,412,713 5,961,131

Net assets 6,414,472 5,964,221

Funds Restricted Memorial funds 13 99,743 100,298

Unrestricted General fund 14 6,013,882 5,486,816

Designated Property fund 14 172,444 204,162 Other funds 14 128,403 172,945

Funds 15 6,414,472 5,964,221

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 22 March 2012 and signed on its behalf by

Mike Darcey, Chair of the Board of Trustees

Company Registration Number: 00249462

The notes on pages 42 to 48 form part of these financial statements.

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 41 Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2011

apportionment of general overheads. 1 Accounting Policies ± Governance costs include those incurred in the governance of the charity and its assets and are primarily associated with constitutional and statutory requirements. 1.1 Accounting convention ± Support costs, which include central office functions, have The financial statements are prepared under the historical been allocated across the categories of charitable expendi- cost convention and in accordance with applicable account- ture, governance costs and the costs of generating funds. The ing standards. The financial statements have been prepared basis of the cost allocation has been explained in the notes in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice, to the accounts. Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP 2005) issued in March 2005, applicable UK Accounting Standards and the 1.5 Tangible fixed assets and depreciation Companies Act 2006. Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less depreciation. The Society has taken advantage of the exemption in Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the Financial Reporting Standard No. 1 from the requirement to cost less estimated residual value of each asset over its produce a cash flow statement on the grounds that it is a expected useful life, as follows: small group. Leasehold improvements Straight line over the life of 1.2 Group financial statements the lease These financial statements consolidate the results of the Computer equipment Three years straight line Society, its centres and its wholly-owned trading subsidiar- Fixtures, fittings and equipment Five years straight line ies, RTS Enterprises Limited and RTS (IBC) Limited, on a line by line basis. 1.6 Investments A separate Statement of Financial Activities and Income Fixed asset investments are stated at cost in accordance with and Expenditure account are not presented for the charity paragraph 297(b) of the SORP 2005. itself following the exemptions permitted by section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 and paragraph 397 of the SORP. The 1.7 Centres total incoming resources for the charity for the year ended Centres’ income and expenditure is recognised in the period 31 December 2011 were £2,131,682 (2010: £1,870,826) with in which the group is entitled to receipt and the amount can the positive net movements in funds being £450,251 (2010: be measured with reasonable certainty. Income is deferred £243,074). only when the Society has to fulfil conditions before becoming entitled to it. 1.3 Incoming resources Voluntary income is recognised upon receipt and is deferred 1.8 Funds accounting only when the Society has to fulfil conditions before becom- Funds held by the Society are: ing entitled to it or when the donor has specified that the Unrestricted general funds – these are funds that can be income is to be expended in a future period. No amounts are used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discre- included in the financial statements for services donated by tion of the Board of Trustees. volunteers. Designated funds – these are funds set aside by the Board of Income from trading activities is recognised as earned (as Trustees out of unrestricted general funds for specific future the related goods and services are provided). purposes or projects. Investment income is recognised on a receivable basis. Restricted funds – these are funds that can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the Soci- 1.4 Resources expended ety. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when Expenditure is recognised in the period in which it is incurred. funds are raised for particular restricted purposes. A designated fund is established for expenditure which has Further explanations of the nature and purpose of each been committed to projects but remains unspent at the year- fund is included in the notes to the accounts. end. ± Costs of generating funds are those costs incurred in attract- 1.9 Foreign currency translation ing voluntary income, and those incurred in trading activities Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign cur- that raise funds. rencies are translated into sterling at the rates of exchange ± Costs of charitable activities comprise all expenditure ruling at the balance sheet date. Transactions in foreign cur- identified as wholly or mainly attributable to achieving the rencies are recorded at the rate ruling at the date of the trans- charitable objectives of the charity. These costs include staff action. All differences are taken to the income and expendi- costs, wholly or mainly attributable support costs and an ture account.

42 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 2 Surplus for the year 4 Investment income

Surplus for the year is stated and interest after charging: 2011 2010 2011 2010 £ £ £ £ Group Bank interest receivable 92,481 52,396 Depreciation of tangible assets 3,191 4,658 Auditors’ remuneration Audit 17,860 17,000 Non audit 920 1,170 5 Incoming resources Society from charitable activities Depreciation of tangible assets 3,191 4,658 Auditors’ remuneration Audit 12,370 11,250 The income was primarily from the Royal Television Society’s Non audit 480 450 charitable activities 2011 2010 £ £ Events, conferences and awards 246,400 268,005 3 Voluntary income Magazine sales and other 21,509 12,042 267,909 280,047

2011 2010 £ £ Patrons 357,530 289,155 Members 111,102 118,144

468,632 407,299

6 Total resources expended

Direct Support 2011 2010 costs costs total total £ £ £ £ Costs of generating funds: Fundraising costs of generating voluntary income – 131,924 131,924 103,418 Fundraising trading; cost of goods sold and other costs 509,710 290,952 800,662 696,263

509,710 422,876 932,586 799,681

Charitable activites: Events, conferences and awards 305,440 773,602 1,079,042 1,029,608 Magazine publications 147,058 - 147,058 139,226

452,498 773,602 1,226,100 1,168,834

Governance costs 9,882 32,444 42,326 43,801

Total resources expended 972,090 1,228,922 2,201,012 2,012,316

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 43 7 Allocation of support costs

The charity allocates its support costs as shown in the table below.

Cost of Charitable Governance generating funds activities costs Total £ £ £ £ Support costs Management and other costs 59,161 146,900 6,418 212,479 Premises costs 103,789 155,684 - 259,473 Employee costs 207,643 379,417 - 587,060 Finance, legal and professional and IT costs 52,283 91,601 26,026 169,910

422,876 773,602 32,444 1,228,922

Support costs included within expenditure in the SOFA have been allocated on the basis of salary percentage or on the proportion of floor area occupied by the activity. The cost allocation includes an area of judgement and the charity has had to consider the cost benefit of detailed workings and record keeping.

8 Taxation

The company is a registered charity and no provision is considered necessary for taxation. In the accounts of RTS Enterprises Limited there was no tax charge (2010: £nil) and for RTS (IBC) Limited there was a tax charge of £3,862 (2010: £3,719).

9 Tangible assets

Land and buildings Fixtures, leasehold fittings and (short) equipment Total £ £ £ Group and Society Cost At 1 January 2011 143,370 162,013 305,383 Additions – 1,860 1,860

At 31 December 2011 143,370 163,873 307,243

Depreciation At 1 January 2011 143,370 158,927 302,297 Charge for year – 3,191 3,191

At 31 December 2011 143,370 162,118 305,488

Net Book Values At 31 December 2011 – 1,755 1,755

At 31 December 2010 – 3,086 3,086

44 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 10 Fixed Asset Investments

Group Society

2011 2010 2011 2010 £ £ £ £ Shares in subsidiary undertakings – – 4 4 Other unlisted investments (at cost) 18 18 – – Other investments 54,000 54,000 – –

54,018 54,018 4 4

All the fixed asset investments are held in the UK. The Board of Trustees considers it appropriate to state the fixed asset investments at cost. At 31 December 2011, the Society owned all of the ordinary share capital of RTS Enterprises Limited and RTS (IBC) Limited, which organise and stage courses, exhibitions and other events related to the television industry. At 31 December 2011, the aggregate amount of these companies’ assets, liabilities, share capital and reserves was:

RTS Enterprises Limited RTS (IBC) Limited

2011 2010 2011 2010 £ £ £ £ Total Assets 197,957 221,105 474,269 490,024 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (197,955) (221,103) (474,267) (490,022) 2 2 2 2 Represented by: Share capital and reserves 2 2 2 2

As at the year-end £61,170 (2010: £68,575) of incoming resources had been deferred in the accounts of RTS Enterprises Limited, with £68,575 (2010: £66,260) being released to the profit and loss account. RTS Enterprises Limited and RTS (IBC) Limited pay their profits to the charity by a deed of covenant. A summary of the trading results of each subsidiary is shown below:

RTS Enterprises RTS Limited (IBC) Limited Total 2011 2011 2011 2010 £ £ £ £

Turnover 723,468 1,098,773 1,822,241 1,515,648 Cost of sales (508,091) - (508,091) (372,077)

Gross profit 215,377 1,098,773 1,314,150 1,143,571 Administration expenses (146,145) (10,206) (156,351) (150,563)

Operating profit 69,232 1,088,567 1,157,799 993,008 Other interest receivable and similar income 2,565 691 3,256 2,640 Interest payable – (1,890) (1,890) (1,890) Taxation – (3,862) (3,862) (3,719)

Profit on ordinary activities after taxation 71,797 1,083,506 1,155,303 990,039 Payment under deed of covenant (71,797) (1,083,506) (1,155,303) (990,039)

Retained profit for the year – – – –

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 45 11 Debtors

Group Society

2011 2010 2011 2010 £ £ £ £ Trade debtors 57,537 106,085 21,141 58,028 Amounts due from subsidiary undertakings – – 45,036 130,025 Other debtors 575,594 587,663 609,191 552,960

633,131 693,748 675,368 741,013

12 Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year

Group Society

2011 2010 2011 2010 £ £ £ £ Trade creditors 58,288 51,604 46,254 39,681 Taxes and social security costs 35,182 31,854 31,321 28,135 Other creditors 172,500 189,905 100,512 108,486 Deferred income 23,162 14,080 23,162 14,080

289,132 287,443 201,249 190,382

13 Restricted Funds

London Awards Shiers Memorial Beresford-Cooke Fund Fund Fund Total Group and Society £ £ £ £ At 1 January 2011 3,373 66,529 30,396 100,298 Interest received – 1,052 480 1,532 Expenditure – (2,000) (87) (2,087)

At 31 December 2011 3,373 65,581 30,789 99,743

The Society received a bequest from the estate of the late Mrs F Shiers to establish the George and May F Shiers Memorial Fund. The income of the fund that is under the control of the Society’s Board of Trustees is to be devoted to the study, collection and presentation of material concerning the history of television.

The Society received a bequest from the estate of the late Mrs Beresford-Cooke to establish the RTS Young Television Engineer Award. The income of the fund is under the control of the Society’s Board of Trustees and is to be used to assist the recipient of the Award to attend the IBC Conference in Amsterdam.

The London Awards Fund has been set up so as to recognise excellence in a young technologist.

46 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 14 Unrestricted funds

General Property Other Fund Fund Funds Total Group and Society £ £ £ £ At 1 January 2011 5,486,816 204,162 172,945 5,863,923 Expenditure 76,260 (31,718) (44,542) – Surplus for the year 450,806 – – 450,806

At 31 December 2011 6,013,882 172,444 128,403 6,314,729

The designated Property Fund represents the amount committed by the Board of Trustees to the costs of relocation.

Other funds comprise £60,000 representing a New Projects fund, committed by the Board of Trustees to specific charitable projects at the year-end and £68,403 representing an IT fund which is designated to the furtherance of the Society’s objectives through the use of new technologies.

15 Reconciliation of 17 Liability of members

movement in funds The Society is limited by guarantee without any share capital. In the event of the Society being wound up, each member is liable to £ contribute for the payment of the debts and liabilities of the Society Group and Society such amount as may be required, but not exceeding £1. Surplus for the year 450,251 Funds at 1 January 2011 5,964,221

Funds at 31 December 2011 6,414,472

16 Analysis of net assets between funds

Fund balances at 31 December 2011 are represented by:

Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds Funds Funds £ £ £ Tangible fixed assets 1,755 – 1,755 Investments 54,018 – 54,018 Net current assets 6,258,956 99,743 6,358,699

Total net assets 6,314,729 99,743 6,414,472

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 47 18 Employees 20 Capital commitments

The average number of employees of the Group during the As at 31 December 2011, the Society had capital commitments year was as follows: that had been contracted for totalling £119,973 (2010: £9,945), which principally relates to the office move. 2011 2010

Management and other 2 2 Membership 1 2 Events and conferences 6 6 Finance and IT 2 2

11 12

2011 2010 £ £ Employment Costs Wages and salaries 504,152 519,765 Social security costs 52,625 53,692 Other pension costs 30,283 29,458

587,060 602,915

The number of employees who received emoluments in excess of £60,000 was as follows:

2011 2010

£60,001–£70,000 – – £70,001–£80,000 – – £80,001–£90,000 – – £90,001–£100,000 – 1 £100,001–£110,000 1 – £110,001–£120,000 1 1

The total contributions in the year to money purchase pension schemes for higher paid employees were £20,689 (2010: £20,484). The number of higher paid employees to whom retirement benefits are accruing under such schemes is two (2010: two). No members of the Board of Trustees received any remuneration in the year. Certain members of the Board of Trustees are reimbursed for reasonable expenses incurred by them in carrying out their duties for the Society. The total expenses incurred by the trustees during the year was £375 (2010: £566)

19 Financial commitments

As at 31 December 2011, the Society had annual commitments under non-cancellable operating leases as follows:

2011 2010 £ £ Expiry date: Within one year 30,119 91,980

30,119 91,980

48 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 Royal Television Society

Annual General Meeting 2012

24 May 2012, 6:00pm

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 49 Notice of AGM: 24 May 2012 AGM

The 83rd Annual General Meeting of the Royal Television Agenda Society will be held on Thursday 24 May 2012 at: 1 To approve the Minutes of the previous Annual General Kildare House Meeting held on 25 May 2011. 3 Dorset Rise 2 To approve the 2011 Annual Report. London EC4Y 8EN 3 To receive the Financial Report, Balance Sheet and at 6:00pm. Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2011. 4 To consider and if thought fit, pass a special resolution Voting by proxy to adopt the revised Articles of Association set out in the Under Article 24, members of the Society are empowered booklet entitled “RTS Needs Your Vote”, enclosed with to appoint a proxy to attend and vote at the AGM. The the Annual Report. completed proxy form, on page 51, should reach Head Office 5 To appoint Arram Berlyn Gardner as auditors for no less than 48 hours before the meeting. 2012/2013 and to authorise the Board of Trustees to fix their remuneration. 6 Any other business.

50 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 Form of proxy

If you wish to I, ...... appoint another member please of ...... insert the name of your proxy here. being a member of the above named Society and entitled to vote hereby appoint You may delete reference to the ...... , Honorary Treasurer and Chair. Initial or, failing him, the Honorary Treasurer, or, failing him, the Chair of the meeting, as my proxy to vote for the alteration me and on my behalf at the AGM of the Society to be held on 24 May 2012 at 6:00pm and at any adjourn- ment thereof. In respect of the resolutions referred to in the Notice of the Meeting, I desire my proxy to vote as indicated: For Against Abstain

Please insert ‘x’ 1.0 Approve minutes of the previous meeting held on in the appropriate 25 May 2011: box if you wish to instruct your proxy AGM on how to vote 2.0 Approve the 2011 Annual Report:

3.0 To receive and adopt Financial Report, Balance Sheet and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2011:

4.0 To consider and if thought fit, pass a special resolution to adopt the revised Articles of Association set out in the booklet entitled “RTS Needs Your Vote”:

5.0 To appoint Arram Berlyn Gardner as auditors for 2012/13 and to authorise the Board of Trustees to fix their remuneration:

(If this form is signed without any indication as to how the proxy shall vote, the proxy will exercise his or her discretion both as to how he or she votes or abstains from voting)

Signature ...... Date ......

Form of proxy 1 Under Article 24, members of the Society are empowered to vote at the AGM by proxy. To notes be valid, this form of proxy must be deposited at the Royal Television Society, Kildare House, 3 Dorset Rise, London EC4Y 8EN not less than 48 hours before the meeting. 2 The proxy, who must be a member of the Society, must attend the meeting in person to represent you. 3 Unless otherwise directed, the proxy will vote or abstain as he or she sees fit.

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 51 Minutes of AGM 2011 AGM

Minutes of the 82nd Annual General Meeting of the Royal Leslie Hill said it was a trivial matter but only three out of Television Society, held on Wednesday 25 May 2011 at the seven Trustees had been in attendance at last year’s AGM. Royal Television Society, Kildare House, 3 Dorset Rise, Lon- Was it not good practice to place on record in the Annual don EC4Y 8EN. Report Trustees attendance at all Trustee meetings? David Lowen pointed out that there were four Trustees present at Present: this meeting – a 33.33% increase. Carolyn Fairbairn (in the chair); David Lowen, Honorary The 2009 Annual Report was approved unopposed. Three Secretary; Grant Murray, Honorary Treasurer; Simon Albury, proxy votes were cast – two in favour, one abstention. Chief Executive; Claire Price, Deputy Chief Executive; Charles Proposed by: Fiona Chesterton Byrne; Paul Corley; Fiona Chesterton; Tony Crabb; Godfrey Seconded by: Paul Corley Hall; Leslie Hill; Denis Lomax; Bill McMahon; Arthur Pigott; Paul Berlyn, Arram Berlyn Gardner, Auditors 3.0 Financial Report, Balance Sheet and Accounts for Apologies: Keith Clement; Sophie Jones; Jane Lighting the year ended 31 December 2010 Grant Murray reported that 2010 had not been as difficult as Carolyn Fairbairn welcomed everyone to the 82nd Annual 2009. In 2009 there had been significant pressure on patron General Meeting. income but that it had stabilised at just under £300,000 in 2010. Despite fixing the rate for the fourth year running and 1.0 Approval of Minutes of previous meeting, held on incentives such as the two-for-one offer at the beginning of 26 May 2010 the year, membership income had decreased from £134,000 to £118,000. Matters Arising: Other income was also under pressure. The Society held Carolyn Fairbairn noted that Arthur Pigott had asked about substantial funds and interest rates were very low in the cur- the production of an RTS diary. The Executive committee had rent climate. In a non-Cambridge year, the income from RTS considered this but it was felt that so many people used elec- Enterprises was £139,000. tronic diaries these days that it would not be cost effective. However, there had been a significant increase in the The Minutes of the Annual Report 2010 were approved income from IBC ,which was over £1m for the first time. unopposed. Three proxy votes were cast – two in favour, one The Society had managed costs very tightly. All costs abstention. were lower except Governance costs, which had increased Proposed by: Charles Byrne slightly. The average number of employees had been reduced Seconded by: Tony Crabb during the year. The Society had increased expenditure on the Centres over the past two years, in part to support the Awards where 2.0 Approval of the 2010 Annual Report sponsorship had been under pressure locally. Carolyn Fairbairn reported that 2010 had been a very good The balance sheet was significantly strong. As to whether year for the RTS after a challenging 2009. Not only was the this would continue in the current economic difficulties, he organisation in fine form financially, but the mood in the did not know. industry was much better. The International Conference had been well attended with high-profile international speakers Questions: such as Professor Suk-Ho Bang, President of KISDI and Jeff Leslie Hill asked why the Society held reserves of £5.5m in Bewkes, Chair and CEO of Time Warner; Adam Crozier was the bank. Even if this was necessary, the return was less than on stage for the first time since being appointed CEO of ITV; 1%. Why was this? Had the Society taken financial advice? Local Television came over loud and clear in the speech of Had it considered buying a building? There were a lot more the Rt Hon James Hunt MP, Secretary of State for Culture, profitable investments than the bank. Media and Sport. Grant Murray said that the Society was run on the basis RTS Futures had been very successful in attracting young that operations produce enough to sustain costs over the professionals and students, and speakers at events included two-year Cambridge cycle. Contributions from IBC had Jay Hunt, Dawn Airey, Stewart Purvis and Brian Cox. increased significantly over the past few years, allowing IBC had successfully repositioned itself and made a tre- reserves to build up. At the same time, membership had mendous financial contribution to the RTS. decreased from £147,000 in 2008 to £118,000 in 2010. Patron Finally, and most importantly, the scale of events in the membership had decreased from £480,000 to £289,000 over Centres had been terrific. All the awards had been well the same period. attended. The events included Keynote lectures by Angela The policy on reserves was based on four years’ contribu- Rippon in Devon & Cornwall and Peter Salmon in North East tions. This was partly because the Society’s income depended and the Border, several events on media careers and women on two key events – the Cambridge Convention and income in television, as well as a wide range of technical presenta- from IBC. tions. She wanted to put on record the Society’s thanks to The Trustees and Advisory Council had launched various all the volunteers in the Centres and particularly the Centre initiatives, eg RTS Futures. The Trustees had also discussed Treasurers and Webmasters who were often overlooked. the issue of freehold versus rental in the past and decided not All in all it had been a strong, tremendously vibrant year. to invest in property.

52 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 Minutes of AGM 2011

Grant Murray said interest rates were very low so they had make an application if it judged it could match the criteria. investigated various bonds and ways of increasing maturities Godfrey Hall noticed that the London AGM was also being without an increased risk to profit. They had also diversified held that evening – were all the AGMs on the same date? banks in order to ensure that not too much was invested in David Lowen said no – something had failed this time around any one fund. The Trustees discussed this on a regular basis and would be addressed. and advice was obtained from banks and within the Trustee Arthur Pigott asked if the meeting was aware that the group. Rates at the moment were higher than in 2010. Society had a History of the Royal Television Society written Leslie Hill said that if he was involved he would want to by a founder member, Tony Pilgrim. Simon Albury said he do much more. believed that there had been problems with copyright. The Financial Report was accepted unopposed. Three Arthur Pigott said he had not known about Norman proxy votes were cast – two in favour, one abstention. Green’s Tony Pilgrim Award until he read the Annual Report. Proposed by: David Lowen It should have been announced in Television. Television was Seconded by: Arthur Pigott full of material about sponsors. There was nothing technical. There should have been an article about the new British Standard, which was a major change for the industry. He also 4.0 Election of Members of the Advisory Council felt that members only have one chance to voice their opin- Carolyn Fairbairn moved the proposal. ions – at the AGM. How about a “letters to the editor” column AGM in Television? Simon Albury said there was always a feature on IBC 4.1 Elect as a member of the Advisory Council: before the event and NAB was covered once a year. They Godfrey Hall were unlikely to be able to do more. There was never any He was elected unopposed. Three proxy votes were cast – sponsored material. one in favour, two abstentions. Simon Albury said that the AGM was the form of govern- Carolyn Fairbairn congratulated him and welcomed him to ance of the Society. Members had two opportunities to raise Advisory Council. objections. This was the meeting to raise national issues, Centre AGMs were where regional issues could be aired. David Lowen said that he had presented the Tony Pilgrim 5.0 Appointment of Auditors Award to a surprised and delighted Norman Green at the Arram Berlyn Gardner were appointed unopposed as audi- London Centre meeting attended by 156 people, six weeks tors for 20011/12 and the Board of Trustees authorised to fix previously. London Centre was responsible for doing the their remuneration. There were three proxy votes cast – two report and it if hadn’t appeared in Television, it should do very in favour, one abstention shortly. (The report appeared in Television in February 2011) Grant Murray thanked Arram Berlyn Gardner – they had Carolyn Fairbairn gave her thanks to the staff of the RTS. It done a great job with the accounts and turned them round had been a privilege to work with them and to represent the very quickly. Paul Berlyn thanked the Society for choosing Society during another great year. them again – they considered the RTS a prestigious client. She closed the meeting at 6:24pm and thanked everyone Proposed by: David Lowen for making the effort to attend. Seconded by: Fiona Chesterton

6.0 Any other business Tony Crabb said that a month ago he had attended the AGM of the BBC Pension Fund, where Roly Keating had made a presentation on the BBC Archive. The meeting had decided unanimously to make a contribution to the project. He wondered if there was an opportunity for the RTS to become involved. There was obviously material to contribute but he wouldn’t disqualify another approach and wondered if the Shiers Trust could help. Simon Albury thanked Tony for advanced notice of the question. In 2008 Steve Arnold had received a Shiers Trust Award to digitise the early years of the Radio Times. Later, other cop- ies were discovered and this work was also financed by the Shiers Trust. Steve Arnold was now employed by the BBC on the Genome Project, which was much bigger. Shiers Trust Awards were made so that a project could be completed. They were also made on the understanding that the material was made available without charge. The Radio Times project was free but he understood there might be a charge for the Genome Project. The Genome Project could

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 53 Who’s who at the RTS

PATRON BOARD OF TRUSTEES

HRH The Prince of Wales Mike Darcey (Chair) Paul Corley PRESIDENT Mike Green John Hardie Sir Peter Bazalgette Jane Lighting David Lowen VICE PRESIDENTS Emma Scott Dawn Airey Graeme Thompson Sir David Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE FRS Caroline Thomson Andy Duncan Greg Dyke ADVISORY COUNCIL Lorraine Heggessey Mike Best John Hardie Charles Byrne Ashley Highfield Fiona Chesterton Iona Hones Isabel Clarke Jane Lighting Alex Connock David Lynn Gordon Cooper Sir Trevor McDonald OBE Paul Corley Ken MacQuarrie Jennie Evans Trevor Phillips OBE Henry Eagles John Smith Tony Edwards Sir Howard Stringer Mars Elkins Mark Thompson Godfrey Hall Tim Hartley OFFICERS Jeremy Hibbard Chair Denis Lomax John Hardie David Lowen Vice Chair John Mair Emma Scott Lucy Pilkington Honorary Secretary Sue Robertson David Lowen Emma Scott Honorary Treasurer David Thomas Graeme Thompson Mike Green

54 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 COMMITTEE CHAIRS CENTRE CHAIRS (Also Members of RTS Advisory Council) Awards Policy and Fellowship David Lowen Bristol Denis Lomax Communications Devon and Cornwall Jeremy Hibbard Sophie Jones London David Thomas Midlands Isabel Clarke Craft & Design Awards North East and the Border Graeme Thompson Nigel Pickard Northern Ireland Michael Wilson Diversity North West Alex Connock Marcus Ryder Republic of Ireland Charles Byrne Early Evening Events Scotland Henry Eagles Dan Brooke Southern Gordon Cooper History and Archives Thames Valley Jennie Evans John Trenouth Wales Tim Hartley IBC Conference Liaison Yorkshire Mike Best Terry Marsh RTS Futures HEAD OFFICE Camilla Lewis Chief executive Simon Albury Television Journalism Awards Deputy chief executive Claire Price Richard Sambrook Personal Assistant/office managerCelia Dougherty Programme Awards Accountant Breda O’Donoghue David Liddiment Office administrator/receptionist Lucy Martin Student Television Awards Archivist Clare Colvin (part-time) Patrick Younge Centre liaison Maggie Greenhalgh (part-time)

RTS Legends Events Paul Jackson Events manager Lindsey Cran Events manager Jo Mitchell Assistant events organiser Jamie O’Neill Events assistant Callum Stott

Membership Membership administrator Yessra Nawaz

Publications Television Editor Steve Clarke (freelance) Television, production and design Gordon Jamieson (freelance)

A company limited by guarantee. Registered in London 249462 Registered charity 313728 Founded 1927

R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 55 Picture credits

Page 1: 1-3, 6,7 Paul Hampartsoumian; 4,5 Simon Albury Page 4: Paul Hampartsoumian Page 5: All – Paul Hampartsoumian Page 6: All – Paul Hampartsoumian Page 7: 1-8 Paul Hampartsoumian; 9 ITV Page 8: 1-9 Simon Albury Page 9: 10 Simon Albury Page 10: 1 BBC; 2-5 Simon Albury; 7 Paul Hampartsoumian Page 11: 8,13 Paul Hampartsoumian; 9-12 Simon Albury Page 12: All – Simon Albury Page 13: 1 Mohammed Abed/Getty Images; 2-5 Simon Albury Page 14: All – Simon Albury Page 15: 1 BBC; 2-6 Simon Albury; 7 Paul Hampartsoumian Page 16: 1-3 iStockPhoto.com; 4 Scripps Network Page 17: 5 iStockPhoto.com; 6 BSkyB; 7 Starz Page 18: 1 Gordon Jamieson; 2 ITV Page 19: 3 Gordon Jamieson; 3 iStockPhoto.com; 4 Gordon Jamieson/Apple Page 20: 1-3 Neil Sherwood; 4 Richard Kendal Page 21: 1 BSkyB; 2 Richard Kendal; 3-5 Channel 4 Page 22: 1 IBC; 2 Arqiva Page 23: 3 Paul Hampartsoumian; 4-5 Lisa Mcmanus; 6 David Thomas; 7-8 BBC; 9 iStockPhoto.com; Page 24: Paul Hampartsoumian Page 25: 3-5 David Thomas Page 26: 1-2 Graeme Aldous; 3 Olwyn Hocking; 4 BSkyB Page 27: 1,3 Graeme Aldous; 2 BBC Scotland; 5 iStockPhoto. com Page 28: 1 Alex Connock; 2 Charles Byrne; 3 ITV; 6 Digital UK Page 29: 8 BBC Page 30: 1,3 BBC; Page 31: 5 Howard Lucas; 6 Channel 4 Page 32: 1 Freesat; 2-4 Hywel Wiliam Page 33: 5 Channel 4

56 R oyal T elevision S ociety Report 2011 R oyal T elevision S ociety

Kildare House, 3 Dorset Rise, London EC4Y 8EN Tel: 020 7822 2810 www.rts.org.uk