Annual Report 2009
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ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY ANNUAL REPORT 2009 AGM 26 May 2010 at 6:00pm at the RTS, Kildare House, 3 Dorset Rise, London EC4Y 8EN Patrons S4C Principal Patrons SMG UKTV BBC Value Partners Management Consulting BSkyB Channel 4 Television ITV RTS Patrons International Patrons APTN Autocue Avid Technology Europe Discovery Communications Europe Bloomberg Microsoft Channel Television MTV Digital Television Group NBC Universal Granada Television OC&C Strategy Consultants HIT Entertainment RTL Group Ikegami Electronics UK Walt Disney Company ITV Anglia ITV London ITV Meridian Major Patrons ITV Tyne Tees ITV West Deloitte ITV Yorkshire DLA Piper Panasonic Broadcast Europe Enders Analysis PricewaterhouseCoopers Five Quantel FremantleMedia Radio Telefís Éireann GMTV Reuters Television ITN SMG Grampian Television KPMG SMG Scottish Television Millbank Studios Tektronix (UK) Ofcom Ulster Television Pepper Post Production University College, Falmouth PRS for Music Vinten Broadcast 2 R O YA L T E L E V I S I O N S O C I E T Y REPORT 2009 Contents Patrons 2 Board of Trustees report to members 4 1 Achievements and performance 4 National events 2008 4 Centres report 2008 19 2 Structure, governance and management 26 3 Objectives and activities 26 4 Financial review 27 5 Plans for future periods 27 6 Administrative details 28 Independent auditors’ report 30 Financial statements 31 Notes to the financial statements 34 Notice of AGM 2010 42 Form of proxy 43 Advisory Council election manifestos 44 Minutes of AGM 2008 45 Who’s who at the RTS 48 Picture credits 51 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 2009. 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). R O YA L T E L E V I S I O N S O C I E T Y REPORT 2009 3 RTS Board of Trustees Report 1 Achievements and Performance The RTS maintained its unique and influential role in fur- Don Larotonda, Deutsche Bank’s Paul Reynolds and Emily thering public understanding of the transformative changes Bell of the Guardian – to hear pitches for the revenue model affecting British television through its publications, website of the future. “TV’s next top model” tackled the question of and the wide range of public events it staged, despite the whether subscriptions, advertising or micro-payments would adverse economic climate. be the best way to fund programme production in the years In December the Society was deeply saddened by the death ahead. of its President and Chair of the Board of Trustees, Sir Robert BSkyB COO Mike Darcey put the case for subscriptions; Phillis, who had done so much to reshape and strengthen Thinkbox chief executive Tess Alps argued that advertising the RTS. revenue would bounce back “as it has done in the past”; and FremantleMedia CEO Tony Cohen championed micro- Cambridge Convention payments. The nearest anyone came to admitting their rival The biennial RTS Cambridge Convention organising com- had a point was Darcey, but even he worried that “micro- mittee, chaired by Mark Thompson, delivered a compelling payments lead to micro revenue.” agenda that pulled in a large audience and top contributors. The travails of ad-funded TV were put under the micro- With regional news in crisis, drama budgets being slashed scope in the following session. “Desperate networks” saw and great uncertainty about the economic and regulatory RTL Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler, Channel 4 chair Luke Johnson environment, the convention’s title, “Riding out the storm”, and ITV COO John Cresswell outline their recovery plans. could not have been more apposite. The session was notable for some pithy and revealing The opening keynote speech was delivered, according to soundbites. Johnson said regulation of PSBs was now “com- custom, by the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, pletely disproportionate” and “the wonderful people of the the Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP. He announced a relaxation Competition Commission… should shove off.” And Cresswell, of rules on product placement, called time on the BBC Trust when asked about ITV’s failed diversification efforts, pinned and argued that the BBC needed to shrink – though not by the blame squarely on former CEO Sir Charles Allen. too much. But Zeiler’s recipe for success was the most succinct: “Fail In the second session BBC economics editor Stephanie often, fail fast and fail cheaply. If I look at the three of us, we Flanders looked at the prospects for broadcasters when the already have the first principle right.” recession ended. She said she did not believe that TV adver- The fifth Cambridge session examined the consequences of 1 Delegates’ tising revenue would recover to the levels of 2006 until at ever-tightening budgets for UK-produced drama. “The storm packs at the least 2012, and was also downbeat about the growth poten- will get worse in the next 18 months,” predicted Andy Har- RTS Cambridge tial of the pay-TV sector. ries, chief executive of Left Bank Pictures. He was joined by: Convention She then invited a jury of three media experts – Mindshare’s fellow indie producer Nicola Shindler, executive producer8 4 R O YA L T E L E V I S I O N S O C I E T Y REPORT 2009 the wider television community and the public to better effect Sir Robert Phillis 1945-2009 over the next two decades. In 2006-2007 Bob Phillis led another crucial review, RTS President 2004-2009 resulting in essential new governance arrangements for Chair of Board of Trustees 2007-2009 the Society. These reflected best practice for a charity and RTS Vice-President 1994-2002 created, among other things, a new Board of Trustees and RTS Chair 1989-1992 Advisory Council. Again, this was far from straightforward Fellow of the Royal Television Society and needed Bob’s advocacy and interpersonal skills to deliver the changes. Sir Robert Phillis, who died in December 2009, was an ‘Few people have served the Society better and more indefatigable champion of the RTS, whose committed consistently over nearly 30 years. Even fewer have leadership reshaped the Society. engendered such affection and respect in equal measure,’ It was thanks to Bob Phillis’s vision and determination that said Sarah Thane in the obituary carried in Television. the Society appointed its first director, Michael Bunce, with The RTS owes Bob Phillis a tremendous debt. He will live Claire Price as his deputy. As a result, the Society was able on in the reforms he led and in the positive impact he made to expand its activities significantly and serve its members, on many of us who had the privilege of knowing him. R O YA L T E L E V I S I O N S O C I E T Y REPORT 2009 5 1 2 8of Red Production Company; Elaine Pyke, head of drama for Sky 1,2,3; and Ben Stephenson, controller, drama com- missioning at the BBC. Unsurprisingly, the producers were more downbeat than the commissioners. BBC director-general Mark Thompson delivered a thought- ful analysis of the corporation’s public purpose that was well received even by delegates who are not natural supporters of the BBC. He then joined the former culture secretary, the Rt Hon James Purnell MP, to debate the principles that should inform the BBC’s governance and scale. In the light of the looming general election, the next speaker was the shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt MP. He evinced an enthusiasm for local multimedia news consor- tia and a dislike of Ofcom, but gave away little more about Conservative broadcasting policy. 5 The convention’s international keynote speaker was Eric Schmidt, chair and CEO of Google, who joined the proceed- ings by video link from New York. As the man held responsible by many delegates for drain- ing several billion pounds out of UK media, Schmidt was grilled by several attendees on when Google would start commissioning some UK content. The answer sounded dis- appointingly close to never. The Government’s solution to the crisis affl icting regional news – Independently Funded News Consortia (IFNCs) – stirred a great deal of debate. This was led off by four pitches from potential players: Mark Dodson of Guardian Media Group; ITN chief John Hardie; Rob Woodward of STV Group; 6 7 and (jointly) Ten Alps boss Alex Connock and Trevor Birney of Below the Radar. Will subs, ads or fees be ‘TV’s Next Top The fi nal session saw the heads of the four biggest net- Model’? Contributors 5 Mike Darcey, COO, works, plus Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards, join a panel BSkyB, 6 Tony Cohen, CEO, FremantleMedia to tackle the big, unresolved questions for broadcasters. and 7 Tess Alps, CEO, Thinkbox, put their Perhaps the most apocalyptic perspective came from Andy case to an RTS Cambrdige Convention jury Duncan, outgoing CEO of Channel 4, who warned that “this 6 R O YA L T E L E V I S I O N S O C I E T Y REPORT 2009 RTS Cambridge Convention speakers: 1 Ben Bradshaw, secretary of state, DCMS; 2 Eric Schmidt, chair and CEO, Google; 3 Andy Harries, (left) CEO, Left Bank Pictures and Elaine Pyke, head of drama, Sky 1,2,3, BSkyB; and 4 Jeremy Hunt MP, shadow secretary of state, culture, media and sport 3 whole industry remains in denial about the scale of change that is still coming.” The RTS is extremely grateful to the conference’s principal sponsors, the BBC and BBC Trust.