ITV’s management has “lost its way”

BECTU condemns ITV’s attack on Yorkshire production base

BECTU, the media and entertainment union, has condemned the apparent decision by ITV to mothball its Studios in Leeds as the act of a management which has “seriously lost its way.”

The decision, which has been leaked to the press today, targets the very people upon whom ITV’s recovery depends, programme makers and resource staff, whose skills, creative energy and commitment put the product on screen.

“ITV’s management has seriously lost its way”

“Today’s announcement is yet further evidence of the fact that ITV is suffering at the hands of its own senior management. Far from being the saviour of ITV, Michael Grade has lacked the courage to shake off the approach of his predecessor, Charles Allen, and not surprisingly ITV has continued to toil under his leadership.

“ITV’s management has seriously lost its way,” commented BECTU’s General Secretary, Gerry Morrissey.

ITV’s chief priority since the 1990s has been to please its shareholders, says BECTU. It has displayed contempt for the principles of public service broadcasting, which it claims to respect, and contempt for the audience, shown, not least, in the voting scandals which have dogged the company in the past two years.

The company’s previous high regard for regional news is now in shreds with more than 400 jobs lost since the beginning of the year.

The company has failed to invest effectively in programme-making and senior executives have taken huge sums out of the company, not for improving the company’s performance, but for cutting staff numbers.

When the merged ITV was launched in 2003 the combined staff was 8000. We are now at a point where the company is looking to continue operations with half that number of staff.

The threat to jobs, both staff and freelance, and to skills, inherent in this proposal is a tragedy for television production in the North and is out of step with developments such as Salford’s Media City.

“ITV’s current troubles reflect a lack of imagination at the top encouraged by a weak regulator, Ofcom, whose preference is for deregulation,” explained Gerry Morrissey.

Today’s leak makes reference to the company’s struggles with a “pension fund deficit” and a “debt position”; once again we see evidence of a further planned attack on staff contracts as a way to deflect attention from the incompetence of ITV’s senior management.

“Whilst BECTU’s members await ITV’s formal announcement tomorrow, the union makes it clear that we will oppose any move by the company to issue wholesale redundancy notices and to make staff apply for a limited number of jobs away from the Leeds site.” concluded Gerry Morrissey.

For more information contact Sharon Elliott, BECTU Communications Officer on 020 7346 0900.