A producer wryly tells us that they arrived to Channel 4 HQ in late 2023 to discover a boarded-up front, feeling their way around to a narrow door on the side of the building “where there stands a huge f***ing bouncer.”
If ever there was a metaphor for the British broadcaster’s relations with the indie sector in recent months, surely this is it. After pulling up the commissioning drawbridge and passing on the financial pain of a disturbingly prolonged ad crisis, producers have oscillated between rage and disillusionment when the subject of Channel 4 rears its head.
There has been an inescapable sense that Channel 4 has not been listening to the concerns of its suppliers, even if this is hotly disputed by the broadcaster itself. But the mood music has now changed. Channel 4 is, for the first time, publicly acknowledging that it must share in the pain being felt by producers. A plan to cull 200 jobs is a brutal reminder of its continued vulnerability to a volatile ad market, but could also signal a new dawn for the network’s troubled relationship with indies, which felt like they hit rock bottom in 2023.
At a meeting of the Edinburgh TV Festival Board in November featuring multiple senior figures from the indie community, we understand tensions that had been building for months and had been covered plenty by this website – kicked off by the cancelation of a high-profile reboot of reality series Four Weddings – started boiling over.
A number of these indie bods are understood to have railed against Channel 4 programs boss Ian Katz’s Edinburgh address – during which he said there had been a “perception” that his network’s financial picture is “more dramatic than elsewhere” – while saying they should be leaning harder on producer trade body Pact to take action.
Making things more awkward is the fact that the chair of the 2023 Festival’s Advisory Committee, the group of industry figures who shape its program, was Kiran Nataraja, Channel 4’s Director of Content Strategy & Planning, effectively Katz’s number two. Channel 4 insiders argue Katz was simply being realistic. They say they have approached financial challenges brought on by the ad recession more transparently than any other broadcaster, with regular indie briefings, while clarifying – after some confusion – that from September most commissioning would be for 2025.
While sources somewhat dispute the extent to which the Edinburgh meeting bubbled over – one present described a visceral atmosphere while another said it was not out of the ordinary – it is neatly illustrative of the then-state of play.
Things reached such a crescendo that we heard talk at the time among the highest echelons of the production community about writing a letter to Channel 4’s leaders articulating the strength of feeling. There was annoyance over bonuses and exasperation at lavish spending decisions such as football rights and the controversial Rise and Fall reality series from Studio Lambert.
The letter has now likely been scotched given the new plan but it would have had echoes of 2013 when Survivor creator Charlie Parsons wrote to the Channel 4 chairman with “very widespread concerns” that the broadcaster was failing the indie community, leading to a great deal of introspection.
All this could change in the coming months. Earlier this week, The Guardian revealed a plan from the Gogglebox network to make around one-sixth of its 1,200-strong workforce redundant, which will likely be made public in a few weeks and be enacted by the end of this year, we understand. The story kickstarted a relentless week for Channel 4, which is also dealing with the fallout of the UK government once again blocking a woman of color from being appointed to its board.
If the blueprint allows Channel 4 to return to spending big on programs, producers cautiously welcome it, moving on from the past few months in which relations with indies have at times felt like they couldn’t worsen any more.
“When it was clear the market wasn’t recovering in the latter part of the last year, we challenged Channel 4 to take action,” says John McVay, the CEO of Pact. “We were asking them what they were going to do about it. Our suppliers were taking pain in 2023 – laying people off while freelancers couldn’t find work – but it felt like those at Horseferry Road were pretty much insulated.”
Commissioners in firing line
As Channel 4 prepares to swing the ax, the leaked plan also comes off the back of a marked change in rhetoric over the past couple of months from the likes of Mahon, who in November acknowledged to the UK’s Culture Committee that the industry is in “market shock territory” and that the network will likely draw down on its £75M ($94M) revolving credit facility in 2024.
McVay says his hundreds-indie-strong member base will “only be impressed” if the cull leads to Channel 4 keeping content budget in a good place, while he urged the network to place the launch of its in-house studio on the backburner at least during the redundancy process.
Mahon’s internal note about the staff cuts stressed that the network wants to “reach new generations of viewers, fulfil our remit and sustain our long-term future as a prosperous business.” Her weighty proclamations appeared to bat away rumors that have dogged her for the past few months that she is seeking a move away from Channel 4. Sources speculate that she will now at the least see out the redundancy plan.
McVay, along with several producer sources, suggests the plan will likely place commissioners in the firing line. Channel 4 has long been deemed to have a hefty amount of commissioners on its books, numbering into the dozens, especially when compared with commercial rivals ITV and Paramount-owned Channel 5. Those based in London will be the most at risk as, while the pubcaster is looking to shed 200 staff over the next year, it is simultaneously targeting a rise in its number of employees outside London from 500 to 600 by 2025.
“My members have often complained that Channel 4 has too many commissioners,” says McVay. “Efficiency while keeping the right people isn’t a bad thing in any business.
One former Channel 4 employee predicted the merging of some commissioning departments could be incoming, although this was strongly denied by a Channel 4 insider.
“This should have happened years ago,” says this source. “Businesses have to make harsh decisions in these times and Channel 4 is a business, not a charity.”
The layoffs represents Channel 4’s most drastic round of redundancies for 15 years but another ex-senior staffer says headcount has in recent times been “allowed to drift too high.” “[Channel 4] headcount tends to oscillate between 800 and 1,200 but It feels like they never really dealt with how many were in London,” adds the source.
This source also argues that the ad recession is biting across the board, positing that it will be of little surprise if the likes of ITV follow suit. “If the ad market does not show signs of recovery then it starts to feel like a different world,” they say. “If it’s not cyclical but structural then that is a real problem.”
Claire Enders, who runs media analyst Enders Analysis, argues Channel 4’s move had likely been a “long time in the works,” harking back to the network’s pre-pandemic nations and regions push, before it was almost sold.
She says the plan shows that “‘levelling up’ and going digital are still the priority for Channel 4.”
“The media industry these days requires lower overheads,” she adds. “Channel 4 should be commended for trying to get close to a sustainable size.”
Whatever the situation, the layoffs plan and Mahon’s desire to talk tough in using the credit facility may have consigned that November meeting to being a thing of the past, reflective of 2023’s problem, not 2024’s. Pain is likely incoming, but the process of rebuilding these crucial relationships has begun.
Also Read More: World News | Entertainment News | Celeb News
Source: DLine
