Who’s going to be brave enough to fill Richard Eyre’s shoes? When
the announcement was first made two years ago that Eyre was to become
ITV’s first chief executive, two responses tended to follow. First,
’what a stroke of genius on ITV’s part’, and second, ’what a potentially
dodgy decision on Richard’s part’. This, supposedly, was television’s
hospital pass, the ultimate in responsibility without real power.
Supposedly the network’s three main owners, Carlton, United News & Media
and Granada, were like a trio of hoodlums in a 40s B-movie, just itching
for the opportunity to bump each other off.
Everyone agreed that if anyone could succeed, it would be Eyre - and
succeed he duly did. Well, up to a point. He succeeded in extracting
budget commitments from the big three; he succeeded in setting up a
credible management structure that centralised decision-making on all
the important marketing, programme commissioning and scheduling issues.
And in John Hardie, ITV marketing director, and David Liddiment, the
channel’s programme director, he attracted talent to ensure that the
right decisions were taken. He created a new sense of optimism about
ITV’s future; he lobbied successfully for the Government to give it
leeway when it came to issues such as scrapping the News at Ten. Last,
but not least, he set tough audience targets and went about meeting
them.
But it’s when you look at these audience targets that you begin to
appreciate just how good Eyre’s timing might be - there are many in the
industry who believe that the 40 per cent peaktime share target will not
be met by the end of 2000. It was always going to be downhill from here
on in and Eyre has managed to squeeze every last drop of success out of
the role. A successor will not only fail, but he or she will always
suffer from comparison with Eyre.
In short, this time around, the job might be even harder to fill. Jim
Marshall, the chief executive of MediaVest, certainly believes that
could be true. When times are tough - and ITV backs were very much to
the wall a couple of years ago - people will make promises that they’re
tempted to break. And then there’s the fact that the broadcast
environment has changed. Marshall explains: ’The truce within ITV -
especially between Carlton and Granada - has looked fragile and will
disappear when the prospect of further ITV consolidation becomes a
reality. Both Carlton and Granada have been under pressure because of
the relatively poor performance of ONdigital. One of Eyre’s great
successes was in persuading the ITV companies to increase programme
budgets - this might be increasingly hard to sustain.
The other factor could be a recovery in BBC fortunes. Greg Dyke is
competitive and populist in his approach to programming and he will
almost certainly go after ITV.’
Any assessment of the difficulty of the task facing ITV will depend on
your view of how solid Eyre’s legacy will be. Did he win the battles
that matter once and for all, and does he bequeath a structure than can
be run by lesser mortals?
Mick Desmond, the chief executive of Granada media sales, argues that
the important matters have all been secured. He adds: ’One of the
greatest successes is a commitment to budgets three years in advance.
That allows for genuine planning and must give everyone confidence that
things will remain very settled on that front. I think we need someone
to work with David Liddiment and allow him to get on with his job,
protecting his creative role from the shareholders.’
But what about those who believe all the good work could be threatened
by renewed internal tensions at the network? Desmond can’t see it: ’We
are more willing to work for it because we have seen what can be
achieved - we have had two years of genuine revenue growth. There is a
huge vested interest in maintaining a common purpose. The theory behind
some of the manoeuvring of old within ITV was that you might risk a bit
to gain a lot. Now I think that everyone accepts you will lose a lot to
gain a little.’
If Eyre has any niggling disappointments about his reign, it must be the
fact that he failed to win over the Incorporated Society of British
Advertisers - and pleasing advertisers surely ranked pretty highly in
his job description. Will the new chief have to work on this? Is ISBA
hard, if not impossible, to please? Bob Wootton, ISBA’s director of
media and advertising affairs, says you have to appreciate the pressure
most advertisers are under. He comments: ’Retailers are asking
manufacturers how much lower prices are going to be next year. Then
those manufacturers turn to ITV, which tells them how much more
expensive it’s going to be next year. That is bound to lead to a tense
situation.
’Broadly, though, we have been very supportive. For instance, we have
been quiet about ITV’s total share, which has been heading in the wrong
direction, as opposed to its share of peaktime. I have been getting the
feeling that ITV is preparing to detach itself from the 40 per cent
share of peak commitment. But we will continue to be supportive and I am
sure the right person can be found for the job. My only hope is that ITV
is both ambitious and rigorous in its selection procedure.’
Do rival channels hope for the opposite? Michael Jackson, the chief
executive of Channel 4, points out that his channel continues to
outperform the market whatever the state of ITV’s fortunes. But he can’t
see ITV returning to its old ways. He states: ’The most important thing
is that ITV recognised something had to be done or a continued decline
was inevitable. ITV has got its act together and a lot of sensible
things have been done, but they’ve not been things that have been all
that extraordinary - good leadership will provide them. ITV will
continue to do the right things. We don’t tend to worry about what other
channels are up to and that’s increasingly the way of it these days -
you have to concentrate on what you’re doing yourself and plough your
own furrow.’
