UK TV Chiefs Are Traditionally Lengthy Serving: Has Business Gone Stale?

On stage at British tv’s largest annual gathering in 2023, Paramount UK content material chief Ben Frow recounted the story of his resignation with signature flamboyance. Frow advised Edinburgh TV Competition delegates he was affected by gnawing burnout that felt as if he have been being “pecked alive.” Quitting granted him paradoxical reduction: it soothed his anxiousness to the purpose the place he felt in a position to later withdraw his resignation. 

Sixteen months on from his confession, Frow stays in control of Channel 5, the jewel within the crown of Paramount’s UK operations. It’s a job he has achieved for greater than 12 years, which is a minimum of 3 times longer than any of his predecessors. Frow’s brush with burnout could also be a private story, however he touched on a common subject: how lengthy is just too lengthy within the rarefied govt roles on the high of tv? 

Wherever you flip, Britain’s boss class is setting new precedents. Kevin Lygo, ITV’s managing director of media and leisure, has been the community’s most loyal TV chief because the function was created in 1992, eclipsing his predecessor Peter Fincham by a yr. Over at Channel 4, Ian Katz has ridden out a wave of trade discontent to comb previous Jay Hunt because the broadcaster’s longest-serving content material boss.

Charlotte Moore, the BBC’s chief content material officer, has been operating the company’s tv output for eight-and-a-half years, that means she not too long ago surpassed the late Jana Bennett’s spell in an identical function. Add in Moore’s three years as BBC1 controller and he or she overshadows a few of her most embellished predecessors, together with the large determine of Sir Huw Wheldon, who was answerable for Dad’s Military and Civilisation throughout a decade-long tenure as TV boss 50 years in the past.

The sample can be seen exterior of Britain’s public service broadcasters. Richard Watsham has been calling the photographs at UKTV for greater than a decade. Zai Bennett ran Sky’s UK networks for eight years earlier than turning into the primary content material chief of his period to blink, becoming a member of BBC Studios in November. The place as soon as producers would complain about musical chairs on the high of tv, now you’re extra more likely to hear grumbles about decision-making gathering mud. 

Ask senior trade figures in regards to the phenomenon, as Deadline did for this text, and varied theories are forthcoming. One senior determine says it has change into a lot more durable to measure success within the age of streaming, which works to the benefit of incumbents. The place as soon as in a single day rankings have been a brutal greenlight grading system, now networks can spin success tales and obfuscate flops utilizing selective streaming figures. One other TV doyen says the pandemic added years to the shelf-life of Moore, Lygo, Katz, and Frow as UK broadcasters sought stability within the storm.

There may be additionally a transparent consensus that these jobs are onerous to surrender. They continue to be influential and coveted, handing incumbents spending energy that stretches to billions (should you’re Moore) and the prospect to form nationwide conversations. For these on the high of the British TV tree, various jobs can seem like a couple of branches under your perch. Even the attract of working for a revered U.S. studio is probably not sufficient, as Moore proved late final yr when she rebuffed a allure offensive from Disney to remain put on the BBC.

So we’ve got some theories as to why individuals are sitting tight, which takes us to the query of whether or not long-tenured TV chiefs are good for enterprise, or are they — as one high-ranking broadcasting govt ponders — a bunch of “mattress blockers”?

Let’s begin with causes to be cheerful. Seasoned producers and commissioners who spoke with Deadline level to the skills of these on the high. Frow was praised for persistently reinventing Channel 5 and being uniquely attuned to viewers wants. Moore regularly bewilders colleagues with how she deftly juggles enormous volumes of competing priorities. There was additionally settlement that familiarity has its benefits. Having a great understanding of the tastes and agendas of content material chiefs is useful at a time when opaque knowledge factors and algorithms are informing greenlight choices. As one producer put it: there may be consolation in realizing which effigy to worship or pin to a dart board. 

Now the causes for concern. There’s a broadly held view that job safety can breed complacency, or on the very least consolation, which dulls the urge for food for artistic risk-taking. Put merely, there’s a worry the trade has gone stale. When producers heat to this theme, they’ll level to the regular stream of revivals and reboots, the lurch in direction of abroad codecs (or each, see Gladiators and Huge Brother), and an over-reliance on hits of yore. No less than one content material chief has overtly acknowledged the urge to re-heat previous exhibits, with Channel 4’s Katz describing it as tv’s “microwave subject.”  

The BBC’s Christmas Day rankings bonanza was a well timed reminder of the power of TV, but in addition served to light up issues about artistic stasis. Gavin & Stacey and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl demonstrated easy methods to carry viewers collectively, however each exhibits have been created earlier than Netflix was even a streaming service. The supporting solid was: The Weakest Hyperlink (a reboot of a sequence that premiered in 2000), Strictly Come Dancing (celebrated its twentieth birthday final yr), Physician Who (the timeless Time Lord dates again to 1963), and Name The Midwife and Mrs Brown’s Boys (each of which have lengthy handed a decade on display screen).

In brief, not one of the BBC’s primetime choices on the most important TV day of the yr have been created on Moore’s watch. Some would possibly take into account this statement churlish when her largest rival, ITV, was criticized for abandoning the taking part in area on Christmas Day after scheduling a parade of repeats. Each truths do nothing to calm anxiousness about artistic malaise.

A style chief, who has held high roles on the BBC and past, says commissioning works in two-year cycles and when you’ve been for a few spins, it turns into more durable to reinvent the wheel. “What you’ll then begin doing is repeating all the issues that you just’ve achieved earlier than,” this particular person says. “Now we have bought a mannequin now the place we’re inhibiting massive swings. Two years right into a job you may spend £20M on a present that bombs. Seven years right into a tenure, that could possibly be career-ending.”

Others juxtapose stability within the UK with the U.S. the place there’s a increased turnover of leaders, albeit in a market the place competitors and consolidation have been extra intense. The executives answerable for the nation’s largest networks, ABC (Craig Erwich), NBC (Frances Berwick), and CBS (Amy Reisenbach), have been in place for between three and 5 years. As one senior broadcasting determine acknowledges: “There’s a positive stability between the worth of clear eyes and contemporary eyes.” 

Many suppose the issues about risk-aversion could be allayed if content material chiefs switched up their commissioning groups extra often, like soccer managers refreshing their squads. Others make the case for democratizing greenlight choices. “Commissioners are actually in a position to say ‘no’ [to pitches] with none constraint. What isn’t clear is how they arrive at ‘sure’,” a former ITV govt surmises.

As we enter 2025, the scent of change is within the air. The BBC is getting ready for an existential dialog about its funding and working agreements, which expire in January 2027. ITV seems to be quietly courting takeover curiosity, which might end result within the listed firm being carved up into separate broadcasting and manufacturing companies. There stays lingering disquiet about Channel 4’s management and, though pre-Christmas hypothesis a few board plot to oust CEO Alex Mahon was large of the mark (as was infinite chatter about her eying jobs at Google, ITV, Chloé and many others), the corporate will welcome a brand new chairman this yr. Lastly, Skydance’s takeover of Paramount International will full within the spring, inevitably elevating questions on the way forward for Channel 5. 

It stays to be seen if this interprets into motion amongst TV’s high brass, however there’s a feeling that if one domino drops, the entire pack might shortly fall. As one govt places it: the longer individuals are in put up, the shorter the chances change into on regime change. One factor appears sure, the document tenures of these on the high will take some beating.