11/19/2023 0 Comments Scoring in spades![]() That's the only problem with being an ex-controller - your jokes actually need to be good. It remains a great job, and it's always nice when people laugh at your jokes. So will my successor as controller of BBC1 feel that "odd sense of powerlessness" and, if so, should it put him or her off taking the job? "Yes" to the first. But my guess is that it will evolve, learn to co-exist with its neighbours and thrive. It's possible, of course, that digital will turn out to be the sort of meteorite that wipes out the species altogether. ![]() I'm also an optimist, perhaps unfashionably, about the future of conventional broadcasting and, in particular, the big terrestrial beasts which still crash noisily around the jungle. Make the programmes you want to make, make them well, and you'll end up with a good business. Which do you want it to be?" The dichotomy, it turned out, was false. Many years ago, a former channel controller said: "You've got two choices - make the programmes you want to make, or run a successful business. ![]() It will be interesting to see how the power divides up between buyers and sellers, but I can't see any serious prospect of indies losing out. On the horizon, of course, is a fully-digital Britain: maximum choice for the maximum number of people. Successive improvements in independents' rights positions, growing demand for content from an ever increasing range of buyers, new media, new platforms, flotations on AIM, mergers and acquisitions, changed format rights, opportunities in America - the modern, well-equipped content producer has never looked more like a proper business and less like the "lifestyle choice" once derided by John Harvey-Jones. In those days, the broadcasters were kings and producers were their subjects. I liked the phrase, but I didn't really believe it. When I sold TalkBack in 2000 there was a fashionable saying: "Content is king". We've seen a slow but steady shift of negotiating muscle away from the people who pay the piper, and towards those who play the tunes. It's not only in the literal sense that a broadcaster's power is constrained. You're on the touchline barking orders, reassuring yourself that you made the right team selection, bracing yourself for the post-match interview (believe me, I know) but you never get the sweet satisfaction of scoring a goal. What's on screen isn't "yours", it's "theirs". You can pick programmes, worry over them, schedule them, nudge them a bit in this direction or that - but you can't actually make them good or bad. ![]() So what did Mark Thompson mean? I came to understand. But, on the face of it, power is one thing the job has in spades. Of course, the budget comes with strings attached, and whether you are toiling in the sheltered glades of public service television or the commercial world, you are still expected to spend wisely and well. People usually respect your decisions, and they laugh at your jokes - however bad they are. It's more fun and, arguably, easier to be a buyer than a seller: they give you a big budget and let you get on and spend it. If you were to ask most channel controllers why they took the job - and were lucky enough to get an honest answer - power would feature high on the list. 'One thing you'll find about this job," said Mark Thompson on my second day as controller of BBC1, "is an odd sense of powerlessness." I was surprised. ![]()
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