EXCLUSIVE: The previous UK chief of one in all Europe’s greatest manufacturing giants has been drafted in by Channel 4 to advise on the formation of its in-house productions unit.
Lucinda Hicks, who left her Banijay UK CEO put up two years in the past, shall be consulting with Channel 4 two days per week over the approaching months to assist with the community’s technique to hunt “diversified income streams,” which incorporates in-house productions and includes a part of its Quick Ahead blueprint. CEO Alex Mahon is known to be eager to have a fleshed-out plan in place by the top of this 12 months relying on the success of the media invoice presently making its means by parliament.
Reporting into Chief Working Officer Jonathan Allan, Hicks is working intently with Mahon and content material boss Ian Katz on the plans.
A Channel 4 spokeswoman stated Hicks is analyzing how the broadcaster can “discover the potential of mental property possession and any gradual, thought-about transfer we might make into it.” She may also have a look at “scaling diversified income streams to assist our long-term sustainability and improve our influence with viewers, together with constructing e-commerce, rising Channel 4+ and increasing our social footprint.”
Lucinda Hicks
Banijay
Hicks is a revered UK manufacturing vet who was CEO of Banijay UK for 2 years, taking up the put up after the French-headquartered powerhouse acquired Endemol Shine Group for $2.2B, thereby overseeing the likes of Huge Brother, Peaky Blinders and MasterChef whereas serving to Banijay by the Covid-19 pandemic. She has additionally held industrial roles with Fremantle and the BBC.
Hicks’ consultancy will possible show a speaking level inside UK manufacturing business circles which can be holding a beady eye on what Channel 4 does with its nascent in-house powers. Manufacturing firms are eager for Channel 4 to get again to some semblance of commissioning normality following a troublesome 12 months wherein greenlights floor to one thing of a halt and a few monetary ache was felt to have been handed on to indies.
The Gogglebox community is hoping the media invoice will clear parliamentary hurdles within the coming months and it could subsequently have a strong in-house plan in place later in 2024, drawn up with Hicks’ help, we’re advised.
Launching an in-house productions unit that can enable the pubcaster to personal its reveals for the primary time in its 40-year historical past was the brainchild of former UK Tradition Secretary Michelle Donelan when Channel 4 privatization was reversed round 15 months in the past.
The transfer has, nevertheless, proved controversial as holding onto their Channel 4 rights and promoting these reveals world wide has been a bedrock for a lot of small British manufacturing homes. Channel 4 has repeatedly careworn that it was the federal government that got here up with the in-house plan, and that it’ll solely be launched with added quota commitments to ‘true indies’ and in session with the manufacturing sector. Regulator Ofcom may also be handed new statutory powers to assessment how Channel 4 is utilizing in-house to make sure the sector will not be being harmed.
“Whereas [in-house] won’t ever alter our elementary perception within the significance of unbiased producers within the UK, it is vital, topic to the Media Invoice passing by Parliament, that we correctly assessment this chance,” added the spokeswoman. “To assist wide-ranging diversification work, Lucinda Hicks has joined us on a consultancy foundation.”
Hicks is consulting as Channel 4 implements its greatest spherical of redundancies in 15 years, with 240 workers exiting. The 45-day session interval, which was prolonged to 60 again in February, ended final week and new commissioning heads of division have been set. The likes of drama boss Caroline Hollick, fact-ent head Alf Lawrie and youth controller Karl Warner are leaving, with promotions handed to Ollie Madden, Alisa Pomeroy and Steven Handley. Amid the redundancies, Deadline revealed final month that Mahon and Katz will settle for bonuses this 12 months, whereas senior chief pay, which hit file highs in 2023, shall be decreased by 30% to 40%.
The Mahon-led Quick Ahead blueprint additionally options plans to promote Channel 4’s London Horseferry Street premises and give attention to digital progress, transformation and “reengineering the enterprise for a digital-first world.”