Channel 4 Restructures Commertial Arm To Drive Increased Profits

31 January 2005

Channel 4 has today announced a restructure of its commercial arm, 4 Ventures, with a view to driving increased profits from its secondary business activities.

After a month-long review, Channel 4 Chief Executive, Andy Duncan, has unveiled plans to reintegrate a number of 4 Ventures' activities back into the core Channel 4 organisation and retain a streamlined commercial arm with a particular focus on its new media and rights businesses.

Andy Duncan said: "We have an ambitious and exciting vision to strengthen Channel 4's public service contribution across all digital platforms and this restructure is a vital step towards achieving that goal. These changes will result in a more joined up and aligned Channel 4 organisation, optimally structured to face the challenges ahead and to maximise commercial revenues to help us fund our future strategy. 

"The management team at 4 Ventures has done a great job turning a group of disparate and loss-making businesses into a well-managed and profitable whole. But this is threatened by changing market conditions and 4 Ventures is back to only a break-even position in 2005.

"4 Ventures will now focus strictly on activities - rights and new media - where we see real potential for profit growth. We also believe that E4, FilmFour and More 4 when it launches, stand the best chance of sustained growth by being placed at the creative heart of Channel 4, with a cross-channel, portfolio approach to commissioning, scheduling and marketing."

As a result of the restructure, three of 4 Ventures existing business divisions - 4 Channels, 4 Learning and 4 Services - will be reintegrated into the centralised Channel 4 structure. A fourth division, 4 Rights, housing Channel 4 International and Consumer Products, will be renamed Rights and Consumer Products and form the core of the new-look 4 Ventures, alongside 4 Interactive, which is being renamed as Channel 4 New Media. The New Media division, which was formerly part of 4 Services, will receive fresh investment to substantially increase Channel 4's interactive, broadband and online public service activities. The division will also continue to pursue purely commercial projects in the new media space.

Graeme Mason, who is currently Head of Media Projects within 4 Ventures, has been appointed as the new Managing Director of Rights and Consumer Products, while the current Head of 4 Interactive, Andy Taylor, is promoted to Managing Director at the helm of the expanded New Media division.

Both Mason and Taylor will report to a soon-to-be appointed New Business Director, who will sit on the Channel 4 board and have operational responsibility for 4 Ventures. This post will replace Commercial Director, Rob Woodward, who left Channel 4 this month and Managing Director of 4 Ventures, Anmar Kawash, who is staying at Channel 4 on an interim basis to oversee implementation of the restructure, but has announced his intention to step down in June this year.

4 Ventures' Corporate Development team, headed by Michael Hodgson, will also be retained and will report to the New Business Director. The Corporate Development team will continue to look for new investment opportunities for Channel 4 and will have responsibility for joint venture discussions with third parties.

The current 4 Ventures board will be replaced by a Strategic Advisory Group, which will include some Channel 4 non-executive directors.

With 4 Ventures' 4 Channels division being disbanded, the programming heads of E4 and More 4, will now report to Channel 4's Director of Television, Kevin Lygo, who will have management responsibility for editorial policy and programme budgets for the two channels. The General Manager of the FilmFour channels will report to Channel 4's Controller of Broadcasting, Rosemary Newell.

Staff involved in commissioning, scheduling and acquisitions for the three multi-channel services, will be integrated into the relevant centralised Channel 4 departments. E4, FilmFour and More 4 marketing staff already report to Channel 4's Director of Network Marketing, Polly Cochrane.

Dan Brooke, who is currently Managing Director of 4 Channels, has been given a new strategic role as Controller of Digital Channels reporting to Chief Executive, Andy Duncan. Brooke will be responsible for multi-channel strategy, developing and launching new channels and platform management.

4 Learning, which has previously been run as a profit centre within 4 Ventures, will be integrated back into Channel 4. Heather Rabbatts becomes Head of Education, reporting to Duncan, with channel-wide responsibility for education strategy and with a brief to further strengthen education as a key plank of Channel 4's public service remit. Rabbatts will also report into Kevin Lygo on editorial matters relating to the channel's schools programming and adult education programme support output.

Channel 4's in-house creative agency, 4creative, which alongside 4 Interactive and 124 Facilities was formerly part of the 4 Services division within 4 Ventures, will be integrated into the Channel 4 Marketing department. 4creative will continue to work with external clients on a commercial basis as well as servicing the creative advertising requirements of Channel4.

Post production and studios business, 124 Facilities, will be integrated into the Channel 4 Channel Operations team alongside Presentation and Transmission.

The previously standalone advertising sales team for 4 Interactive will be integrated into Channel 4's Advertising Sales team. The Advertising Sales research team is being merged with the channel's Research and Insight team under Claire Grimmond, who will now report to Jonathan Thompson, who has been promoted from Head of Strategy to Head of Strategy & Research.

Duncan is also introducing a new executive management team within Channel 4, chaired by the Chief Executive and consisting of the Directors of Television, Sales, New Business, Finance, Marketing and Human Resources and the Head of Strategy and Research.

Duncan added: "As we move towards a fully digital Britain Channel 4 intends to significantly increase its presence on multi-channel and new media platforms, but I'm committed to achieving this expansion with staff numbers at or below 2004 levels."