Letter: Michael Jermey, director, ITV Regions

Michael Jermey

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Letter from ITV Regions director Michael Jermey to all ING staff outlining the timetable for the company cutting 430 jobs.

30th September 2008

Dear Colleague,

We are announcing today the full details of our plans for the restructuring of regional news. This morning Regional Directors and Heads of News will brief people across the country.

They will let you know the proposed new structure in your own region and give further information about what's happening elsewhere. This letter sets out an overview ahead of those meetings.

Turnaround plan
Just over a year ago as part of ITV's Turnaround Plan we set out our aim to radically reshape regional news, reducing its costs and the number of separate services whilst ensuring that we would continue to offer high quality programmes to viewers everywhere. The need for change is the result of the widely recognised, dramatic decline in the value of our regional broadcasting licences.

We said we would consult widely and that our plans would be developed alongside the Ofcom PSB review process. We listened to staff, viewers and other stakeholders in the 11 months from September 2007 to July 2008 and made some considered amendments to our original proposals.

A final version of the overall ITV proposal – still delivering the savings we committed to in September 2007 - was submitted to Ofcom and shared with all ING staff in July. Since then we've issued job descriptions for the new services and explained the proposed job selection process. Throughout the process we listened to ING staff and kept everyone informed about our evolving thoughts.

Last Thursday Ofcom issued its latest PSB document. It proposed a pattern of regional news programming on ITV similar to that set out by ITV in July. The July proposal was created after constructive dialogue with Ofcom, staff, viewers and other stakeholders. Ofcom has invited comments on its proposals.

Regional plan
We have always said that we would publish region by region plans once Ofcom had reported this month. Today we are in a position to set out our plan and the details in each region. It's been created by the whole of the ING Senior Management team, including Heads of News, with valuable input from staff in every region. The final elements of it were agreed at a meeting of Regional Directors yesterday.

Next year we intend ITV to have a strong, well resourced, restructured news service. We plan to reduce the number of flagship programmes from 17 to 9 and meet the target for cost savings we set in September 2007. Within ING we currently have 1075 full time roles. Our plan is to create 646 new full time roles, making nine flagship programmes plus a number of regional opts across the country. As a consequence, at the end of this process, regrettably these proposals will put 429 full time roles at risk of redundancy. ITV will still be making a major investment in regional news. We'll have a modern, fit for purpose operation that will continue to make great programmes.

ITV plc remains committed to guaranteeing the provision of regional news to 2012. Ofcom has recognised that in the medium term a new model needs to be found to fund regional news outside the BBC. We'll play a constructive part in helping the regulator find the best way forward. I'm personally optimistic that a good solution will be found.
The new services Each service will be well resourced and we hope that all staff who remain with ITV will enjoy working on the new programmes. People who leave will be given support as they plan their professional futures.

We have high ambitions for our new programmes. In recent years we've developed our approach to journalism and production, making our output as good as it's ever been. We've won awards across the country, proving that our programmes are admired by our peers. The viewing figures have been good despite the massive increase in competing channels. Every day viewers give us positive feedback on our work.

We want to build on this, continuing to improve our output both in terms of journalism and production. We don't underestimate the impact on people's lives. The job losses are, of course, very sad for everyone in the ITV regions but they're an inevitable consequence of the changed economics of commercial public service broadcasting. We will ensure that the process is conducted carefully and professionally.

Today's announcements and the process we'll go through over the coming weeks will lead to an enormous reduction in cost. We'll reduce the number of wholly separate services but we intend to continue to emphasise quality in everything we do. We plan to create a restructured service that I hope all of us will be proud of. We'll be making programmes in 2009 that continue to reflect the great diversity of Britain. We'll report the news, celebrate our regions and will remain a central part of the daily television schedule for millions of ITV viewers across the country.

News executive
In our new structure each newsroom will be offered clear leadership by the Head of News supported by the News Executive team. Members of that team will have responsibility for specific areas such as programme editing, news editing, features production and planning but also a collective responsibility for the service as a whole and for the welfare and development of the news team.

ITV Local
For the first time the production of the content for ITV Local will be a direct ING responsibility. The ITV Local staff, based in regional newsrooms, are transferring from ITV Consumer to ING. ING will have an agreement with ITV Consumer to provide ITV Local with the sort of modern news service it needs. ITV Consumer, working closely with ING, will continue to have overall responsibility for the commercial success of the service. We will be appointing a new role of Online Editor in each region.

This key new role – reporting to the Head of News -- will give overall direction to ITV Local in each region. We hope to introduce new technology making it easy for all journalists to directly put stories onto ITV Local. We have high ambitions for a redesigned service. Our goal is to make ITV regional news equally strong on both broadcast and broadband platforms.

Roles
In each region we'll have a team of top correspondents who'll be the main 'faces' of our flagship programme reporting. We want a focused team that the viewers consider a familiar, friendly presence in their homes.

The correspondents will report on the major stories and appear live on the show. They'll be complemented by a team of newsgathering reporters who will all be trained to use the latest lightweight video camera.

On the technical side we'll also be emphasising multi-skilling and co-operative working more than ever before. Technical staff will have the opportunity to work with the latest equipment and will be key members of the overall team, ensuring production excellence. Whilst
continuing to broaden our skill base we plan to continue to have highly skilled and highly valued craft camera operators, craft editors and graphic designers at the heart of our production team.

Property
As well as reducing the number of jobs we'll be making some radical changes to our property portfolio, ensuring that value for money is delivered everywhere. After careful financial and operational analysis we've decided to keep the main studio base for each programme within its region. We do not plan to create centralised hub broadcast centres. We will however close some bureaux and move from some old or expensive studio buildings. In some cities we'll plan to move to new cost effective modern digital production centres. Details will be
explained this morning.

Every newsroom in ING will, for the first time, be fully digital. We'll maintain our overall level of live satellite capacity on the road. This means that each programme will have more ability to go live than ever before.

Non-news
Next year in England and the Scottish Borders, in line with Ofcom's proposals, we plan to incorporate 15 minutes of current affairs within our 4 hours of regional news. A role of Features and Current Affairs Editor, reporting to the Head of News will be responsible for high quality coverage. We will not go ahead with plans for a new programme called 'Here and Now'.

Under Ofcom's proposals there would be no regulatory requirement for ITV to produce regional political programmes in England in 2009. We intend however to go ahead with our plan to make 11 political programmes in each of the eight English and Scottish Borders news regions during 2009.

In Wales Ofcom propose that ITV should be able to reduce its non-news coverage from 4 hours a week in 2008 to one and a half hours a week in 2009. In line with this proposal we will plan for a mixed schedule of high quality current affairs, dedicated political programmes and other shows celebrating life in Wales.

Timetable
We have always indicated the urgency of the need to make cost savings. It's essential for the business that we stick to the timetable we have already set out. Subject to consultation, we anticipate applications for jobs will be made in October, selection will take place in November and people should know where they stand by early December.

We will start making cost reductions around the end of the year but we will keep our existing services, under all our existing licence commitments, running until the date that Ofcom publishes its final report. We expect that to be in February. We anticipate redundancies being phased on various dates starting on 31st December 2008. Some staff whose jobs are made redundant will continue to work on the existing services for the first few weeks of 2009.

Should Ofcom amend their proposals between now and February then we would obviously make adjustments to remain within the terms of our licences. The savings need to be achieved however and so any change wouldn't reduce the scale of redundancies.

We will consult with redundant members of staff on leaving dates. Some people may want to move on immediately. Others may want to stay until the end of the current programming slate. We'll try to be reasonable and meet people's wishes but in a very challenging
commercial climate the needs of the business will be paramount and it's possible that the company will have to set some departure dates earlier or later than some individuals may wish.

Consultation
The next few weeks will be difficult for everyone. The changes are the inevitable result of major changes in the economics of broadcasting but that doesn't make things any easier. The Company will continue to communicate, consult and support staff in every way we can. I'm sure colleagues will also support each other.

Everything we're announcing today will be the subject of appropriate consultation with staff, recognised Trade Unions and Communications Groups and we will of course meet all our legal obligations.

The changes are painful but necessary and I remain confident that in 2009 we will continue to make great programmes. The majority of ING staff will be staying with ITV and we intend it to continue to be an enjoyable and professionally satisfying place to work.

I look forward to talking to colleagues over the weeks and months ahead.

Best wishes,

Michael Jermey
Director, ITV Regions