Reference no: EM132889099

TVN Case Study by Name of Author: Mangham, I Name of Publisher: Harper & Row

TVN is an independent television company holding the franchise for broadcasting to a large section of the population in the north of England. It was awarded its franchise after the previous holders had been deemed by the Independent Broadcasting Authority not to have supplied an adequate service. In particular the previous franchise holder - Instant Appeal Entertainment Corporation - had failed to provide the required number of programmes with local interest and had, with the exception of the period immediately prior to the award of the franchise, resolutely filled the screens at both local and national level with chat shows and entertainment spectaculars. Under the terms of the franchise TVN were mandated to rectify these failings; they were required to create programmes of local interest and supply to the network a balanced diet for viewers. Their franchise comes up for renewal in five years' time.

The senior management group - with whom we shall be particularly concerned in this case study consists of a number of people from the old franchise holder, Instant Appeal, and a number brought in from other companies (including one from the BBC). The new managing director, Neville Cottingham, a thrusting executive in his mid thirties, has no experience in television, having been recruited by the chairman of TVN to 'give the company some commercial flair'. The chairman also has little experience in television. Cottingham has brought with him as confidant and industrial relations director one of his colleagues, Tom Beverley, from his days at Snowdon Manufacturing. They have been in position for a couple of years, the previous managing director having left to rejoin Instant Appeal in its film division. The sales director, Tom Skidby, in his late fifties, man and boy with Instant Appeal, was one of the original bidders for the franchise and is on the board of TVN, as is Eric Walkington, a man of similar age, again an original signatory for the franchise and currently finance director. Walkington is also an Instant Appeal man, as is the director of programmes, Tony Dancer, who was acting managing director for a period immediately prior to the advent of Neville Cottingham. Dancer is a tall, spare individual with over 20 years' experience as a maker of distinctive television films and a considerable reputation as a scheduler and commissioner of productions. He too has a seat on the board and, as director of programmes, a considerable number of links both formal and informal with the watchdog of the industry - the Independent Broadcasting Authority.

The Problem

The Basic Situation

TVN under its previous management which, of course, included Dancer, had a reputation for producing international packages - blockbusting megastar programmes full of glitter and show business bazzaz, costing scores of thousands of pounds and selling around the world. Its turnover, although large by industry standards, was but a small part of the business of Instant Appeal and its profits, which were proportionately large, accrued to the parent company. Little of it was returned to TVN in the form of investment, but, on the other hand, little was demanded of TVN in terms of cost control or efficient management. The new company stands alone and both the chairman and Neville Cottingham are deter- mined to render it efficient and effective. To them this means controlling costs and ensuring that TVN enjoys a 'good reputation' with its audiences, with its advertisers, with its employees, with the City and not least with the IBA. This year it is on line to make substantial profits, partly as a result of Dancer's shrewd selection of programmes (which brings in the advertising) and partly as a result of the efforts of the chairman and the managing director to control costs. The industry as a whole, and particularly the independent sector of it, has a reputation for high spending. Since the government takes a slice of the profits by way of levy, many employees have come to regard money spent on programmes (and upon their own contributions to them) as in some sense not real - money which otherwise would go to the Exchequer. TVN's association with Instant Appeal- the glamorous world of show business - has reinforced this tendency to treat funds with relatively little concern. Throughout TVN, at all levels, the culture of Instant Appeal still prevails. This is particularly true of the Programme Department (controlled by Tony Dancer) which spends millions of pounds annually. Productions regularly run over budget - sometimes by as much as 200 or 300% - and there is a suspicion that very little control is exercised over any programme maker by Dancer or any of his staff, although the overall budget is more often met than not. The culture of the department is such that any attempt at control would be labelled 'interference with creative freedom' and much resented. Dancer himself epitomizes this approach and resolutely refuses to discuss the affairs of what he takes to be his area of responsibility with Cottingham or with anyone else. He bases his refusal on the nature of his appointment (ratified by the IBA and requiring the incumbent of such a position to be a suitable person and not subject to direction by others) and upon the fact that Neville Cottingham, having little experience of television, is not in a position to say what should or should not be done.

Cottingham regards the cavalier approach to expenditure as little short of 'immoral'. In areas that he can control - largely those of direct operations such as engineering or publicity - he has succeeded in reducing costs and in streamlining the operations of the company. Together with his industrial relations director, Tom Beverley, he has confronted the unions over the question of manning and special payments and, after a strike which closed the studios for some weeks (and caused considerable annoyance to the programme makers), he succeeded in imposing some industrial relations discipline on the floor. He has also instituted regular communication meetings with staff at all levels and is, with the notable exceptions of the unions and the programme makers, regarded as 'good news' by a considerable number of those employed at TVN. It is, however, clear to many that his dictat does not extend to the programme department. It is equally clear that he and Dancer are personally antagonistic.

QUESTION

1) State briefly what the problem is by identifying the key symptoms what you can see, e.g. an open conflict, a breakdown in communication, a client complaint, etc.

2) USE THE CONCEPT OF structure frame and power & political frame to explain what is going on, and identify what are plausible root causes generating the problem