Tim Davie once walked out of a Sky News interview while he was Acting Director-General of the BBC. So his interviewer, Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman, was keen to keep the BBC Worldwide Chief Executive in his seat for the duration of a lively RTS early-evening event.

Fittingly, since Davie has said Worldwide wants to take more stakes in independent producers, it took place on the day the corporation’s commercial arm announced it had bought 35% of Lookout Point, the producer of Ripper Street and War and Peace.

But first, Newman wanted to know from Davie what the BBC thought of its coverage of the Scottish independence referendum.

“The conversation was really: did we cover this impartially and in the right way? Generally speaking, in quite a tough situation where passions were running high, I think we can be quietly proud, along with other news organisations.

“Despite the emotion, the passion and the importance of that vote, it was covered impartially and rather well, I thought.”

What were the implications for the BBC of what Gordon Brown calls Scottish “home rule”, Newman wondered?

The BBC needed to give “voice to local communities”, Davie agreed. But, Newman suggested, it surely meant that the 11% of the network TV programming budget which currently goes into programming in Scotland has “got to rise, hasn’t it?” Davie wasn’t so sure, replying: “I don’t know whether it has got to rise, we will need to think about this as we go through the Charter [review].”

BBC Worldwide last year delivered headline sales of £1.04bn, down from £1.1bn, though headline profits were up a shade (0.7%).

“Are times tough?” asked Newman.

“We’ve got very significant pressures now with Netflix, with Amazon Prime...,” he conceded. “Worldwide’s performance overall is steady... Underneath, like many businesses, we’re having to change quite rapidly to deliver those results.

“You’ve got DVD in 20% decline, but in the UK you’ve got Netflix and Amazon Prime deals that are very exciting and very interesting, so you end up netting off these things.” Davie added: “The strength of the pound was a pain in the backside last year. Underlying performance is good.

“I also closed down some parts of the business. We had units in video gaming in LA.

“I felt that if you’re not investing big in video games… don’t bother. So there’s been a focusing on my part. And although revenues are critical and important, underlying sustainable financial return and profitability is what it’s really about.”

One of Davie’s key themes was partnerships and he said there would be “increasing co-production” in Asia.

He was asked about rumours of a joint venture for BBC America.

“We are interested… In a market that’s consolidating rapidly, we are one of the only fully independent channels left. We keep getting record ratings; we can survive independently, we can prosper independently. Partners have always come to us… let’s just say, I am interested.”

Newman appreciated his candour but, despite her best efforts, he would not be drawn further. When she asked if he was talking to US cable channel AMC, he responded: “We are talking to lots of people regularly about partnership.”

“How many?”

“We are talking to people regularly,” he replied firmly.

Might the BBC’s joint venture, UKTV be sold, Newman ventured.

“We have a good partnership with Scripps. We are happy. It’s a really good business. I have no plans to sell down my stake in UKTV.”

Returning to his theme of partnerships, Davie said: “We are having partnership discussions across the world”, pointing out that “most of the programmes are co-productions. They are stitched together with different funding streams.

“Partnership is what it’s about now…by and large, it’s quite a complex issue to get funding.”

One of the examples he gave was Andrew Davies’ adaptation of War and Peace made by Lookout Point, Worldwide, the Weinstein Company and the BBC’s public-service wing. He said it was one of his favourite books, adding, “We’d better not screw up that, you can’t screw up War and Peace!”

In the run-up to Charter review next year, Newman asked whether, post the general election, the government would expect BBC Worldwide’s contribution to increase to offset a fall in the licence fee?

“I’m not going to bite on that construct. I’m not going to speculate, it has to go through the process. I am expecting growth from Worldwide – we have grown, we continue to grow… This is a billion-pound-turnover business delivering £157m in profit,” but, he added, “we have to be realistic”.

Newman tried to draw him on predictions for how much Worldwide would grow.

All he would say was that he thought the global media market’s forecast, “is for around 4%-5%… that is the benchmark for success for all of us… We need to do a bit more planning as to where growth can come from.”

From the floor, former BBC Worldwide Director Jeremy Mayhew asked: “Your predecessor was quite keen on privatisation… are you prepared to rule out that?”

“I’ve got no plans to push for any kind of privatisation of BBC Worldwide,” was Davie’s response.

The thorny issue of the licence fee was raised. Newman tried hard but he would not be drawn on detail, saying only that this was what the BBC’s Charter review process was for.

But Davie was more forthcoming about how he would get those who watch BBC shows on laptops to pay their licence fee.

“Worldwide’s performance overall is steady... Underneath, like many businesses, we’re having to change quite rapidly to deliver those results.

“The first thing is, if they are watching via tablet or other devices, we have to find a way to link,” he said. “I don’t think that jumps to subscription, it could be the scope of the licence fee – there’s a whole load of things we can do. Are we all over that issue? Yes.”

The commercial equivalent of the iPlayer, BBC Store, should be available in early 2015, said Davie. He quipped that it would look “pretty” and be “straightforward” but added: “I have to get it right. It’s often not about being the first, it’s about being the very best.

“I’m interested in international markets for that, too… I don’t know if that’s well known, by the way.”

With the proposal by Director-General Tony Hall to revolutionise in-house production, “[would] BBC Production become part of BBC Worldwide,” asked Newman.

“Not necessarily. We don’t know,” Davie replied. “There’s lots of discussion. There are numerous ways in which you can structure it. It’s really secondary.

“With regard to where, I think everyone’s moving a bit fast on this. We’ve just said we want to have a debate about where it is best to have BBC Production, and it’s just too early to say where it is going to sit structurally.”

On programming, Davie said: “The French Sewing Bee is a particular highlight this year” and that the French Bake Off was doing well, though it was more about “choux and filoux pastry as opposed to a jam sponge”.

He added that there was “pretty much nowhere I wouldn’t give it a go” to sell Bake-Off – except perhaps Japan because of its penchant for sushi over suet.

Davie said that “working in China is not easy” but confirmed that the Chinese Top Gear is currently casting for the equivalents of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.

“So, if you know a Chinese car aficionado who’s got opinions, then pass them my way.”

 

Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Worldwide, was in conversation with Cathy Newman, Channel 4 News, at The Hospital Club in central London on 23 September. The producer was Martin Stott, Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, Channel 5.

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Back to the top of the BBC for Davie?

If Tim Davie were a stick of rock, he reckoned it would say Croydon and BBC down his middle.

Not his former employer, Pepsi?

‘I feel incredibly blessed to work in an area I care about. I loved PepsiCo, it was a brilliant company, but… you can only get so excited about shifting a billion litres of sugar water.’

Talking generally about working for a creative organisation, Davie said: ‘It’s less rational in some ways and that’s what makes an organisation brilliant. If you want an easy life, you don’t manage a creative organisation.’

Asked whether John Simpson was correct to describe the BBC as ‘grotesquely managed’, Davie said: ‘Since 2009, we’ve taken down the senior management by 30%… and that’s not been easy… it’s still work in progress.’

Newman asked him if it was ‘grotesque’, to quote John Simpson, to be paid more than the Director-General?

‘My salary’s set by the Executive Committee and the Remuneration Committee. My salary passed them.’

He was asked if he is worth it.

‘That’s for others to say. It’s just quite distasteful for me to say, to make a judgement on my own performance.’

So, Newman asked him, is he so ‘addicted [to the BBC that] you’d like to be the next DG’?

‘I just like being at the BBC.’

Newman said: ‘That’s a yes, then. That is the clearest answer you’ve given all evening.’

‘That’s quite harsh,’ said Davie to laughs from the audience. ‘You know what I’m going to say to this question, they know what I’m going to say to this question. I love the job I’m doing. It’s been a blessing to run radio.

‘The acting DG job was demanding but ultimately rewarding, and this job I absolutely love. I have got quite a lot of commercial DNA in me, so I like being in this job. I’m happy.’

 

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Creatives’ contribution to exports

‘Globally, we’re strong, we’re really strong,’ said Tim Davie of UK content.

The creative industries, however, tended to be ‘less aggressive’ in exporting than those of some other countries:

‘I think we could be more forthright in terms of marketing and working on and developing IP.

‘The current export value is £15.5bn. This excludes some content. More work needs to be done on valuing creative exports.

‘The people who are making waves are the Americans. A lot of UK businesses tend to look at a point of scale for a sell-out. In the US, they tend to talk with more missionary zeal about scale and changing the world. No digital ­aggregators of scale have come from Europe, not even a transactional platform.’

In the course of the discussion from the floor, music streaming service Spotify was raised – but it was the only such platform created in Europe.

‘We have a problem here. That’s a call to arms for us,’ warned Davie.

RTS CEO Theresa Wise asked whether the BBC is keen to adapt a ‘writers-room’ model to support drama series with many more episodes than is typical at the moment.

Although the BBC does this on EastEnders, it does not have huge appeal currently, as Davie accepted: ‘You’re right. There will be more flexibility in the UK about different models.

‘Volume is an overriding concern. We’re not naturally good at it like they are in the US. It’s just different culturally.’

But he added: ‘There is an attractive siren call over there… and that call is, “Just make what’s working over the other side of the pond”.

‘What you’d end up with is a shadow of what they make over the other side of the pond. We want to become more fantastic at what we do. We need stories that can travel the globe.’