Tim Hincks

Alex Mahon on how Channel 4 has risen to the challenge at the RTS Digital Convention 2020

They say that times of crisis often bring out the best in people and organisations. For an example of this, look no further than how Channel 4 has adapted to postponed productions and an alarming fall in advertising over the past six months.

“In a crisis, when you have to change really fast, Channel 4 is actually amazing,” the broadcaster’s CEO, Alex Mahon, told Tim Hincks, co-CEO of Expectation, at the RTS’s Digital Convention.

Alex Mahon: How indies saved Channel 4 during lockdown

Speaking at the RTS Digital Convention 2020, Mahon recalled that in the spring when Britain was hit by the first wave of coronavirus: “Indies came to the rescue of Channel 4 and said ‘We’ll be flexible, we’ll work out how to produce in lockdown.’  

“They said, ‘We have to delay this programme or we can’t make it or we’ve found a cunning way to make this programme.’”  

She added: “Indies did incredible things and produced things cheaply.”  

In conversation with Alex Mahon | RTS Digital Convention 2020

Watch Alex Mahon, CEO of Channel 4, in conversation with Tim Hincks, co-CEO of Expectation as part of the RTS Digital Convention 2020, sponsored by YouTube.

Alex and Tim discuss Covid strategies, editorial direction and production budgets, the rate of change at Channel 4, Ofcom’s PSB review and much more.

The session is part of a number of online events from leading industry figures for RTS Digital Convention 2020, sponsored by YouTube.

Content wins in battle of sale versus scale

From left: Mike Darcey, Kate Bulkley, Matthew Garrahan, Mathew Horsman and Tim Hincks (Credit: RTS/Paul Hampartsoumian)
The genesis of the event, “Sale or scale”, lay in 21st Century Fox boss James Murdoch’s comments at last year’s RTS Cambridge Convention on the benefits of size: “Scale buys confidence to invest strategically and take risks, and supports the development of new technologies and innovation.”
 

London Conference Session Two: Quest for the global grail

'Go Global or Go Home' at the RTS London Conference 2016 (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

Global hits, unscripted as well as scripted, are what a lot of people in television dream of. Platform proliferation ought to mean that there are more hits than ever before but, as the panellists in this session – “Go global or go home” – know to their cost, hits remain as elusive as unity in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party. 

Three of the four panellists have deep, hands-on experience of selling drama – Tim Davie, CEO, BBC Worldwide and Director, Global; Michael Edelstein, President, NBCUniversal International Studios; and Jane Millichip, Managing Director, Sky Vision. 

Is American ownership of UK producers good for British television?

David Abraham and Nick Southgate (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

There is little agreement about whether increasing US ownership of Britain’s independent sector threatens or sustains home-grown production and the UK’s unique creative culture.

A feisty session at the Convention, “Working for the yankee dollar? Consolidation and creativity”, offered conflicting views, not only on foreign ownership but also on the surprise review into the terms of trade announced by minister John Whittingdale the day before.

RTS Cambridge Convention 2015 programme announced

The preliminary programme for this year's RTS Cambridge Convention has been announced. 

The convention, held on a biennial basis, brings together leading figures from the television and its related industry.

This year's event looks forward to television in 2020, focusing on the challenge for content, creativity and business models.

The programme features sessions covering foreign ownership of UK production, the rise of the smart phone in television viewing, and the influence of talent in programme-making.