RTS Annual Report 2014

ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY

ANNUAL REPORT 2014 AGM 19 May 2015, 6:00pm at the RTS, 3 Dorset Rise, London EC4Y 8EN

ROYAL TELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

CONTENTS Foreword by RTS Chair and CEO Board of Trustees report to members I Achievements and performance – National events – Centres events II Governance and finance 1 Structure, governance and management 2 Objectives and activities 3 Financial review 4 Plans for future periods 5 Administrative details Independent auditors’ report Financial statements Notes to the financial statements Notice of AGM 2015 Agenda for AGM 2015 Form of Proxy Minutes of AGM 2014 Picture credits Who’s who at the RTS

3 4 4 4 30 40 40 41 41 42 42 44 45 48 55 56 57 58 61 62

PATRONS PRINCIPAL PATRONS BBC BSkyB Channel 4 Television ITV INTERNATIONAL PATRONS Discovery Corporate Services Ltd Liberty Global NBCUniversal International The Walt Disney Company Turner Broadcasting System Inc Viacom International Media Networks YouTube

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MAJOR PATRONS Accenture Channel 5 Deloitte Enders Analysis EY FremantleMedia Fujitsu IBM IMG Studios ITN KPMG McKinsey and Co S4C STV Group UKTV Virgin Media YouView

RTS PATRONS Autocue Digital Television Group ITV Anglia ITV Granada ITV London ITV Meridian ITV Tyne Tees ITV Wales ITV West ITV Yorkshire Lumina Search PricewaterhouseCoopers Quantel Raidió Teilifís Éireann UTV Television Vinten Broadcast

FOREWORD

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his was a pivotal year for the Society, with many excellent events across the nations and regions, a substantial increase in membership, the launch of our new bursaries scheme and much of the groundwork done for a step change in our digital presence. The RTS has continued to implement its strategic plan, announced in 2013, to do more for young people, expand its membership and build up its digital resources.

A wonderful example of the RTS at its best was the RTS London Conference, Power, Politics and the Media, staged in the immediate run-up to the Scottish referendum. It was sponsored by STV and chaired by the company’s CEO, Rob Woodward.

Our national and local events, awards and educational activities are only made possible thanks to the unstinting voluntary work and contributions of our Members and Patrons. Our Patrons’ generous financial support is also matched by the many ways in which they share their expertise and facilities to enhance the Society’s programme of events. We were delighted to welcome eight new Patrons in the course of 2014.

A recurrent theme in our discussions with Patrons – and the subject of a crucial session at the RTS London Conference – is that the television sector is suffering a substantial skills shortage in technology, engineering and software development.

At the beginning of the year, the RTS launched its undergraduate bursaries scheme, and in the autumn we were able to announce the first 20 students to

receive these bursaries. The students have all started undergraduate courses in practical media or broadcast journalism that have been accredited by Creative Skillset. They are a talented group, several of whom have had to overcome very difficult home circumstances and other challenges in order to study.

We therefore intend to extend the bursaries in 2015 and will be working with our Patrons to identify those courses most relevant to addressing television’s critical skills gap. These will be Technology Bursaries aimed at engineering and computer-science undergraduates from less affluent households.

We hope that this initiative will raise awareness among both students and faculty members about technology careers in our industries.

Good progress has been made towards achieving another strategic goal – of attracting and retaining a membership of more than 5,000 by 2017. The increase in the number of RTS Full Members from 1,970 to 2,740 in the course of 2014 has been a gratifying barometer of the Society’s relevance and the perceived value of membership.

The Hospital Club affiliate access is a fantastic benefit that effectively gives the Society a central-London clubhouse aimed at the entire creative community.

We are looking at the provision of similar benefits outside London to increase membership in the nations and regions.

We have refreshed the RTS’s logo and branding and introduced a membership welcome pack, and have redesigned and revitalised Television magazine.

While we have made significant, vis-

ible improvements to our website, particularly in the amount of original content being created, a great deal of effort has also been going on under the bonnet. The Society is creating a much more engaging and robust online platform to showcase its activities to the public and to provide enhanced services to Members and Patrons. This is still a work in progress, but we hope to have something much more vibrant and userfriendly launched by mid-2015.

Partnerships and collaboration are also important for the way we work. In May we held our inaugural Joint Public Lecture with the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). Dr Mike Lynch gave an excellent speech about how technology is impacting on all parts of society and what this means for education and doing business in the UK. The collaboration with the IET is part of the Society’s drive to re-embrace some of our engineering and technology roots.

Other partners this year have included Creative Skillset, Broadcast magazine, IBC, The Hospital Club, Sky and the BBC. It is partnerships such as these that enable the RTS to punch above its weight, and more collaborations are in the pipeline for 2015.

It has been an action-packed year. We hope that our Members and stakeholders have enjoyed their involvement with a vibrant, expanding Society, and that it has had a positive and lasting influence on all those who have come into contact with the RTS. John Hardie, Chair of the Board of Trustees, and Theresa Wise, Chief Executive

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RTS BOARD OF TRUSTEES REPORT

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Achievements and Performance

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he Board of Trustees (who are also the directors of the Royal Television Society for the purposes of company law) presents its report and consolidated accounts for the year ended 31 December 2014.

The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the Memorandum and Articles of Association and the Statement of Recommended Practice – Accounting and Reporting by Charities (March 2005).

The Trustees’ Report highlights the ways in which the Society’s activities have provided real benefit to the public at large. During 2014, the RTS maintained its unique and influential role in furthering public understanding of the transformative changes affecting British television through its publications, website and the wide range of affordable and accessible public events it has staged.

In 2012, the Board of Trustees adopted a five-year strategic plan for growth. The details of its implementation are itemised on the following pages.

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ITV Commissioning Editor Katy Thorogood interviewed Andrew Mackenzie, Chief Creative Officer of Twofour at the RTS Student Programme Masterclasses

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1 EDUCATION AND YOUTH Television faces a growing skills crisis, yet securing employment in the industry is harder than ever. In addition, there is still a lack of social mobility in the television industries. Starting out is still easier from a more affluent family with social connections in the sector.

THOSE WHO SUCCEED WILL BE THOSE [WITH] BRANDS THAT CAN STAND OUT IN A WORLD OF MORE AND MORE CHOICE

RTS MEMBERSHIP Getting Inside the Media The inaugural “Getting inside the media” one-day event in late November represented an important step forward for the Society and a significant contribution to addressing the television industry’s skills gap.

Held at the BFI Southbank in London, it brought those who teach and run media courses in the UK face to face with the television professionals who recruit young workers. A total of 124 people attended.

The aim was to give media academics a clearer appreciation of the variety of roles that the industry offers and of the skills that their students need to work in such a fast-changing sector.

This, in turn, should feed through into better employment prospects for graduates wanting to get into television.

Four sessions covered a wide range of genres and production environments. ◗ The first session, chaired by Lorraine Heggessey, showcased The One Show; three team members – Researcher Emilios Shavila, Executive Editor Sandy Smith and Production Executive Nick Todd – described the programme’s editorial and production processes. ◗ Session 2, “Drama productions with Red Production Company”, was chaired by Carolyn

4,000 RTS Full Members RTS Student Members 3,000

320 2,740

Number of members

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RTS Undergraduate Bursaries This is the context in which the Society launched its £60,000 Undergraduate Bursaries scheme at the beginning of the year.

Twenty bursaries of £3,000 were offered to full-time “Home” undergraduate students starting eligible courses in autumn 2014, who had a household income of no more than £25,000, and who had not previously been on a higher education course. Special consideration was made for those with challenges in their family backgrounds or in other areas. The RTS received 195 applications by the closing date of 31 May. The bursaries are for studying television production and related digital media at 12 Creative Skillset-accredited British universities. Each bursary offers three payments of £1,000 cash per student, paid in February of each of the three academic years. Recipients also get free RTS membership (which includes affiliate access to The Hospital Club in London) while studying and one year’s free membership of the RTS after graduation.

Reynolds. Producer Emily Feller and Line Producer Alison Loose talked the audience through the various stages of drama production, from script editing to location work, the skills required and the entry-level opportunities – which have grown significantly, thanks to a drama boom. ◗ The third session, “Anatomy of an indie and a look at the regions with True North”, was chaired

by Barbara Govan. True North’s Creative Director, Andrew Sheldon, and Head of Production Carol McKenzie covered a huge amount of ground in their contributions.

McKenzie said the company received up to 60 CVs a week. Once freelancers or interns are in the office, she looks for people who show curiosity and are not phobic about phones.

“The technology changes all the time… but what sits beneath it all the time is storytelling,” suggested Sheldon. “What you’ve got to be careful of on university courses is that you don’t reach for the technology because, in a way, the technology is quite transient… Storytelling doesn’t change. It’s much harder to teach how to construct a story.” ◗ Sky News journalists Neil Dunwoodie and Martin Stanford made the final presentations.

Dunwoodie said self-shooting and editing are increasingly important elements in a reporter’s skill set. He oversees Sky News’s three-week

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1,970 90 1,430

100 1,510

1,000

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1 Jennifer Saunders, actor: host of RTS Craft & Design Awards

5 Mark Gatiss, actor and scriptwriter: RTS earlyevening event speaker

9 Janice Hadlow OBE: Lifetime Achievement, RTS Programme Awards

13 Clive Curtis, stuntman, Lifetime Achievement, RTS Craft & Design Awards

2 Dr Michael Lynch OBE, Invoke Capital: RTS joint event speaker

6 Sue Vertue, Hartswood Films: RTS early-evening event speaker

10 Rob Woodward, CEO, STV: Chair of RTS London Conference

14 Sian Williams, journalist: host of RTS Television Journalism Awards

3 Claire Enders, Enders Analysis: RTS APPG event speaker

7 Ben Stephenson, BBC: RTS early-evening event speaker

11 Denise Large, IMG Productions: RTS Craft & Design Awards winner

15 Stephen Fry, writer and actor: RTS Programme Awards winner

4 Paul Blake, Maroon Productions: RTS joint event speaker

8 Carol McKenzie, True North: Getting Inside the Media speaker

12 Matt Bennett, executive producer: RTS Futures event chair

16 Alison Loose, Red Production Company: Getting Inside the Media speaker

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work placement scheme, which takes around 60 people a year: “We tend to get people to work in a production role, so we’re looking for massive enthusiasm and a lot of work experience in a journalistic environment.”

Masterclasses The Society organised two masterclass days aimed at students and young people considering a career in television (see section 5 on page 12 for more details).

RTS careers advice While the Society has no formal careers service, practical advice to television hopefuls lies at the heart of many of its activities.

This is particularly true of RTS Futures events and the “Breaking into broadcasting” careers advice days organised by the North West, Southern and Wales centres in association with local colleges.

Training partnerships In other training initiatives, the Society supported six Sky Academy TV Scholarships in partnership with the National Film and Television School and the Irish Institute of Design and Technology. Each of the NFTS scholars was given networking opportunities through a year’s free membership of the RTS and The Hospital Club, plus invitations to industry events.

RTS WEBSITE 200k

150k Number of unique visitors

PUTTING STUFF ONLINE IS THE WAY TALENT COMES THROUGH NOW

125,610

100k

50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

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2 MEMBERSHIP The number of RTS Full Members rose to 2,740 (from 1,970 at the end of 2013). Student Members rose from 245 to 322. Membership benefits were largely unchanged from 2013. RTS Full Members are entitled to: ◗ Apply for free affiliate membership of the central London private members’ club and creative arts venue The Hospital Club. Members can entertain guests for dinner, lunch and drinks, subject to certain limits; ◗ A 25% discount on new subscriptions to Broadcast magazine; ◗ Free entry to RTS early-evening events and RTS Futures events and to discounted tickets to centres’ awards ceremonies; ◗ Discounted AA membership for roadside assistance as part of the RTS AA Affinity Scheme; ◗ Television magazine.

These benefits contribute to a compelling membership proposition, which the Society will endeavour to improve in the future in order to expand the RTS’s size and influence. The Society scrapped its Gift Aid scheme in 2013 so that it could offer benefits to members.

3 DIGITAL DEVELOPMENTS A greatly enhanced online presence is a crucial part of the RTS’s strategic plan. While significant, visible improvements were made to the existing website in 2014, much of the year’s activity was directed at planning a replacement online platform that will be much more robust and user-

186,680

71,8100

The RTS also worked in partnership with the BBC Academy to offer an industry shadowing opportunity for freelancers. The initiative, which offered a paid, two-week job-shadowing programme for 30 freelancers, also received funding from Creative Skillset.

friendly. We expect to unveil the first stage by mid-2015.

The Society appointed its first digital editor in April and created two intern positions in June.

This allowed us to greatly expand the amount of original, web-only content on the site – particularly video– and to improve the appearance of online reports of national RTS events.

An online payments system and event-booking facility was implemented in October .

Please see section 13 on page 26 for more detail about RTS website content and traffic.

Top: RTS Undergraduate Bursary recipients. Right: Shine CEO Alex Mahon interviewed JBÂ Perrette, President of Discovery Networks International at the RTS London Conference. Inset: Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch (left) and BBC DirectorGeneral Tony Hall

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4 RTS LONDON CONFERENCE The RTS biennial London Conference, “Power, Politics and the Media”, on 9 September, really caught the moment: public debate over Scotland’s independence referendum had reached fever pitch and the wave of deal-making that is reshaping British television was making news headlines.

The Advisory Committee was chaired by STV Chief Executive Rob Woodward. The RTS is extremely grateful to the conference’s principal sponsor, STV. It is only with the generous support of all its Patrons that the Society is able to stage the range and calibre of the events that it does.

More than 350 people attended over the course of the day, including 29 “Next Generation Leaders” (compared with a total of 220 at 2012’s RTS Digital World Conference).

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International Keynote: Chase Carey – 21st Century man This was a rare chance to hear directly from one of the most powerful men in world media, Chase Carey, President and Chief Operating Officer of 21st Century Fox. He told his interviewer, RTS President Sir Peter Bazalgette, that in a fast-consolidating media landscape, where the traditional entertainment giants are challenged by the likes of Netflix and Amazon, premium content is more valuable than ever.

“Those who will succeed are those that have unique content and brands that can stand out in a world of more and more choice,” said Carey.

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The future you don’t want to face The session posed three questions: Is television losing power? Are television channels becoming obsolete? Who are the financial winners and losers?

Answers were provided by Matt Brittin, Google’s chief of Northern and Central Europe; Facebook Head of International Media Karla Geci; and Kevin Sutcliffe, Head of News Programming in Europe for Vice News.

“In the long run, I’m optimistic,” said Brittin.

“In the short and medium term, you won’t make the same amount of money as you do on ITV with The X Factor, but the sums are getting bigger.”

In the meantime, he advised: “Get out there and experiment. Don’t sit back and let other people learn how to make it work.”

Perhaps the most memorable strategy was suggested in a video contribution by Sam Barcroft, CEO of online news channel Barcroft TV. He said: “If I was in charge of one of the bigger broadcasters, I’d cut the costs in half and be more experimental… Some of these organisations are full of people getting paid very well to not do a great deal.”

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RTS London Conference keynote speakers: Chase Carey, President and Chief Operating Officer of 21st Century, and (right) Secretary of State the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP

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Tomorrow the world Chair Kirsty Wark interrogated three key dealmakers at the heart of the fast-­ changing and consolidating British TV market: Lorraine Heggessey; Kevin Lygo, Managing Director, ITV Studios; and Alex Mahon, CEO, Shine Group.

Mahon was speaking publicly for the first time about the merger of Shine and Endemol. Heggessey had, until recently, been overseeing the merger of Boom and Twofour, while Lygo had been busy reversing the US takeover trend by consolidating ITV’s position as the largest producer of non-scripted programming in the US. Mahon said that TV production UK-style had become a low-margin business. Net profit margins had fallen over five years from 13% to 5.3%, excluding revenue from foreign sales. Indies, she added, had “less money to make the same show, while audience expectation… is going up. We have higher and higher quality, lower and lower prices.”

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Kingdom not united With Scotland’s independence referendum due nine days after the conference, this session looked at how social media and digital engagement loom much larger in the toolbox of political campaigning. It also asked whether lessons learnt in Scotland might change the way the 2015 general election played out and how parties promoted their cases.

The panellists were: Ross Colquhoun, Director of the National Collective; John Curtice, Professor of Politics at the University of Strathclyde; and Gregor Poynton, Associate Director (International) Digital at Portland Communications.

“People are always looking for the silver bullet or the one tweet that wins the election,” said Poynton. “The truth is, it’s never that. It’s a collection of lots of little things that build up to a larger thing. In politics, the digital treatment is message, money and mobilisation.”

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Have I got news for you? Opening this session, Stewart Purvis CBE, Professor of Television Journalism at City University, identified two big threats to TV news: declining audiences, particularly among the under-35s, and the pressure to provide more news for less money.

However, the leaders of the three main TV news providers – ITN Chief Executive John Hardie, Head of Sky News John Ryley and Fran Unsworth, BBC Deputy Director of News and Current Affairs – were all bullish about their future.

They also professed not to be worried about the impact of new players in the market, such as Vice News, a channel aimed at the “connected generation”.

“I welcome Vice’s entry into the journalism market,” said Ryley. “It is going to be a tough competitor and I think that it will sharpen our game. I like change and I like a bit of disruption.”

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Give me Liberty Kirsty Wark quizzed Jim Ryan, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Liberty Global, on the group’s UK plans following its purchase of Virgin Media, 50% of All3Media and 6.4% of ITV. “Virgin Media was a fantastic acquisition for us,” said Ryan. “In our business, we are talking about scale – absolutely key for cable.” Content, by comparison, had its place, but was secondary: “We have always seen content as [an] ancillary investment.”

But he went on to justify Liberty’s investments in content producers as “long-term investments.

Increasingly, good-quality producers are hard to come by – having a long-term position in production is absolutely spot on.”

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Whose IP is it anyway? With a commissioner, a producer, a writer and an agent all fighting their own corners, there was never likely to be consensus about the answer. Holding the ring was Alex Graham, Director of Big Eck Consulting.

Doing battle for their slice of the pie were: Channel 4 Director of Commercial Affairs Martin Baker; Bryan Elsley, writer of Skins and Dates; agent Michael Foster; and Liz Warner, Chief Executive of Betty.

Should writers, directors and on-screen talent not all get a slice of the pie as well? asked Graham.

“It’s not that they shouldn’t, it’s a question of how big this pie is,” said Warner. “People are deluded about how big the slice of the cake is to share around.

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The future of the BBC Broadcaster and media consultant Steve Hewlett grilled the BBC’s Director of Strategy and Digital, James Purnell, about how he would be making

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the case for the corporation in the build up to Charter renewal.

Purnell resisted being pinned down on the BBC’s approach to alternative or additional funding sources to the licence fee, or to making iPlayer access conditional on possessing a licence.

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Keynote: JB Perrette – The voyage of Discovery President of Discovery Networks International JB Perrette explained the thinking behind Discovery’s investment in sports networks and UK indie producers to Shine CEO Alex Mahon.

Although Discovery had become the world’s biggest pay-TV operator on the back of popular documentaries and factual entertainment formats, Perrette admitted: “We might need to diversify into different types of content.”

He said: “Every market is different. What might work in the UK might be a little bit different to what works in Germany.” Local networks needed to tailor their output “to the audience needs of that culture”. But the group would continue to seek global, multi-platform rights to all its content.

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Keynote: Secretary of State In his first major appearance as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP outlined the Coalition Government’s plans for the television industry.

He also outlined to Conference Chair Rob Woodward the many issues, such as retransmission fees and decriminalisation of the licence fee, where he believed that existing regulation needed review. But very few of these reviews would result in decisions before the 2015 general election.

Javid offered little comfort to a cash-strapped BBC: “The size of the BBC and the number of areas it is involved in suggest there are more areas where savings can be made.”

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Enabling the next generation In the final session, BSkyB CEO Jeremy Darroch and BBC Director-General Tony Hall found a surprising amount of common ground in how television companies should expand their recruitment pool.

“I’m very keen to open up the BBC to wherever the talent might be,” said Hall. “It’s up to us to stand up for equality of opportunity.”

Darroch said: “This is right at the top of my personal agenda and it has to be led from the top because, unless it is, it’s never going to course through the business.”

Hall has backed apprenticeships as one means of widening the recruitment net: “Apprenticeships matter because it’s paid employment, it’s paid skills, it’s finding people from all sorts of backgrounds to come and work at our organisation.”

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5 RTS MASTERCLASSES Two very successful RTS Masterclass days were organised: one, in October, devoted to programme genres; and the other, in November, to craft skills. Both were held at the BFI Southbank in London. In previous years, the Masterclasses had been held on the same day as the Student Awards but holding them separately allowed more time to be devoted to the topics.

RTS Student Programme Masterclasses A total of 138 (of the 233 who booked) attended the three sessions, which were devoted to comedy, factual programming and drama. ◗ In the Comedy Masterclass, Saurabh Kakkar, Head of Comedy Development at Big Talk Productions, was interviewed by Pat Younge, Director of WeCreate Associates. Kakkar’s formula for breaking into TV comedy emphasised self-help and self-producing some material.

Although inundated with scripts from agents and wannabes, he advised all who aspire to make successful TV comedy to send him a link

WHAT YOU’VE GOT TO BE CAREFUL OF ON UNIVERSITY COURSES IS THAT… TECHNOLOGY IS QUITE TRANSIENT… IT’S MUCH HARDER TO TEACH HOW TO CONSTRUCT A STORY to a video clip: “Putting stuff online is the way talent comes through now… the idea of sending it on paper is quite outdated.” ◗ For the Factual Masterclass, Andrew Mackenzie, Chief Creative Officer of Twofour, was interviewed

by Katy Thorogood, Commissioning Editor, Factual, at ITV. Mackenzie said that Twofour – the company behind Educating Essex – did not “spend too much time and money [developing ideas] that we know aren’t going to land on fertile ground”.

In TV, he said, “most of the ideas for shows start with conversations with commissioning editors”. ◗ The final session saw screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes interviewed by Executive Producer Ruth Pitt. “The most important thing we do is write suspense,” said Hughes. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a romantic comedy or a thriller… the audience must care what happens next.”

RTS Craft Skills Masterclasses This masterclass day was sold out well in advance, with an audience of 302 for the three sessions on sound, editing and camera.

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1 Peter Taylor OBE, BBC: RTS Television Journalism Awards winner

5 Deborah Turness: Judges’ Award winner, RTS Television Journalism Awards

9 Lord Grade: RTS All Party Parliamentary Group event speaker

13 Cathy Newman, Channel 4 News: chair of RTS early-evening event

2 Lis Howell, City University: RTS All Party Parliamentary Group event speaker

6 Saurabh Kakkar, Big Talk: RTS Programme Masterclass speaker

10 Lorraine Heggessey: RTS London Conference session chair

14 Pat Younge, WeCreate Associates: RTS Masterclass session chair

3 Joel Dommet, comedian: host of the RTS Student Television Awards

7 Carolyn Reynolds, producer: Getting Inside the Media session chair

11 Mark Daly, BBC: RTS Television Journalism Awards winner

15 Emily Feller, Red Production Company: Getting Inside the Media speaker

4 Tim Davie, CEO, BBC Worldwide: RTS earlyevening event speaker

8 Bobby Moss, BT Group: RTS Young Technologist of the Year

12 Fran Unsworth, BBC, RTS London Conference speaker

16 Trevor Phillips, former Chair of EHRC: RTS joint event speaker

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◗ To be an accomplished TV sound engineer, the fundamental skill is to distinguish between “wanted sound and unwanted sound”, whether it’s on set, in the studio or at a football stadium. So said Sound Recordist Simon Clark and Sound Supervisor Robert Edwards in the first masterclass.

Clark explained: “When students ask me what skills are required for my job, I always say it is not very technical, but you do need to get on with people. You must not be annoying when you’re the person trying to stop filming because you can hear an aeroplane that nobody else can.”

Session chair Graham insisted that the sound quality on a TV drama should be so good that viewers are not conscious of it. ◗ In the second masterclass, editors Joanna Crickmay and Andrew McClelland shared their approaches to creating coherent programmes out of fragments.

Documentary specialist Crickmay said the key was storytelling. “I get the rushes and try and tell a story with them… When I turn up on day one, mostly I don’t know… what the story is.” ◗ The speakers at the Camera Masterclass were Kristin Hadland, self-shooting Series Producer and Director of Photography Sue Gibson.

Gibson said that, on a regular shoot, she likes to have “two cameras available at all times…

Because schedules are getting shorter and shorter, I tend to work with a camera operator who can also do Steadycam, so we can have both all of the time.”

Hadland got her first taste of self-shooting on the BBC One daytime series Helicopter Heroes. It was a steep learning curve: “You just had to get on with it, you couldn’t stop. You couldn’t say to a medic, could you just administer that life-­ saving thing again.”

6 RTS FUTURES This was a very successful year for the RTS’s strand of events that seeks to engage a younger audience in the Society’s educational activities.

RTS Futures membership is free, and has grown to 3,630 from (3,150 in 2013); tickets to events are an affordable £10 to registered RTS Futures members. Nine events were held (compared with eight in 2013).

Battle of the broadcasters The first event of the year was a quiz for seven teams from different broadcasters, each composed jointly of executives and RTS Futures members. The UKTV team proved to be the most knowledgeable about TV trivia (narrowly beating the BBC). The prize for the RTS Futures members on the team was a coffee date with then-BBC Three Controller Zai Bennett. The evening, at ITV Studios, was hosted by stand-up comic Rob Beckett.

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RTS Futures events: ‘Sun, sex and suspicious formats’ workshop and (inset) ‘Making it in TV design’ speaker Ruth Brooks, Creative Skillset

Sun, sex and suspicious formats Nine teams of RTS Futures members, assisted by development executives from broadcasters and production companies, devised their own potential BBC Three formats during the evening.

Although dating formats dominated, the winning idea, Mind the Gap, involved keeping three contestants in ultra-close proximity for a week while they competed for a trip of a lifetime in their gap year between school and university. It was created by a team mentored by RDF’s Neale Simpson.

Other teams were led by development executives from the BBC, Electric Ray, Keo Films, Lime Pictures, Princess Productions, Shiver, Thames and Shine.

RTS Futures members also heard presentations from RDF Television Co-Head of Factual Development Jack Bootle and BBC Academy Creative Coach Linda Green.

Making it in TV design This event, in April, looked at what new entrants needed to do to fill the vacancies in TV’s design disciplines. The good

news, said Ruth Brooks from training body Creative Skillset, was that “there are not enough people feeding the industry at the minute – there’s huge demand”.

She was joined on the panel by Millennium FX Director Neill Gorton, a prosthetics and special effects designer; Sarah-Jane Prentice, Production Designer on the BBC One drama Call the Midwife; Sara Putt, MD of talent agency Sara Putt Associates; experienced hair and make-up designer Catherine Scoble; and costume trainee Jo Stobbs.

The event was chaired by Alice Skidmore, who ran the BBC’s Design Trainee Scheme for five years.

ATTENDANCE AT NATIONAL RTS EVENTS RTS conferences, early-evening, APPG, etc events

RTS Futures events

RTS awards ceremonies

Masterclasses & education events

2,500

RTS Futures summer party The party was organised in association with Broadcast on the evening of the magazine’s Diversify event, at Paramount on the 31st floor of London’s Centre Point. It was generously sponsored by FremantleMedia UK, Shed Media and Zodiak Media Group.

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Speed date the entertainment gurus In this popular format pioneered by RTS Futures, young TV hopefuls sold themselves and their ideas over a series of three-minute dates to some of the country’s leading entertainment executives.

At the same time, the gurus offered top tips on how to generate, develop and pitch ideas.

The impressive roster of gurus comprised: Thames Executive Producer Mel Balac; Channel 4 Entertainment Commissioning Editor Tom Beck; Series Producer Ed Booth; Executive Producer Fi Cotter Craig; Wall To Wall Entertainment Development Head Poppy Delbridge; Yalli Productions Managing Director Robert Gray; London Live Commissioning Executive Derren Lawford; BBC Controller of Entertainment Commissioning Mark Linsey; Predictable Media Founder Sebastian Scott; RDF Head of Entertainment Peter Usher; and ITV Entertainment Commissioning Editor Asif Zubairy.

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I made it in… drama Three drama professionals shared their experiences of following far-from-­ conventional paths into the genre, yet still being able to establish successful creative careers.

Writer Chris Lunt’s breakthrough was Prey, which was made for ITV by Red Production Company. He emphasised that aspiring writers need to write, and keep on writing – and find an agent.

Drama Republic Managing Director Roanna Benn encouraged drama hopefuls to consider

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RTS Futures event: ‘Speed date the factual entertainment gurus’ and (inset) RTS Student Programme Masterclasses speaker Gwyneth Hughes script editing: “If you do it well, you’ll be [quickly] asked to produce. If you’re a good producer, you’ll be asked to be an exec because, believe it or not, there just aren’t enough good ones.”

Director Colm McCarthy, whose credits include Peaky Blinders and Sherlock, said: “You have to go and just direct stuff. Now, that’s easier than it’s ever been before, but it’s also more competitive because it’s easier for everyone else, too.”

The packed event in late September was chaired by Guardian TV critic Julia Raeside.

Shooting stars – a beginners’ guide to self-shooting Self-shooting is rapidly becoming a key part of the job description for researchers and assistant producers working in television’s factual arena.

But training is thin on the ground.

So, at this sold-out event in early October, a panel of self-shooters, chaired by Executive Producer Matt Bennett, offered advice, while training in basic camera skills was provided by Pro Motion Hire.

The panellists were: Assistant Producer Amy Harrison; Senior Researcher Lewis Hatfull and Producer/Director Dave Minchin.

Hatfull, who has worked on Channel 4’s First Dates, said that, in his genre of factual entertainment, “the days are gone when you can be a director but not shoot – there’s no money for that”.

Minchin said that, “Aside from the technical bits, the most important thing is being good with people – and that’s with people from all walks of life, not just your colleagues… [but also] the unruly kids in the background trying to ruin your shot.”

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How to survive as a freelancer Later the same month, an expert group of talent managers and production staff offered advice to prospective TV freelancers on networking, writing CVs, handling interviews and managing money.

“At entry level, for every job we advertise, we get 40 to 50 applicants,” warned RDF Head of Entertainment Development Neale Simpson, who introduced the event.

The panellists were: CPL Creative Executive Dawn Beresford; BBC Talent Executive Caroline Carter; Series Producer Martin Conway; Wall To Wall Executive Producer Kathryn Taylor; and Production Manager Jude Winstanley.

“At the beginning of your career, as a runner or researcher, take the opportunity to test the genres out for which ones appeal to you,” suggested Carter. Conway added that new entrants to the industry “need to make the most of any opportunity to get in and not be too choosy”.

However, Winstanley warned that it was increasingly the case in factual and documentary genres, and even in entertainment, that editorial staff needed to acquire technical skills, such as the ability to self-shoot.

I made it… on-screen The final event, in early December, looked at how to make it as a TV presenter.

Four prominent presenters – Alex Brooker, Sue Perkins, Anna Richardson and Charlene White – were joined on the panel by Holly Pye, Head of Television at talent agency James Grant.

“There’s a lot of talk about YouTube being the

new way [into the job], but it’s not that easy to make the transition [to TV],” cautioned Pye. “Getting into production and then finding ways [to present] has probably been more successful.”

“You must understand the medium,” warned Perkins, co-presenter of The Great British Bake Off. “You can either do that through writing, performing or being involved in production or journalism. If anyone here wants to be on television to be famous, to get girls or to be rich, you’re never going to be on TV.” The event was chaired by TV game-show host Vernon Kay. The Society is extremely grateful for the hard work of the RTS Futures Committee, chaired by Camilla Lewis.

first speaker, Channel 4 Director of Sales Jonathan Allan. “TV is the only medium that can [create] awareness fast, emotional engagement with a product or brand, and long-term brand equity that lasts for years… TV’s share of the ad market has been remarkably resilient over the past 20 years.”

Despite this, big brands now consider TV as just part of their advertising mix. Dominic Redfearn, Global Media and Content Director at UK drinks giant Diageo, said his company would no longer consider TV-only campaigns.

Sue Unerman, Chief Strategy Officer at Mediacom, argued that, with the rise of the second screen, television had become a vehicle for e-commerce, rather than a victim of it.

All the speakers agreed that ever-more sophisticated data about viewers was “the new oil”.

Jeremy Tester, Sky Media’s Director of Brand Strategy and Communications, explained why the broadcaster was prepared to invest “hundreds of millions of pounds” to build its AdSmart platform: “The size of the prize… runs into billions.”

7 EARLY-EVENING EVENTS The Society’s early-evening events are free for members and also provide an accessible and low-cost way for the public to hear and question television practitioners on a wide range of issues.

Seven events with top-tier participants were staged during the year (compared with six in 2013).

The future of advertising – will television still have a starring role? The panellists at this event in February were unanimous that television ad revenues would not be appropriated wholesale by the likes of Google, as had happened to newspapers and magazines. However, they warned that the commercial environment is changing very fast.

“In 20 years’ time, 70% of advertising revenue will still be from spot advertising,” predicted the

RTS Futures event, ‘I made it… on-screen’.

From left: Holly Pye, Alex Brooker, Charlene White, Anna Richardson, Sue Perkins and Vernon Kay

Sherlock: anatomy of a hit The BBC’s most-watched drama since 2001 provided the Society with its most popular early-evening event to date – until that record audience of 228 was surpassed a few months later.

The tremendous panel comprised: creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, Producer Sue Vertue, commissioner Ben Stephenson and actress Amanda Abbington.

Gatiss said that Benedict Cumberbatch was, from a very early stage, their ideal choice to

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play Holmes, and “when Benedict came in to read, we didn’t see anybody else”.

Although Martin Freeman was not the only potential Dr Watson, the immediate chemistry between him and Cumberbatch persuaded the writers that they had found their dream team.

TV retweeted Some 40% of tweets during primetime are TV-related. But can broadcasters use the platform to increase TV ratings? This was the question at the heart of a packed event in May. Dan Biddle, Head of Broadcast Partnerships at Twitter UK, gave a 20-minute presentation on what Twitter can do for TV, to set the terms of the debate. He emphasised the value of viewers and fans being able to communicate directly with talent (many of whom are Twitter addicts) as a way of cementing audience engagement.

Virginia Monaghan, MTV’s VP for Music Content and Commissioning, was, if anything, more bullish about Twitter than the man from Twitter.

In the course of five weeks during the previous summer, 166 million tweets were sent as young people voted for their favourite pop act to feature on MTV UK’s Hottest Summer Superstar.

One Direction pipped Justin Bieber in the contest; more importantly, audiences to the flagship UK MTV Music channel surged by 55%, according to Monaghan.

Channel 4’s Head of Advertising Research & Development, Martin Greenbank, was much more sceptical about the platform. “The best thing that Twitter brings to TV is audience engagement,” he said.

Also on the panel were Dan Jones, Creative Director, Digital at indie producer Maverick, and Iain Coyle, Commissioning Editor, Entertainment, at UKTV. Tim Davie in conversation with Cathy Newman BBC Worldwide is looking for new commercial partners, its CEO, Tim Davie, told his interviewer, Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman, in September.

“You will see more and more partnerships.

We’re having partnership discussions with lots of people around the world… Partnership is what it’s about now,” said Davie.

Indeed, Worldwide had announced that very day that it had taken a 35% share in UK indie Lookout Point, producer of Ripper Street and Parade’s End. International demand for BBC dramas, such as Sherlock, and natural history documentaries, such as Frozen Planet (funded by seven different producers), remained strong, not least in Asia, he said.

In China, the company is seeking a Chinese Jeremy Clarkson to front a local version of Top Gear.

Admitting that media company executives

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Early-evening event, ‘Doctor Who: Anatomy of a hit’. From left: Boyd Hilton, Steven Moffat, Nikki Wilson, Brian Michin, Ben Wheatley and Rob Mayor

Early-evening event, ‘Connected TV decoded’. From left: Kate Bulkley, Dan Saunders, Emma Lloyd, Ilse Howling, Richard Halton and Stephen Taylor

declaring that “content is king” had become a cliché, Davie nonetheless said it was truer than ever. This thirst for acquiring content was driving the latest round of consolidation. “All value is derived from content,” noted Davie Doctor Who – anatomy of a hit The Society booked a bigger-than-usual venue – Kings Place – for this early-evening event on 11 November and was gratified to see it sold out a week in advance. An imaginative online teaser campaign begun before the full panel of speakers was confirmed contributed to the event’s popularity.

Days after the end of Peter Capaldi’s first series as the eponymous Time Lord, the event drew a record audience of 299.

Flanking the panellists on stage were two of the creatures created by one of the speakers, effects maestro Rob Mayor, and his team at Millennium FX. He was joined by show­runner Steven Moffat,

Stephen Taylor, Director of Redshift Strategy consultancy, predicted that linear viewing would still comprise around two-thirds of all viewing in 2020. Richard Halton, CEO of YouView, thought this overly optimistic.

Taylor also predicted that connected-TVs would overcome the gulf between free-to-air and pay-TV and make “pay-lite” the most popular choice by 2020, with widespread consumption of on-demand content.

The other panellists were: Emma Lloyd, Sky Business Development Director; Ilse Howling, Managing Director, Connected TV at Digital UK; and Dan Saunders, Google’s Head of Chromecast for the UK, Nordics and Netherlands.

UK television’s USP – just how unique are we? The genesis of this sparky debate in December between Channel 4 Chief Executive David Abraham and Virgin Media CEO Tom Mockridge was the former’s combative MacTaggart Memorial Lecture several months earlier.

Since then, said Abraham, his concern had hardened that the UK’s unique broadcasting ecosystem is threatened by US buyers. Mockridge, as head of the recently acquired subsidiary of one such US owner, Liberty Global, adamantly disagreed.

The argument quickly crystallised around the issue of retransmission fees. Abraham contended that commercial public service broadcasters were effectively subsidising pay-TV platforms to the tune of £200m a year. Mockridge dismissed the figure and said customers joined Virgin to get faster broadband, not to get ITV. The Society is very grateful for the hard work of the RTS Early Evening Events Committee, chaired by Dan Brooke.

THE DAYS ARE GONE WHEN YOU CAN BE A DIRECTOR BUT NOT SHOOT – THERE’S NO MONEY FOR THAT Executive Producer Brian Minchin, Producer Nikki Wilson and Director Ben Wheatley.

Speaking of the risk inherent in periodically reinventing a venerated show, Moffat said: “Shows don’t die by people saying, ‘I don’t like it now’. Shows die by people saying, ‘Oh, it’s quite good’. When people say, ‘I’m appalled by the new Doctor Who,’ [you know] they’re watching it.”

Wheatley said he storyboarded his episodes heavily “because I was particularly worried about the level of effects work… The last film I did, [we shot] three pages a day; Doctor Who was between four and 11.”

The budget requires each episode to be shot in about a fortnight – a pace that is only possible thanks to the “experienced crew in Cardiff that has grown up with the show”, said Wilson.

Connected TV decoded How will the approaching avalanche of connected-TV and mobile services impact on traditional linear viewing of scheduled TV? Surprisingly little – for the time being – was the view of an expert panel drawn from the frontline of internet-driven TV. Forecasts that up to 90% of UK homes will have an internet­-connected main TV set by 2020 (more than seven times the current penetration) were not controversial. But opinion differed about how soon this would undermine live TV viewing.

8 RTS ALL PARTY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP Three events were held at the Houses of Parliament under the auspices of the RTS All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), which is chaired by the Rt Hon The Lord Fowler.

RTS Dinner The outgoing Chair of Ofcom, Dame Colette Bowe, was questioned by RTS President Sir Peter Bazalgette at a dinner in her honour at the House of Commons in February.

Her swansong speech included forthright warnings about BBC funding and governance, internet regulation and spectrum allocation.

She urged politicians not to underestimate the seriousness of the looming battle between broad-

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casters and mobile-phone operators over spectrum. “If we get this thing wrong, there will be very serious consequences for the delivery of public service broadcasting in the UK,” she warned.

Bowe cautioned policymakers to be realistic about policing internet pornography. Ofcom works with “the art of the possible” and “there are limits to regulatory action,” she said. “We would be foolish if we were holding out to people the idea that it’s OK, we can [regulate the internet].”

On BBC finance, Bowe said she had sympathy for the idea of contestable PSB funding, but acknowledged that it would be difficult to make it work in practice.

Future funding for the BBC This debate, in June, tackled the key issue in the negotiation of the next BBC Charter – how the corporation will be funded.

A distinguished panel, chaired by Lord Fowler, split down the middle between traditionalists, who wished to preserve the licence fee (Lord Grade, a former Chair of the BBC Governors, and analyst Claire Enders), and those in favour of

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introducing subscription (City University Director of Broadcasting Lis Howell and former Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross).

Howell said the iPlayer was steadily undermining the legitimacy of the licence fee; subscription, on the other hand, would be “transparent, fair, democratic and universal”.

Grade conceded that, at £145.50, the licence fee was “too high”, but Enders said that 57% of the public considered it “good value”.

TV diversity: who will win your vote? According to Creative Skillset, BAME (black and minority ethnic) representation across the creative industries fell from 6.7% in 2009 to 5.4% in 2012 – despite 12.5% of the UK population by then being nonwhite.

So it was no surprise that the November event’s chair, BBC News Channel Senior Presenter Clive Myrie, opened the debate by asking: “What’s going on? Is it pure and simple racism?

Why are bosses only employing people in their own image – white, male, middle-class?”

The three politicians tasked with providing

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answers and a way forward were: Ed Vaizey MP, the Minister for Culture, Communications and the Creative Industries; his Labour shadow, Helen Goodman MP, and Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Gilbert.

Vaizey made it clear that he had run out of patience with many media companies (though he praised Sky for its employment initiatives: “It is far and away the most impressive with its can-do, get-on-with-it attitude”).

“If necessary, government will have to push harder than I have in the past 12 months,” said Vaizey.

Goodman attacked former Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt for ending Ofcom’s brief to monitor diversity levels in employment at UK broadcasters.

9 RTS LEGENDS Cilla Black OBE was the guest at an RTS Legends lunch held at the House of Lords on 5 December (such events were formerly known as RTS Veterans lunches).

Black was interviewed by Jeff Pope, writer and Executive Producer of one of the year’s most

Left: RTS All Party Parliamentary Group event, ‘Future funding for the BBC’, held at the House of Commons.

Above: RTS Legend award recipient Cilla Black OBE (on left) with Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE

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successful TV dramas, ITV’s biopic Cilla. At one time the highest-paid female star on British television, Black talked amusingly and movingly of her early days on the Liverpool club scene.

She had been reluctant to embrace a TV career.

“Television found me, I didn’t find TV,” she said.

Her BBC One hit, Cilla, ran for eight series until 1976, and was watched by up to 22 million people.

LWT later won the battle to put Black under contract. Her first series for the ITV company was Surprise Surprise.

But it was her next LWT show, based on the Australian format Perfect Match, that propelled her to new heights. Blind Date ran for 18 years, an essential fixture of Saturday-night TV for millions of viewers.

Black said her one regret was that she always gave into homesickness during several attempts to make it as a singer in the US: “I wish I wasn’t such a wuss… I had the fancy frocks, but I wanted to go home.”

Black was presented with the inaugural RTS Legends Award by Paul Jackson. The lunch was hosted by Baroness Benjamin.

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10 JOINT EVENTS The Society is keen to develop relationships with other societies and bodies where the combined effect of co-operation enables the RTS to increase its impact, influence, reach and effectiveness.

During the year, the Society jointly organised a number of national and local activities with such partners. Details of jointly organised local events will be found on pages 30 to 38.

In conversation with Baroness Doreen Lawrence of Clarendon OBE – In the eye of the media storm The first collaboration was with the BBC in February, when an impressively dignified Baroness Doreen Lawrence was interviewed by investigative reporter (and former RTS Young Journalist of the Year) Mark Daly in the BBC’s Radio Theatre in London.

The event’s title, “In the eye of the media storm”, was apposite: with the release of the Ellison Report a few days after the interview, the media storm around Lawrence had not abated.

She described how her two-decade struggle for justice for her murdered son had left her hardly recognising herself in the mirror.

On the day of the interview, the BBC launched its partnership with the Stephen Lawrence Trust, which aims to train up to 25 19- to 23-year-olds from black and minority ethnic backgrounds in broadcasting and production skills.

The Baroness welcomed the scheme as a “fantastic idea”, but said: “It should have happened a long time ago.” She added: “If you truly want [TV] to reflect society, you have to put things in place to make it happen.”

Dr Michael Lynch OBE, FREng – “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future” The Society’s first Joint Public Lecture with the IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) was held in May at the Royal Society.

Dr Michael Lynch was an enthralling speaker, who tied together mind-stretching ideas with entertaining – and sometimes jaw-dropping – demonstrations of the consequences of the explosive pace of technological change.

At the heart of Lynch’s talk was one very simple, if unpalatable, idea: the difficulty that human beings have coming to terms with the uncertainty sparked by such changes.

Predictions about the future tend to err on the side of doom-mongering, he said. They also tend “to overestimate the change in the short term and underestimate it in the long term”.

His two big fears were that an inherently out-of control financial system would deliver another crash, and that what he called “a Moore’s Law of terrorism” would allow small groups to do great harm.

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Lynch was optimistic about television: “I don’t think television will die – in the same way that radio hasn’t died… Imagine a new concept of TV, where it is 3D in whatever context...” he said, and creators could visually insert “non-existent digital things into the real world, where they can interact perfectly” as if they were real. “The possibilities of that are really quite phenomenal.”

To quota or not to quota – RTS session at Diversify, part of Creative Week As part of Broadcast magazine’s Creative Week in June, the RTS hosted a very vigorous debate, “To quota or not to quota”, at RADA Studios on how to tackle the TV industry’s diversity deficit.

Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy told the packed meeting that the “industry has

AUDIENCE EXPECTATION… IS GOING UP. WE HAVE HIGHER AND HIGHER QUALITY, LOWER AND LOWER PRICES gone backwards over the past 10 to 15 years” in promoting diversity.

His solution was the introduction of “enforceable targets with [financial] penalties”, which he characterised as “rules with teeth”, adding: “I don’t see anything else that will produce the kind of step change that we need.”

Production companies, for example, would lose a percentage of their fees if they failed to hit diversity quotas. Targets would be nothing new for TV, he argued, which already had regional and independent-production quotas.

Fellow panellists Paul Blake, Managing Director of factual indie Maroon Productions, and Bectu Head of Diversity Janice Turner backed enforceable targets.

The other speakers included: Peter Salmon, the BBC’s Director, England, and a member of the Creative Skillset board; Simon Albury, Chair of the Campaign for Broadcasting Equality and former CEO of the RTS; and Trevor Phillips OBE. Phillips, the former Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the big problem was not that brilliant people were being ignored: “By definition, most people are not outstanding.

All that people from ethnic minorities would ask for is to be allowed the same right to be mediocre as most other people.”

Turner called on the Arts Council of England, the BFI and Ofcom to be obliged to make the companies they fund or license regularly publish employment diversity data.

The Cotton Film: Dirty White Gold – RTS session during Sustainability Week at The Hospital Club The challenge of financing a hard-hitting film on the plight of Indian cotton farmers was the focus of a compelling event hosted by the RTS in December. The screening and discussion were a contribution to The Hospital Club’s Sustainability Week.

Journalist Leah Borromeo and her co-producers at Dartmouth Films explained how they had struggled to fund their campaigning documentary The Cotton Film: Dirty White Gold.

The film, still only about 75% complete, casts a spotlight on unsustainable global garment-­ manufacturing practices and their tragic consequences for heavily indebted farmers.

11 RTS AWARDS The RTS’s awards represent the gold standard of peer recognition.

The ceremonies, produced by RTS Enterprises, are well attended, thanks to the unparalleled integrity of the judging process, the continual refinement of award categories to match emerging technologies and new areas of creative expertise, and the level of professionalism with which they are mounted.

The Society is extremely grateful to the awards judges and presenters, all of whom donate their services.

Although these events help to fund the Society’s charitable activities, the RTS has kept ticket prices as low as it can in the face of difficult economic conditions. The Society recognises the financial pressures on producers and broadcasters and has sought to balance these against the relatively inflexible costs of providing public opportunities to celebrate the highest standards of achievement in broadcasting.

Olivia Coleman won the Actor – Female prize at the RTS Programme Awards 2013

RTS Television Journalism Awards 2012-2013 The awards were presented in February at the London Hilton. The evening was hosted by the BBC’s Sian Williams and the awards were presented by Richard Sambrook, who chaired the judging panel.

A total of 459 people attended the ceremony (compared with 449 in 2013 and 392 in 2012).

Of the 19 awards presented, ITN secured eight for its ITV and Channel 4 services, two of them for its coverage of the murder in Woolwich of fusilier Lee Rigby. The BBC won six awards and CNN International, two.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Peter Taylor OBE, and the Judges’ Award went to Deborah Turness, President of NBC News and a former Editor of ITV News.

Television Journalist of the Year was BBC Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen; Specialist Journalist of the Year was Channel 4 News’s Michael Crick.

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RTS Programme Awards 2013 The awards were held at Grosvenor House Hotel, London, in March and were hosted by writer and comedian Tim Vine. The audience of 854 was the biggest for many years, and well up on the 772 achieved in 2013 (and 758 in 2012).

Olivia Colman won the Actor – Female award for the second year running, for her roles in Broadchurch and Run. Broadchurch also took the Drama Serial award. The Actor – Male award was given to Idris Elba for his portrayal of Luther.

The Judges’ Award was presented to Janice Hadlow OBE, the former Controller of BBC Two. The Lifetime Achievement award went to David Suchet CBE. Twenty-eight awards were presented, with 11 going to the BBC and nine to Channel 4.

RTS Young Technologist of the Year 2014 The title was presented to Bobby Moss, a graduate software engineer at BT Group, for his work on webbased applications that support the company’s server infrastructure. He is also a STEM Ambassador with the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Network, which holds workshops in schools and mentors the next generation of young talent.

The award recognises potential future leaders in broadcasting and related technologies, and promotes education in the science, practice, technology and art of television and its allied fields.

The award, which is endowed by the family of the distinguished engineer AM Beresford-Cooke, gives the winner the opportunity to attend IBC,

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May 2014

From F Rainforeissh Fight to t Rescue

Why TV can change our world

June 2014

Zoellaa YouTube How cashed in star

Content

TV is failing to use its power to bring about real change on environmental issues, reports Louise Gray

Getty Images

RTS Student Television Awards 2013 The awards, held in May at the BFI Southbank in London were attended by 231 students and teachers (compared with 163 in 2013 and 170 in 2012).

Undergraduate and Postgraduate Awards were judged in four categories: Animation, Fiction, Entertainment and Factual. Entries for the Undergraduate group were judged on a regional basis and these regional winners were then put forward for national judging.

The national juries selected three nominees per category and the winner was chosen by secret ballot. The Postgraduate nominees were judged at a national level only.

The winners and nominees came from a wide spread of media colleges, though students at the National Film and Television School were nominated for all the Postgraduate Awards and won two of them.

The ceremony was hosted by comedian and actor Joel Dommett and the awards were presented by the Student Awards Chair, Patrick Younge, founder and Director of WeCreate ­Associates.

er 2014 Novemb

W

hen did you first see elephants – or dolphins or gorillas – in the wild? It was probably on television, right? And did it inspire you to go out and save the world? Maybe for a few days or so…

OK, let’s try again. When did you last see elephant carcasses with the ivory torn out, lying on the African savannah? Or bleached coral? Or the burnt stumps of a rainforest?

Television, too, right? And did it inspire you to go out and save the world? Maybe for a few weeks or so…

This is the essential problem with using TV to communicate such important subjects as species loss or deforestation.

Of course, it is shocking and, of course, the viewer is going to react strongly and even vow to change their lifestyle. But sooner or later the realities of paying the bills and putting food on the table intervene and the environmental crisis is forgotten.

TV’s eco challenge This is the challenge for broadcasters.

How do they not only engage the viewer but also hold their interest and make the impact long-term and worthwhile?

The International Broadcasting Trust recently compiled a report on how effective television is in engaging mainstream audiences with environmental issues.

Mark Galloway, Director of the IBT, admits the fashion for “green programming” has diminished since the financial crisis, as people have become more concerned about the economy.

“There was a period when there was a lot of coverage of environmental issues and it would be at peak times and quite serious,” he says. “But, as happens with TV, there was loss of interest and the audience did not want

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The RTS’s monthly magazine, Television, was redesigned at the beginning of the year

to watch worthy documentaries.

“So, from being a lot, there developed a situation of being very little.”

However, environmental issues have still been “smuggled” into television through other formats.

Farming is always featured on the BBC’s Countryfile, which can attract more than 8 million viewers. Galloway sees this “mainstreaming” of the environment into a range of output – rather than being put in its own, separate category – as the way forward.

“The environment should not be treated with kid gloves,” he says. “It is messy and difficult and should feature all over the place. Broadcasters should

be more confident about people being interested.”

Galloway says that most coverage is now through programmes about food, travel or property.

Good examples are Channel 4’s Hugh’s Fish Fight, which highlights overfishing of the oceans, Simon Reeve’s travel programmes on BBC Two, which always include threats to the environment when exploring new places, and Channel 4’s Grand Designs, which often features homes aiming for a low carbon footprint.

Perhaps, in the future, environmental issues could be included in more factual programmes – and even in drama? Imagine an EastEnders recycling storyline.

“If you had a TV programme with environment in the title, people wouldn’t watch it. People will only watch environmental programmes when they connect with audiences,” says Galloway. “But this is not happening as much as

IF YOU HAD A TV SHOW WITH ENVIRONMENT IN THE TITLE, PEOPLE WOULDN’T WATCH IT closer to home, such as the badger cull, have been simplified in order to appeal to a wider audience: “There are significant challenges to wildlife out there, but the soundbite world we live in is not giving [these issues] enough time.”

Julian Newman, Campaigns Director at the Environmental Investigation Agency, is also frustrated.

He points out that television can make a real difference: unlike the internet, a TV documentary can reach millions of people who are not already interested in the subject – including those in power.

Newman cites a BBC investigation into deforestation in Malaysia, which he claims made the Malaysian Government change its policy on logging.

He would like natural history programmes to mount more investigations to uncover environmental problems and bring them to a wider audience.

“Environmental issues can sometimes be put in a box, but they are often tied up with important humanrights and development issues,” says Newman. “We need more investigative and hard-hitting work.”

Leo Hickman, Chief Advisor on Climate Change at WWF, agrees that there should be more serious environmental content in news and natural history programmes, but calls for more “environment by stealth” in mainstream programmes.

Sky, which can boast of having aired 130 hours of “rainforest programming” as part of its Rainforest Rescue partnership with WWF, says the secret is to use presenters not traditionally associated with an environmental message.

In Road To Nowhere, self-confessed “environment sceptic” cricketer Freddie Flintoff cycled through the Amazon to learn about deforestation.

Other presenters on the subject have included Ross Kemp – hardly a hippy.

Lorraine Whitmarsh, a psychology

lecturer at Cardiff University, says that people tend to react to programmes that connect with their own lives.

The way to get green issues across to people is therefore to make them part of the things they do care about, such as saving money or reducing waste.

Recent examples include Kirstie’s Homemade Home or Kevin’s Supersized Salvage on Channel 4.

But can likeable presenters and links to relevant issues really change public opinion?

Two examples suggest they can. The “crying rabbits” online video, put out

by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, forced two dozen high-street chains to stop stocking angora jumpers; and the film, Blackfish, turned public opinion against keeping orcas in captivity.

Television can learn from feature films and the internet about how effective such campaigning content can be. “People are much more alive to consumer power because they recognise that you cannot wait for government to change the world,” claims one former TV executive. “It is shareholders, consumers and viewers who have the power to change things now.”

Will Anderson, Joint Head of Documentaries at Keo Films, has proved this through Hugh’s Chicken Run and Hugh’s Fish Fight.

Both led to consumers complaining about the industrial farming of chicken and fish. As a result, supermarkets vowed to change their practices.

Viewers appear to have connected with presenter Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall, who clearly has a genuine passion for a subject that affects us all – the food on our plate.

They also appear to have engaged with the opportunity to take action immediately via the internet or social media through online petitions.

Anderson says there is a real appetite for interactive TV that not only informs people, but helps them to improve the world they live in by joining campaigns.

“It is beholden on commissioners and the film-makers to come up with interesting ways to tell these stories,” he says. “If you can do that, you can have a great impact, like Fish Fight.

“You have the potential to reach a massive audience, to make people aware, to do something good. You have the potential to change things.”

Amanda Craig: Why Game of Thrones is

The best show on TV

it should.”

There is certainly a level of frustration among NGOs at a perceived failure by broadcasters to make the public aware of environmental issues.

Despite the splendour of the wildlife documentaries made by the BBC’s Natural History Unit, charities are disappointed that the threats to the animals so carefully depicted are rarely reflected in the programmes.

For example, the BBC’s recent Africa series did touch on the problem of poaching. But considering that most of the species featured are in danger of extinction, charities could have hoped for a better reflection of the crisis.

Philip Mansbridge, CEO of Care for the Wild, blames the “fragmentation” of television, with broadcasters now having to compete with so many more channels, as well as the internet.

As a result, there is a temptation to go for the tried and tested shots of hunting lions, rather than a more complex piece about their ongoing conflict with humans.

He argues that environmental issues

Television www.rts.org.uk May 2014

Louise Gray is a freelance environmental correspondent.

7

which is held every September. The judges ask applicants to demonstrate how the award would enhance their understanding of technology’s role in television and related fields, and how they propose to share that understanding.

RTS Craft & Design Awards 2013-2014 The awards were presented in November at the Hilton in London, and hosted by Jennifer Saunders. A total of 341 people attended the ceremony (compared with 368 in 2013 and 337 in 2012).

The Judges’ Award went to the production team behind Peaky Blinders, which also won the Costume Design award.

Four other productions scored double wins: Utopia, for Photography and Production Design;

The Smoke, for Special Effects and Sound; Rev, for Editing and Costume Design; and The Tunnel secured both music awards – Original Score and Original Title.

The award for Lifetime Achievement was presented to stunt performer Clive Curtis.

12 RTS PUBLICATIONS The Society’s monthly magazine, Television, is highly valued for its incisive analysis and wide-ranging coverage of the debates and developments that are reshaping the media landscape.

Television benefited from a comprehensive redesign in February; many readers contacted the editor to voice their appreciation of its fresher appearance.

RTS Student Television Awards 2013 winners and (inset) Mark Austin, RTS Television Journalism Awards 2012-2013 winner

Television’s distribution has been expanded in partnership with patron broadcasters; as of the end of 2013, some 760 copies a month are placed in branded stands in the public lobbies of a number of their buildings around the UK. The print run has increased in line with the growing membership: all Full RTS Members receive Television by post.

The magazine profiled a diverse range of companies, programmes, executives and technologies that are transforming the industry – from Vice News and Maker to Netflix and BT Sport, and from NBC News’s Deborah Turness to Discovery’s JB Perrette.

On-screen, Television deconstructed Game of Thrones and Benefits Street, and examined the evolution of biopics, reality shows, shopping channels and green programming.

Behind the screen, it looked at the impact on UK producers and broadcasters of the US buying spree, and carried accessible articles explaining the significance of apparently obscure debates over retransmission fees and spectrum allocation.

Television did not ignore laptop and smartphone screens: it profiled Zoella and YouTube’s Britpack, explored the economics of on-demand content and probed the impact of social media on traditional TV. For Television’s readers, one of its most keenly anticipated regular features is the insightful and revealing profile of a major figure in the British broadcasting landscape penned by Times journalist Andrew Billen. The Billen Profiles included: Yahoo!’s Dawn Airey; BBC Worldwide chief Tim Davie; Channel 4 Chief Creative Officer Jay Hunt; Wall To Wall CEO Leanne Klein; Hat Trick’s Jimmy Mulville; Virgin Media CEO Tom Mockridge; and CEO-elect of the National Theatre Tessa Ross.

Television’s “Our Friend” column seeks to balance the inevitable metropolitan bias of a good deal of Television’s coverage (given London’s dominance in UK television production and commerce). Throughout the year, guest columnists focused on important industry trends that M25-bound broadcasters were prone to miss.

They included: STV Productions’ Alan Clements and Channel 4’s Stuart Cosgrove in Scotland; S4C Authority Chairman Huw Jones in Wales; Graeme Thompson in Sunderland; and John McVay in Xiamen, China.

The TV diarists included Susanna Dinnage, Boyd Hilton, Simone Pennant, Andrew Scadding, Emma Scott, Brigitte Trafford and Emma Willis, and there were book reviews by Stewart Purvis and Raymond Snoddy.

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ROYAL TELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

As usual, the super-sized October issue was devoted to in-depth coverage of the RTS London Conference and IBC for the benefit of those unable to attend the events.

A Television supplement was distributed to colleges at the beginning of the year to promote the RTS Undergraduate Bursaries, RTS Futures and RTS Student Television Awards. In addition to application details, the supplement carried reprinted articles on RTS Masterclasses and RTS Futures events.

13 RTS DIGITAL PRESENCE Illustrated reports of all national and RTS Futures events are uploaded to the RTS website by the morning following the event (more detailed reports continue to be published in Television) and there is also a live Twitter feed (@rts_now) from most events.

Towards the end of the year, the digital content team established a regular schedule for publishing new content, such as daily news updates and the weekly “Tips Tuesday”, in order to increase the site’s “stickiness” for users.

The Society’s website had 186,680 unique visitors (125,610 in 2013; 86,670 in 2012; 71,810 in 2011), who viewed an average of 2.89 pages (3.07 pages in 2013; 3.26 pages in 2012; 3.45 pages in 2011); their average time spent on the site was two minutes 21 seconds (2’ 18” in 2013; 2’ 20” in 2012; 2’ 26” in 2011); 34% of them were returning visitors (35% in 2013; 39% in 2012; 43% in 2011).

Google Analytics changed the way it defines such categories as a unique website visitor or returning visitor in the course of 2014. The figures given in the previous RTS report are not directly comparable with the new metrics, so we have restated the statistics for 2011-13 according to the new metrics to make them comparable.

In the last six months of 2014, the majority of website visits (60%) came via Google. Direct access (from people who typed the URL into their browser or had saved the site in their favourites) accounted for 20% of traffic. Combined social media, including Twitter and Facebook generated 13% of all sessions. The trend suggests that the site is increasingly being accessed by people with no previous connection with the Society.

Visitors who access websites through social media, rather than directly or via Google, tend to spend less time on those sites and view fewer pages. So, as the Society increases its social media reach, we expect to see a medium-term drop in average duration of visit and page views per visit while total visitor numbers increase.

The most popular content on the site is around

the major awards ceremonies – and, above all, the RTS Programme Awards.

An online payments system and event-booking facility was implemented in October.

@rts_futures

2,521

26

@rts_media

7,471

RTS Twitter followers

Social media More effort was put into building the RTS’s social-media presence this year, which also drove more traffic to the Society’s website. New initiatives included: a Facebook page for the Society (www.facebook.com/RoyalTelevision­ Society, which is in addition to the existing RTS Futures Facebook page); live blogging from all RTS events; creating multimedia content to share; and sponsored Facebook posts. The key statistics were: ◗ @rts_media had 7,471 Twitter followers at the end of 2014 (up from 4,899 in 2013) ◗ @rts_futures had 2,521 Twitter followers at the end of 2014 (up from 1,455 in 2013) ◗ About 8% of all RTS website traffic comes from Twitter ◗ 411 likes for www.facebook.com/RoyalTelevisionSociety by the end of 2014 (from zero in August).

Video content Almost all RTS events and sessions are videoed. Once edited, they are uploaded to Vimeo, a video-­ hosting service (although this will not be apparent to most visitors as the videos appear to be embedded in the RTS site). The total number of video streams (or “plays”) was 9,633 (compared with 750 in 2013) A total of 68 videos were made (compared with 30 in 2013). The majority were edited reports of RTS events (37 videos, comprising 11 conference sessions, 21 other events and five awards ceremonies). Most of the remainder were mini-programmes, generally with an educational theme. The digital production team has developed a number of branded formats, such as Tips in 60 Seconds and How To… strands.

THE TOP SIX RTS VIDEOS, 2014:

No of plays

1 Sherlock: Anatomy of a Hit 2,000 2 Tips in 60 Seconds… How To Write a Great BBC Application 850 3 Doctor Who: Anatomy of a Hit 560 4 Tips in 60 Seconds… How To Write a CV 550 5 Doctor Who: Anatomy of a Hit – Extra 520 6 RTS Behind the Scenes: Newsnight 450

14 RTS CENTRES The RTS Centres staged an impressive number of events and awards ceremonies during the year.

These are described in more detail on pages 30 to

39; they contributed the majority of the 125 events held by the Society during the year.

The biggest-ever RTS North West Awards attracted 475 people to central Manchester, while Carol Vorderman hosted Bristol’s awards in front of a full house of 500 at the city’s Old Vic. The first Scotland Awards for many years drew an audience of 200-plus.

Some of the centres’ Student Television Awards showed encouraging increases in entries, attendances or both. In Scotland, entries from young film-makers were up 50% on 2013 and almost 400 people attended the RTS Yorkshire event, which featured a record number of entries.

Northern Ireland Centre held its first Student Awards at Belfast Metropolitan College, attended by more than 100 people.

Events aimed at students and young people considering a career in television remained popular. RTS Wales ran a “Breaking into factual TV” event, while Southern Centre offered “Meet the professionals” and “Working in journalism” at local universities. More than 200 young people attended RTS Futures Northern Ireland’s annual Media Careers Fair and Bristol Centre staged a sell-out RTS Futures event on digital skills.

During the year, many centres linked up with other organisations to organise events, often boosting attendances as a result. North East and the Border Centre joined with local screen agency Northern Film and Media and the North

RTS All Party Parliamentary Group event, ‘TV diversity: who will win your vote?’ From left: Helen Goodman MP, Clive Myrie, Ed Vaizey MP and Stephen Gilbert MP

East Branch of the Radio Academy, while Midlands organised the Birmingham Film and TV Summit with a number of other partners, including Birmingham City Council Film Office and the Writers’ Guild.

Centres offered first views of upcoming programmes. RTS North West gave an exclusive screening of ITV crime drama Prey, followed by a Q&A with the cast and crew, while RTS Wales previewed a crowdfunded film about the 1984 miners’ strike, Still the Enemy Within.

During the year, centres organised visits to broadcasting facilities across the country, including Ashford Studios in Wicklow, the BBC’s New Broadcasting House, BT Sport in the Olympic Park, Comux UK in Birmingham, the Divis Transmitter near Belfast and Sony at Pinewood Studios.

Reflecting the RTS’s roots in broadcast engineering, new advances in technology were the focus of many events, particularly in London and Thames Valley.

Other events examined specific programmes.

RTS Wales took the scalpel to a daytime perennial in “Anatomy of a hit: Bargain Hunt”, and London Centre assembled the key personnel from Princess Productions to talk about Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff. North East and the Border Centre celebrated kids’ drama Byker Grove, 25 years after it first aired on BBC One. As well as honouring the work of many unsung TV people from around the country at their

27

ROYAL TELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

events, the centres also attracted top talent as speakers. These included Channel 4 News Political Correspondent Michael Crick, whose career was celebrated by RTS North West, and Sky News doyenne Kay Burley, who discussed sexism and tabloid disclosures about her personal life at an RTS North East and the Border event.

15 IBC The Society has an 18% shareholding in IBC, Europe’s premier broadcast technology event, which is held each September in Amsterdam’s RAI Centre. A record 55,092 visitors, together with more than 1,700 exhibiting companies, attended IBC 2014 (compared with 52,974 visitors in 2013 and 50,937 in 2012).

IBC has successfully widened its focus from broadcast engineering to add consumer electronics and social media to its remit. It is also planning to expand geographically, and this year held trade shows and conferences covering the Middle Eastern and North African and the Latin American markets. These “Content Everywhere” events will concentrate on the digital delivery of content to smartphones or connected-TVs, rather than on IBC’s traditional production and transmission hardware.

There was a palpable sense of accelerating change at the week-long conference and exhibition in Amsterdam. Much of the heat continued to flow from ultra-high-definition TV – which has at least four times the resolution of HDTV pictures – as consumer electronics manufacturers pushed for its speedy adoption.

But, on many other fronts, the technological changes offer at least as much benefit to new, internet-based rivals as they do to established TV broadcasters. The underlying theme was very much about how to do more for less money.

16 GOVERNANCE The Board of Trustees met four times in the course of the year (in January, March, June and October). The Trustees have complied with their obligation to have regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. The guidance is the benchmark against which the Society’s activities are measured.

Attendance at Trustees’ meetings: John Hardie (Chair) 4/4; Tim Davie 2/4; Mike Green 4/4; Huw Jones 3/4; Jane Lighting 4/4; David Lowen 3/4; Graham McWilliam 4/4; Simon Pitts 3/4; Graeme Thompson 3/4.

The Trustees have a forward work plan of agenda items, including: progress on the strategic plan; finance; health and safety; reports on Centres issues; education and bursaries; and updates on awards, conferences and other events. The CEO and Chair of IBC attend a Trustees meeting

28

National RTS events in 2014 (with attendance figures) 4 February

RTS early-evening event: The future of advertising – will television still have a starring role?

13 February

RTS dinner: Dame Colette Bowe DBE in conversation with Sir Peter Bazalgette

126

19 February

RTS Television Journalism Awards 2012/13

459

24 February

RTS Futures: Battle of the broadcasters

28 February

Joint event with the BBC: In conversation with Baroness Doreen Lawrence of Clarendon OBE – in the eye of the media storm 100 from BBC plus: 69

96

71

4 March

RTS early-evening event: Sherlock – anatomy of a hit

228

18 March

RTS Programme Awards 2013

854

26 March

RTS Futures: Sun, sex and suspicious formats

76

24 April

RTS Futures: Making it in TV design

93

13 May

Joint Public Lecture with IET: D r Michael Lynch OBE, FREng – Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future 269

16 May

RTS Student Television Awards 2013

231

19 May

RTS Futures: Speed date the entertainment gurus

35

20 May

RTS AGM

12

27 May

RTS early-evening event: TV retweeted

94

3 June

RTS session: To quota or not to quota, at Diversify, part of Creative Week

185

3 June

RTS Futures summer party

240

24 June

RTS APPG event: Future funding for the BBC

9 September

RTS London Conference: Power, politics and the media

22 September

RTS Futures: I made it in… drama

68

23 September

RTS early-evening event: Tim Davie in conversation with Cathy Newman

120

6 October RTS Futures: Shooting stars – a beginners’ guide to self-shooting

40

27 October

RTS Student Programme Masterclasses (233 booked)

138

29 October

RTS Futures: How to survive as a freelancer

47

6 November

RTS Patron reception

85

11 November

RTS early-evening event: Doctor Who – anatomy of a hit 299

17 November

RTS APPG event: TV diversity – who will win your vote?

24 November

RTS Higher Education Day: Getting into the media

124

25 November

RTS Student Craft Masterclasses

302

26 November

RTS early-evening event: Connected TV decoded

137

26 November

RTS session: The Cotton Film: Dirty White Gold, part of Sustainability Week at The Hospital Club

c30

1 December

RTS Craft & Design Awards 2013/14

341

5 December

RTS Legends: In conversation with… Cilla Black OBE

103

8 December

RTS early-evening event: UK television’s USP – just how unique are we?

131

9 December

RTS Futures: I made it… on-screen

108

73 359

91

once a year to present on the annual exhibition and strategic issues. In 2014, the Trustees also received a progress update on the digital hub at each meeting.

17 PATRONS Once again we thank our Royal Patron, HRH The Prince of Wales, the Trustees of the Society, all the RTS Chairs, Centres Council Members, members of the former Advisory Council and Officers for giving us so much of their time.

The Society was delighted to welcome eight new Patrons in the course of the year: EY, Fujitsu, IBM, Lumina Search, Turner Broadcasting System Inc, Virgin Media, YouTube and YouView. The RTS was disappointed that four companies – Channel Television, Ikegami, ROAR Global and RTL Group – were unable to renew their Patron status.

The RTS All Party Parliamentary Group dinner, held in January with Collette Bowe, was also a patron event. In addition, an evening reception was held for RTS Patrons in the Undercroft Museum at Westminster Abbey in November, with 85 people in attendance. Patrons were welcomed by the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster Abbey. RTS CEO Theresa Wise updated Patrons on the progress of the Society’s growth strategy.

18 RTS HISTORY ADVISORY GROUP The Society’s History Advisory Group was formed out of the History and Archive Group to support the RTS’s aim of advancing awareness of all historical aspects of television among its members and the public.

In the course of the year, the group created an extensive timeline of British television history, which will be available on the Society’s website.

In addition to answering specific questions from Trustees and executives, the group has reached out directly to educational institutions and to equivalent groups in museums, companies and other societies (including the IET and SMPTE) to establish and consolidate an extended network of historical expertise.

The group assesses applications for the Shiers Trust grant and recommends one or more recipients to the Society. In 2014, the £2,000 award was shared between Dr Sheldon Hall, whose Armchair Cinema is a study of feature films on British television, and Marc Scott, whose research focuses on the unofficial development of television in Australia.

IBC 2014, in which the RTS is a partner, enjoyed a record attendance

19 VOLUNTEERS The Society was supported by a team of up to 11 full-time staff during the year, but the success of its activities has always been dependent on the expertise and dedication of hundreds of volunteers who plan and deliver different aspects of its programme. These include not only the members of centre committees and national specialist committees, but awards jurors, contributors to Television, event speakers, panellists and producers.

20 FUNDRAISING ACTIVITIES The Society’s two wholly owned subsidiaries – RTS Enterprises Ltd, which organises awards events and conferences, and RTS (IBC) Ltd – continued to generate surpluses which have been covenanted back to the charity during the year to fund charitable activities.

RTS Enterprises Ltd held a number of awards events and a conference during the year. RTS (IBC) Ltd holds an 18% interest in the IBC conference and exhibition.

21 RECOGNITION The Society bids a fond farewell to Claire Price, who stepped down at the beginning of 2015 as Deputy CEO. Claire’s unflappable presence and flair for organisation will be much missed by all those who are regular attenders of RTS events.

We were saddened to note the passing this year of Michael Bunce OBE and Tony Pilgrim MBE, both of whom played an important role in the development of the RTS.

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ROYAL TELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

TRUSTEES’ REPORT – CENTRES

2

The RTS in the nations and regions Bristol More than 100 guests (a similar number to 2013) attended the West of England Student Television Awards in February at the Watershed in Bristol to celebrate the best young talent in the region.

In March, Carol Vorderman hosted the West of England Awards ceremony in front of a full house of 500 people at the Bristol Old Vic (a little over 400 attended in 2013). The Ambrose Fleming Award, for making an outstanding contribution to the industry, was presented to the Timeshift team, for its extraordinary series of documentaries on BBC Four.

Over the summer, the Centre Committee regrouped and expanded to reflect the range of independent producers and post-production houses in the region.

In September, the centre co-hosted an event with the BBC and Watershed to recognise the prodigious talents of Colin Rose, who founded the BBC’s animation unit, commissioned Nick Park’s The Wrong Trousers and exec-produced Sylvain Chomet’s film, Belleville Rendez-vous. The

30

evening, introduced by Director of BBC England Peter Salmon, attracted more than 300 guests.

A sell-out RTS Futures event in October took a look at digital skills with Dan Efergan, Creative Director of Digital at Aardman, and Zodiak Media Multi-platform Producer Ben Freeman.

In November, the annual autumn supper for chief executives and creative directors saw almost all the region’s indies, plus the BBC Natural History Unit and BBC Features, represented for an evening of lively discussion.

As the year ended, The One Show presenter Mike Dilger and DIY SOS’s Mark Millar hosted the centre’s first TV quiz. Ten teams battled it out and Tigress Productions, led by Managing Director Dick Colthurst, took the prize.

Lynn Barlow, Chair

London The centre held 13 events (14 in 2013) across its spring and autumn seasons, generally on alternate Wednesday evenings at ITV’s London Studios. The Centre Committee is very grateful to

ITV for its continuing support. The wide-ranging programme was designed to complement the Society’s centrally organised events in London: ◗ The spring season started with a presentation from audience research company Barb on how it gathers information on viewing across different devices ◗ The centre’s Student Television Awards attracted an impressive number of entries, and their range and quality was very encouraging ◗ In February, an expert panel surveyed the previous month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and gave an entertaining insight into rapidly changing TV technologies ◗ The centre’s AGM in April was held in conjunction with “Sharpen your sound”, an event that looked at the part that sound plays in the creative process ◗ At the end of their first month on air, executives and on-screen talent from London Live explained how they launched the UK’s biggest local-TV station ◗ At the end of May, the Digital Television Group revealed the findings of its Future of Innovation in Television Technology Taskforce

London Centre audience discussion and (inset) Bill Bailey, winner at the RTS West of England Awards, organised by Bristol Centre

◗ The annual RTS/Focal Jane Mercer Memorial Lecture was given by Anthony Wall, who offered a fascinating insight into the extensive archive of BBC arts strand Arena ◗ The autumn season began with a review of the latest kit and services on show at IBC, organised jointly with the Institution of Engineering and Technology ◗ A popular event in October examined the use of major international sporting events, such as the 2014 Commonwealth Games, to test new TV technologies ◗ In early November, key members of the Princess Productions team described how they make Channel 5 daytime show, The Wright Stuff ◗ The season ended with “Interactive programming: the business case”, which examined the commercial value of interactive TV formats.

The centre also held two member-only events: a visit to the BT Sport operation in London’s Olympic Park and a tour around New Broadcasting House.

Demand for the latter was so great that a second tour was organised. The centre’s membership rose to 1,984, from 1,324 in 2013.

Kristin Mason, Chair

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ROYAL TELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

Midlands In March, the centre joined a number of other partners, including Birmingham City Council Film Office and the Writers’ Guild, to organise the Birmingham Film and TV Summit, which was attended by 140 delegates. The centre organised five roadshows to spread news of the summit to other parts of the region.

Two executive producers – Tim Key from Red Planet and Claire Ingham from Company Pictures – spoke at the event, which also offered sessions on careers in the media, film finance, developing skills and commissioning.

In the evening, the centre’s annual Baird Lecture, “The integration of social and digital into broadcasting”, was given by Mars El Brogy from local-TV station London Live.

A new initiative, an education programme for secondary school students, involved a series of four-hour workshops at 10 schools in the region.

The first half of each workshop provided information about jobs in TV and advice on how to land them. In the second half, students worked in groups to develop and pitch programme ideas.

The winning teams from each school were invited to a final in July, where a panel of judges picked an overall winner. The programme was well received and will run again in 2015.

Richard Salmon, Lead Research Engineer at BBC Research & Development, spoke to a joint meeting of RTS Midlands and Institution of Engineering and Technology members in Birmingham at the end of April about Ultra-HDTV. In October, 350 guests assembled at the National Motorcycle Museum to see actress Vicky McClure collect the Baird Medal at the centre’s Annual Awards. The ceremony was hosted by ITV News Central presenters Sameena Ali-Khan – who picked up the Best On-screen Personality Award – and Gareth Owen. The RTS Midlands Student Television Awards, which drew 41 entries from colleges in the region, were held at the same time. The 2013 Awards, held at the Birmingham City Holiday Inn, attracted nearly 300 guests and 40 student film entries.

In December, John Fletcher and John Zubrzycki from BBC Research & Development gave a presentation on the trial of Ultra-HDTV at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow during the summer.

Isabel Clarke, Chair

North East and the Border The centre boosted attendance at its events in 2014 as a result of partnering with local screen agency Northern Film and Media and the North

32

AN EDUCATION PROGRAMME FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS INVOLVED A SERIES OF FOUR-HOUR WORKSHOPS AT 10 SCHOOLS IN THE REGION

Panellists at London Centre’s ‘London Live’ discussion (top) and Midlands Centre jointevent speaker, writer Steven Knight (bottom)

East branch of the Radio Academy. Eight events were held (nine in 2013): ◗ The first event of the year focused on Made TV, the successful bidder for the local-TV licence in the region. It drew more than 100 people to the Live Theatre on Newcastle’s Quayside ◗ The doyenne of Sky News, Kay Burley, was interviewed about her career in February. More than 150 people attended the event at Sunderland University to hear Burley discuss sexism in newsrooms, tabloid disclosures about her personal life and the lengths that she is prepared to go “to be first” in breaking the news

◗ Nearly 200 children from schools across the North East and Cumbria created documentaries, animations and dramas for the Young People’s Media Festival at the David Puttnam Media Centre in Sunderland in May ◗ The centre hosted a lunchtime reception in October for cameraman Les Coates, who has notched up 50 years as a freelancer. He was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award ◗ In November, the creators and stars of Byker Grove gathered at a sell-out event at the Tyneside Cinema, 25 years after the children’s drama first aired on BBC One. The series ran for 17 years and launched the careers of countless actors, writers and crew, including Ant and Dec – who sent a pre-recorded contribution – and the Oscar-­ winning director of The King’s Speech, Tom Hooper ◗ The “Review of the Year” was held at the Live Theatre in December. Quizmasters Tony Edwards and Graeme Aldous hosted the pre-Christmas treat, which attracted teams from local shows Vera and Look North, as well as from universities and production companies.

Graeme Thompson, Chair

North West

◗ More than 400 guests attended the centre’s Annual Awards in March (the 2013 ceremony was much the same size). Winners included ITV series Vera (Drama) and Tales from Northumberland with Robson Green (Factual). Jacqui Hodgson, Editor of the BBC’s regional current affairs strand Inside Out, received the Centre Award from RTS CEO Theresa Wise ◗ The art of TV voiceover was illustrated in “Big Voices”, which featured Peter Dickson (The X Factor) and Alan Dedicoat (Strictly Come Dancing), and drew a capacity audience of 200 to the Live Theatre in March

The Young People’s Media Festival (top) and Byker Grove reunion event (bottom), both organised by North East and the Border Centre

RTS North West continued to increase the range and size of its events thanks to the growth of the TV industry in Salford’s MediaCity UK. The centre’s progress was also boosted by other local developments, such as Manchester’s new production facility, The Sharp Project, and by marshalling the talents of RTS members and supporters, such as the Liverpool Film Office.

Ten events were held (seven in 2013): ◗ In January, members spent an evening in the company of Channel 4 News Political Correspondent Michael Crick at Quay House, Salford, hosted by former North West Tonight Political Editor Jim Hancock ◗ The centre’s Student Television Awards were presented by North West Tonight’s Annabel Tiffin at a ceremony held at the Lowry Theatre, Salford, in February. Dan Isaacs, from drama producer Kudos, was the guest speaker at the event. The ceremony followed a series of sessions with industry experts, produced in partnership with Salford University, which was attended by 250 students, a huge increase on the 110 students who went in 2013 ◗ Some 240 TV industry workers attended the “Great big telly quiz 2014” in the same month (220 competed in 2013). The Lowry Theatre event, now in its fourth year, was organised by a team from ITV Entertainment and once again featured an accordionist playing TV theme tunes ◗ In April, the centre put on an exclusive,

33

ROYAL TELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

CREATORS AND STARS OF BYKER GROVE ATTENDED ASELL-OUT EVENT 25 YEARS AFTER THE SERIES AIRED ON BBC ONE

pre-transmission screening of ITV drama Prey, followed by a Q&A with cast and crew, including lead actors John Simm and Rosie Cavaliero ◗ A “Liverpool locations tour” in June visited the city’s spookiest film and TV locations ◗ In July, the centre held a Q&A with award-­ winning writer Jimmy McGovern and screened his new BBC One drama, Common, at BBC North in Salford ◗ The North West Awards launch party was held in September at the Lowry Theatre, where the nomination shortlist was revealed by CBBC ­presenter Katie Thistleton and Newsround’s Aysha Tull ◗ In October, to celebrate the launch of The Furchester Hotel, a new children’s series from CBeebies and Sesame Workshop, the centre invited speakers and puppeteers from Mackinnon & Saunders, Strange Hill High, CBBC and The Furchester Hotel to the Lowry Theatre. The event, “No strings attached”, was a sell-out ◗ Later that month, the centre jointly hosted its first family event with BBC Learning/ BBC Music, a screening of Ten Pieces. The film features classical music played by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The Ten Pieces project aims to open up classical music to children ◗ In November, the RTS North West Awards took place at the Hilton Deansgate, matching 2013’s sell-out attendance of 470 guests. The top awards went to John Simm, Sarah Lancashire, Jimmy McGovern and Red Production Company.

Alex Connock, Chair

Northern Ireland This was another successful year for the centre, as it continued to improve its outreach to the local creative sector and to the next generation of media professionals.

In February, the centre organised a workshop, run by Green Inc Head of Production Helen Murray, for a group of 35 budding production managers.

The first Northern Ireland Student Television Awards, held in March at Belfast Metropolitan College, were attended by more than 100 students, politicians – including the Minister for Employment and Learning, Dr Stephen Farry – and media professionals.

In the same month, more than 50 people attended an RTS Futures Northern Ireland “Meet the pro” event in March. In the hot seat was the Centre Chair in his capacity of UTV Ireland Managing Director.

In May, a group of 18 RTS members visited the Divis Transmitter, which has been a feature of the Belfast skyline since the 1950s and today is

34

the major source of digital terrestrial television for viewers in the east of Northern Ireland.

In June, more than 90 people attended the first RTS Northern Ireland “Telly pub quiz of the year”, hosted by local television presenter Pamela Ballentine.

The Director General of RTÉ, Noel Curran, gave the annual Dan Gilbert Memorial Lecture, which took place in November in conjunction with the Belfast Media Festival. On the same day, former RTS Northern Ireland Committee member Bill Shaw was awarded the Pilgrim Award by CEO Theresa Wise and Hon Secretary David Lowen for his service to the RTS over more than 50 years.

Later in November, more than 200 students and young people attended RTS Futures Northern Ireland’s annual Media Careers Fair. This was a substantial increase on the 120 people who attended the equivalent Futures event in 2013, “How to make the most of your time in further and higher education”.

Michael Wilson, Chair

Republic of Ireland The Centre Committee is pleased to acknowledge the valuable patronage and support from RTÉ that enabled the centre to put on its programme of events. The Centre Committee was particularly delighted to host, with RTÉ’s assistance, the RTS Centres’ Council meeting in June.

Ten other events were organised (seven in 2013): ◗ The first meeting of the year was a tribute to James Plunkett, author of Dublin novel Strumpet City, by film-maker Ian Graham ◗ The RTS Republic of IreIand Student Television Awards, held in February at RTÉ, were attended by around 70 people and attracted 19 entries.

RTÉ One’s then-Channel Controller, George Dixon, presented the awards. In 2013, the awards had a very similar attendance of around 70, and drew 21 entries. ◗ In March, documentary-maker Sé Merry Doyle talked about his award-winning film, John Ford: Dreaming the Quiet Man ◗ Three-times IFTA recipient Ray Roantree gave a very popular editing masterclass in May ◗ Donald Taylor Black, Creative Director of the National Film School in Dun Laoghaire, hosted a tour of its new studio later the same month ◗ Centre members were invited by Vikings producer Morgan O’Sullivan to visit the set of the historical blockbuster at the newly built Ashford Studios in September ◗ Production designer Quentin Mitchell, who worked at RTÉ before returning to his native Australia some years ago, was welcomed back at a centre social event that month

Rex Ingram was the subject of an RTS Republic of Ireland documentary screening

GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD OF RTS EVENTS 150

33 125

RTS Northern Ireland speaker RTÉ Director General Noel Curran (left)

National events in London

27 26

100

14

19 14

85

16

13

75

63

Number of events

RTS Republic of Ireland organised a visit to the set of Vikings

◗ Ian Graham presented his documentary on silent-film director Rex Ingram to an enthusiastic audience in October ◗ Emmy winner Peter Canning was the guest speaker in October, giving an account of the complex lighting and visual set-up in Sochi for the ceremonies at the 2014 Winter Olympics ◗ In December, Conor Doyle showed clips from the archives of the Theatre Royal, the historic Dublin palace of “cine-variety” – a hybrid of live and celluloid entertainment.

Charles Byrne, Chair

Centre events in London

76

66

50

Events outside London

25

0

2011

2012

2013

2014

Scotland In January, the centre held two masterclasses at BBC Scotland’s Glasgow studio complex. The first featured Michael Hines, who shared his experiences of directing hit BBC comedies Chewin’ the Fat and Still Game. In the second, Paul Murray (Channel 4’s Location, Location, Location) talked students through the process of format development, pitching and commissioning.

The action then moved to the BBC Viewing

35

ROYAL TELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

Theatre for the Student Television Awards ceremony. More than 30 entries were received, up from 18 the previous year. The theatre was filled to its 50-seat capacity in both years.

In May, “Broadcasting in an independent Scotland”, at City of Glasgow College, was the occasion for a major policy statement by SNP Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop MSP in advance of the independence referendum. She argued that, with a Yes vote, the current TV and radio workforce in Scotland of 3,200 could almost double in size.

The first RTS Scotland Awards for decades were held at Òran Mór, Glasgow, in June in front of an audience of more than 200 people. The RTS Scotland Award went to Peter Capaldi, who joined the ceremony via a video link from the Doctor Who set in Wales.

A student networking event, organised by RTS Scotland student interns Bethany Miller, Amy MacKinnon and Jonny Kerr, was held in Glasgow in November.

In December, more than 30 RTS Scotland members enjoyed a fascinating insight into the successful launch of local-TV station STV Glasgow and a preview of the service planned by STV Edinburgh for early 2015.

James Wilson, Chair

Southern Centre Student Television Awards winner (right) and (inset) North East and the Border Centre speaker, Kay Burley of Sky News

Southern The centre’s year began with a members visit to the BBC’s New Broadcasting House in January.

The following month, 220 people attended the Southern Centre Awards at Winchester Guildhall, which featured the work of 10 indies, three regional broadcasters and student work from four universities. The 2013 ceremony was attended by 170 people and featured work from eight indies, three regional broadcasters and three universities.

Two hundred media students from across the South attended the centre’s “Meet the professionals” event at Bournemouth University in March, a significant increase on the 2013 attendance of 140. Thirteen TV professionals were available to meet informally with students, including then-ITV Commissioning Editor, Factual Katy Thorogood, as well as executives from Lion TV, Talent South, Bedlam Productions, Topical TV, BBC South East and ITV Meridian.

In September, the centre put on “The future of

36

NORTH WEST CENTRE’S EXCLUSIVE SCREENING OF PREY FEATURED A Q&A WITH CAST AND CREW

the BBC’s TV Centre” at Queen Mary College, Basingstoke. The details of decommissioning and facilitating the rebirth of one of Britain’s most iconic buildings made for an interesting story, which was outlined by Lynden Potter, Andrew Wheeler and Andrew Fullerton, members of the BBC team responsible for the process.

Some 140 journalism students met with 15 working journalists at “Working in journalism”, which was held at Southampton Solent University in November. The event began with a formal session featuring BBC Head of Newsgathering Jonathan Munro, ITV Head of Digital News Jason Mills and Sky News Editor, Digital Neil Dunwoodie, before the students met the journalists informally.

Gordon Cooper, Chair

Thames Valley Thames Valley had another busy year, hosting seven events and organising two visits: (eight events were held in 2013) ◗ In January, Panasonic showed members the latest consumer and broadcast technology at its Bracknell facility ◗ The following month, Snell’s Mike Knee presented “New generation scalable motion processing from mobile to 4K and beyond”, which won IBC 2013’s Best Conference Paper award ◗ In March, the centre hosted an event on the serial digital interface, posing the question: “The death of SDI… is it finally here?” A panel of experts was ably refereed by John Ive ◗ The annual NAB review in May assembled a top-level panel, chaired by Dick Hobbs, to discuss the themes of the Las Vegas trade show ◗ July offered a remarkable insight into Germany’s Second World War Enigma cipher machine from former merchant navy radio officer and broadcast engineer Alan Watson, who also brought along rare versions of the machines to show the audience ◗ In October, the centre organised a visit to Sony’s Digital Motion Picture Centre Europe at Pinewood Studios ◗ SDNsquare co-founder Lieven Vermaele gave a lecture on “Network infrastructures for media applications” in November ◗ At the end of that month, the centre’s annual dinner dance was attended by more than 400 guests (452 in 2013) ◗ Rounding off the year, in December, Scalable Video Systems’ Alfred Krug gave a presentation on “IT-TV-Live”, a new framework for live video switching and effects that could revolutionise outside broadcasting.

Penny Westlake, Chair

37

ROYAL TELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

Ron Jones, RTS Wales speaker at the National Eisteddfod

Wales The centre produced a wide-ranging programme of 13 events during the year (the same number as in 2013): ◗ The RTS Wales Student Television Awards were presented at the Zoom International Youth Film Festival before an audience of 150 students and schoolchildren at Bridgend College in March (2013 figures are not available) ◗ The “Breaking into Factual TV” event at the University of South Wales in the same month was equally well attended ◗ Sinead Kirwan and Owen Gower previewed their crowdfunded film about the 1984-85 miners’ strike, Still the Enemy Within, in April. The screening at Treorchy’s Park & Dare Theatre was attended by former miners who recognised themselves in the archive footage ◗ In May, RTS Wales invited former student award winners to the Ffresh Student Film Festival at Cardiff’s Cineworld. The young directors showed their winning films and offered advice on how to get on the first step of the career ladder ◗ The centre’s AGM, also in May, was followed by a “Meet the CEOs” event featuring the heads of BBC Wales, S4C and ITV Wales ◗ Students at Cardiff University contributed some very insightful questions at a discussion in June about how science is covered on television ◗ Members and guests toured Comux UK’s localTV Network Operations Centre in Birmingham in June ◗ The centre’s annual Welsh-language event at the National Eisteddfod in Llanelli in August saw Ron Jones, the founder of leading production company Tinopolis, discuss the future of the creative industries in Wales ◗ In the autumn, the centre organised two sessions

38

RTS Wales ‘Meet the CEOs’ event (from left): Rhodri Talfan Davies, BBC Cymru Wales; Phil Henfrey, ITV Cymru Wales; Theresa Wise, RTS; and Ian Jones, S4C

RTS Yorkshire’s Annual Programme Awards were held at The Royal Armouries in Leeds

in Cardiff and Aberystwyth at which S4C explained its £4m Digital Fund. Gamers, indies and students discovered how to secure investment for digital services and apps with the potential for commercial exploitation ◗ Arri demonstrated its Ultra-HDTV Amira camera – one of IBC 2014’s “must-see exhibits” – in October to a large and enthusiastic audience, which included several young film-makers ◗ In “Anatomy of a hit: Bargain Hunt”, Series Producer Julia Foot and her team gave the inside story on this daytime TV perennial, which has been made in Cardiff since summer 2014 ◗ A team from BBC Wales Factual won the Christmas quiz. Considerable festive cheer was shared by the teams of broadcasters, freelancers and independent producers.

Tim Hartley, Chair

‘SO YOU WANT TO WORK IN VIDEOGAMES?’ WAS PUT ON WITH Yorkshire THE the centre joined with the University of WRITERS’ InYorkApril, and Heslington Studios to hold the first GUILD OF “Production Convention” at the university. The event, which attracted more than 190 people GREAT during the course of the day, was aimed at proBRITAIN fessionals engaged in the creation, management

A London Centre event dissected The Wright Stuff

and delivery of TV and film.

In June, the Annual Programme Awards celebrated their 10th year with a star-studded dinner and ceremony at The Royal Armouries in Leeds.

Some 264 people attended an event hosted by Matthew Burton and Michael Steer, two of the teachers from Channel 4’s RTS award-winning documentary Educating Yorkshire. The 2013 Programme Awards attracted 281 guests.

The centre co-sponsored a three-day international conference on media archaeology with the University of Bradford, Bradford City of Film and the National Media Museum in September.

In November, the centre co-sponsored “So you want to work in videogames?” with the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain. More than 30 people attended the event at West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Later in the same month, York Racecourse provided the setting for the centre’s annual Student Television Awards. Almost 400 people attended the event, which featured a record number of 62 entries from nine universities and colleges in the region. In 2013, 300 people attended the Student Television Awards, which attracted 41 entries from 10 universities and colleges.

In December, five teams battled it out in the centre’s inaugural TV quiz at the Trinity Arts Centre in Leeds, which was won by a team from BBC Look North.

Mike Best, Chair

39

ROYAL T ELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

FINANCIAL REPORT

II

Governance and finance 1 Structure, governance and management CONSTITUTION Royal Television Society is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE The Society is UK-based with its head office in London. It has Centres in Bristol, Devon & Cornwall, London, Midlands, North East and the Border, North West, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Southern Counties, Thames Valley, Wales and Yorkshire.

The Society has two trading subsidiaries, RTS Enterprises Limited and RTS (IBC) Limited, whose principal activities are the organising and staging of courses, exhibitions and other events related to television and broadcasting.

The Society’s governing body is the Board of Trustees, which comprises: ◗ The Chair of the Board of Trustees (two-year term, renewable for a second term); ◗ The Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees (two-year term, renewable for a second term); ◗ The Honorary Secretary (three-year term, renewable for a further three-year term, and eligible for re-appointment for such number of further terms as the Board of Trustees shall consider appropriate); ◗ The Honorary Treasurer (three-year term, renewable for a further three-year term, and eligible for re-appointment for

40

such number of further terms as the Board of Trustees shall consider appropriate); ◗ One person elected by the Principal Patrons Group (two-year term, renewable for a second term); ◗ One person elected by those members of the Centres’ Council who represent Centres in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (two-years, renewable for a second term); ◗ One person elected by those members of the Centres’ Council who represent Centres in England (two-years, renewable for a second term); and ◗ Such number (not exceeding six) of additional persons co-opted by the Board of Trustees as the Board of Trustees may from time to time decide (two-years, renewable for a second term).

Trustees receive a briefing document that includes rules and background on the governance of the Society. The Society ensures that Trustees are fully aware of their duties and responsibilities to the charity and these are discussed at the regular meetings of the Board of Trustees and the Centre Officers.

PATRONS AND VICE PRESIDENTS The Society has appointed a Patron, a President and Vice Presidents, who contribute to the Society but without a functional role in its governance. The Society is proud that HRH The Prince of Wales has been its Royal Patron since 1997.

The President and Vice Presidents are distinguished figures in the television and wider community, available to add support to the Trustees and activities of the Society, though not holding the position or responsibilities of a Trustee or engaging in the Society’s governance.

The range and composition of the Vice Presidents are regularly reviewed by the Honorary Secretary and Trustees.

2 Objectives and activities The Society’s objects and its principal activity are the advancement of public education in the science, practice, technology and art of television; and the advancement of the arts and culture, in particular by promoting and encouraging the achievement of high standards of creativity in television and allied fields.

The Society seeks to maintain and strengthen its position as the leading impartial platform for delivering these objects through events organised nationally and through its 13 regional Centres.

The wider public can access and contribute to the charity’s activities through its magazine, website and open events. The Trustees meet four times a year to consider the strategy for delivering public benefit and specialist committees are established to organise events.

ACTIVITIES 2014 In 2014 the Society has produced a large number of events to fulfil its strategic and charitable objects. Some of the most significant events are detailed in other parts of this report. The Society is fortunate to be able to call on leading specialists from the television community and allied fields to work together on planning and delivering its programme.

3 Financial review RESERVES POLICY In line with Charity Commission guidance, the Board of Trustees has adopted a formal reserves policy. This recognises that the income of the Society does not arise evenly year on year, or across each year, and so it is prudent to hold appropriate free reserves to enable the Society to properly plan its activities.

The policy also recognises that the reserves that represent the fixed assets and the restricted and designated funds of the Society are not freely available and thus need to be distinguished from free reserves.

The future structure of television, broadcasting and related audio-visual enterprises remains uncertain, as the ease of digital transport and copying, and the proliferation of new delivery channels and reception devices continues unabated.

The organisations that are currently the Society’s main funders are being affected in different ways and this may impact on our major sources of revenue.

As we implement our strategic plan, we intend to increase annual expenditure to enhance our digital media, educational, youth and regional offerings, during a period in which new revenues are yet to emerge.

It is therefore the intention of the Board of Trustees to hold free reserves representing no more than four years’ average annual expenditure. The Board has taken account of the subsidiaries’ reserves when determining this figure. Free reserves exclude designated funds In 2012 any remaining funds that had previously been designated for projects completed in the year were transferred to general reserves. A new fund of £1m was designated from general reserves for the implementation of the strategy plans (the “Transformation Fund”). The balance on the Transformation Fund stood at £0.6m at the end of 2014 (£0.9m in 2013).

Based on the results for the two years ended 31 December 2014, the Society’s reserves policy would stipulate an amount of free reserves of no more than £7.1m. The level of free reserves as at 31 December 2014 was £5.9m and it is the Board of Trustees’ anticipation that free reserves may reduce in the coming years as our strategic plans bed in.

The Board of Trustees reviews the reserves policy and the level of reserves at least once a year in the light of current and anticipated levels of income and of the Society’s planned activities.

FUNDING SOURCES The principal funding sources during the year continued to be the profits gifted by the charity’s subsidiaries, patron donations and membership fees.

The charity’s wholly owned subsidiaries, RTS Enterprises Ltd and RTS (IBC) Ltd, gifted profits of £3,132 (2013: £47,749) and £1,200,927 (2013: £1,171,450) respectively. The funds gifted are used by the charity to meet its charitable expenditure. The Trustees are satisfied with the current performance of both subsidiaries, which provide sufficient additional funds for the charity to meet its charitable objectives.

Voluntary income remains an invaluable source of income for the charity. During the year income from patrons was £397,530

41

FINANCE

RISK MANAGEMENT The major risks to which the Society is exposed as identified by the Board of Trustees are and will continue to be regularly reviewed and systems have been and will be established, and, where appropriate, professional advisors have been or will be appointed to mitigate those risks.

The RTS keeps a risk register, which is reviewed and updated twice a year by the Audit Committee and overseen by the Board of Trustees. Key risks include: reputation; keeping focus relevant, particularly at major conferences; the digital hub; and the current performance of IBC. The Audit Committee, chaired by Jane Lighting, meets twice a year. The committee takes delegated responsibility on behalf of the Board of Trustees for ensuring there is a framework of accountability for examining and reviewing all systems and methods of control, both financial and otherwise. This includes risk analysis and risk management, and ensuring that the charity is complying with all aspects of the law, relevant regulations and good practice.

In 2013, the Audit Committee evaluated the performance of the external auditors, Arram Berlyn Gardner, particularly with respect to independence in view of the length of time the engagement partner had been in place.

The evaluation, which was presented to the March 2014 Committee meeting, concluded that the audit process was effective and that Arram Berlyn Gardner had sufficient checks and procedures in place to ensure that it can maintain its independence and objectivity .

In 2014 the Committee reviewed an investment policy (that was subsequently agreed by the Board of Trustees) to help the Society get best value from its surplus funds in a period of continuing low interest rates.

ROYAL T ELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

(2013: £335,305) and membership fees received were £168,527, of which £49,837 were deferred at the year end (2013: £121,101).

INVESTMENT POWERS, POLICY AND PERFORMANCE Under the Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Society has the power to make any investment that the Board of Trustees sees fit.

The Board of Trustees approved a new investment policy in the year and will be appointing one or more investment managers in 2015 to ensure that a reasonable return is generated on free reserves, allied to an acceptable appetite for risk and liquidity considerations.

As can be seen from the balance sheet, investments are currently held as bank deposits, which ensures that funds are available when required but produce a limited return.

As at the year-end the group had cash balances of £6,052,264 (2013: £6,410,222) of which £5,886,961 (2013: £6,176,505) was held on deposit, generating interest income of £50,746 (2013: £98,475) over the course of the year.

In the consolidated balance sheet, an investment of £54,000 (2013: £54,000) is shown representing an 18% interest in the International Broadcasting Convention. This investment generated a surplus of £1,200,927 (2013: £1,171,450) during the year, which is included in the funding sources above, and the Board of Trustees is pleased with the continued return on this investment.

4 Plans for future periods As noted elsewhere in this Report, the Society will be implementing its strategic plan over the next three to five years and enhancing its range of activities.

5 Administrative details LEGAL DETAILS

Legal entity Company limited by guarantee and registered charity Governing instrument Memorandum and Articles of Association Date of incorporation 12 July 1930 Company number 00249462 Charity number 313728

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ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Registered office and principal address 3 Dorset Rise London EC4Y 8EN Bankers National Westminster Bank plc PO Box 11302 332 High Holborn London WC1V 7PD Solicitors Farrer & Co 66 Lincoln’s Inn Fields London WC2A 3LH Auditors Arram Berlyn Gardner LLP 30 City Road London EC1Y 2AB Patron HRH The Prince of Wales President Sir Peter Bazalgette Vice Presidents Dawn Airey Sir David Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE FRS Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE Dame Colette Bowe OBE John Cresswell Mike Darcey Greg Dyke Lorraine Heggessey Ashley Highfield Rt Hon Dame Tessa Jowell MP David Lynn Sir Trevor McDonald OBE Ken MacQuarrie Trevor Phillips OBE Stewart Purvis CBE John Smith Sir Howard Stringer Mark Thompson Chair John Hardie

AUDITORS On 1 July 2014 Arram Berlyn Gardner was incorporated as Arram Berlyn Gardner LLP. Arram Berlyn Gardner LLP are deemed to be appointed as auditors and will be proposed for reappointment at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

Chair of the Board of Trustees John Hardie Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees Tim Davie Honorary Secretary David Lowen Honorary Treasurer Mike Green Trustees Tim Davie (Elected by the Board of Trustees) Huw Jones (Elected by the centres who represent Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) Jane Lighting (Co-opted by the Board of Trustees) Graham McWilliam (Elected by the Board of Trustees) Simon Pitts (Elected by the Principal Patrons Group) Graeme Thompson (Elected by the centres who represent Centres in England) Chief Executive Theresa Wise Deputy Chief Executive Claire Price (until January 2015) Standing Committees of the Board of Trustees Audit Committee Jane Lighting (Chair) Tim Davie Mike Green Huw Jones Remuneration Committee John Hardie (Chair) Mike Green David Lowen Executive Management Group John Hardie (Chair) Mike Green David Lowen Simon Pitts Claire Price (until December 2014) Graham McWilliam Theresa Wise

TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the Trustees have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). The financial statements are required by law to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Society at the year end and of its incoming resources and resources expended during that year. In preparing those financial statements, the Trustees are required: ◗ To select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently ◗ To make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent ◗ To prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Society will continue in business.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Society and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006.

They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Society and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the Society’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

STATEMENT OF DISCLOSURE TO AUDITOR 1 So far as the Trustees are aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the Society’s auditors are unaware, and 2 They have taken all the steps that they ought to have taken as Trustees in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the Society’s auditors are aware of that information.

APPROVAL This Report was approved by the Board of Trustees on 19 March 2015 and signed on its behalf by: John Hardie Chair of the Board of Trustees

43

FINANCE

DIRECTORS AND TRUSTEES The Trustees of the charitable company (“the charity”) are its Trustees for the purposes of charity law and throughout this report are collectively referred to as the Board of Trustees. As set out in the Articles of Association the Chair of the Board of Trustees is elected by the Board of Trustees for a two-year term.

The Trustees serving during the period of the report are as follows:

ROYAL T ELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

Consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2014 Independent auditors’ report to the Members of the RTS We have audited the financial statements of Royal Television Society for the year ended 31 December 2014, which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities/Income and Expenditure Account, the Group and Charity’s Balance Sheet and the related notes. The financial statements framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

This report is made solely to the charity’s Members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of The Companies Act 2006 and to the charity’s Trustees, as a body, in accordance with Section 151 of the Charities Act 2011, and the regulations made under Section 154 of that Act. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s Members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s Members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

RESPECTIVE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES AND AUDITORS As explained more fully in the Trustees’ Responsibilities Statement set out on page 43, the Trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view.

We have been appointed auditor under the Companies Act 2006 and Section 151 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with those Acts. Our responsibility is to audit and express an opinion on the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland).

Those standards require us to comply with the Auditing Practices Board’s Ethical Standards for Auditors.

SCOPE OF THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS An audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements sufficient to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or error. This includes an assessment of: whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the charitable company’s circumstances and have consistently been applied and adequately disclosed; the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by the trustees; and the overall presentation of the financial statements.

In addition, we read all the financial and non-financial information in the Trustees’ Annual Report to identify material inconsistencies with the audited financial statements and to

44

identify any information that is apparently materially incorrect based on, or materially inconsistent with, the knowledge acquired by us in the course of performing the audit. If we become aware of any apparent material misstatements or inconsistencies we consider the implications for our report.

OPINION ON FINANCIAL STATEMENTS In our opinion the financial statements: ◗ Give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and the parent charitable company’s affairs as at 31 December 2014 and of the group’s incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended; ◗ Have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and ◗ The financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011.

OPINION ON OTHER MATTERS PRESCRIBED BY THE COMPANIES ACT 2006 In our opinion the information given in the Trustees’ Annual Report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements.

MATTERS ON WHICH WE ARE REQUIRED TO REPORT BY EXCEPTION We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion: ◗ The parent charitable company has not kept adequate and sufficient accounting records, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or ◗ The parent charitable company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or ◗ Certain disclosures of Trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or ◗ We have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or ◗ The Trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies exemption in preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report.

Paul Berlyn (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Arram Berlyn Gardner LLP Chartered Accountants Statutory Auditor

Date: 2 April 2015

30 City Road, London EC1Y 2AB

Notes 2014 Restricted

2014 Unrestricted

£

£

Incoming resources

Incoming resources from generated funds: Voluntary income Activities for generating funds Investment income Incoming resources from charitable activities: Events, conferences and awards Subscriptions and sponsorship

2014 Total £

FINANCE

Consolidated statement of financial activities (SOFA)/ income and expenditure account for the year ended 31 December 2014 2013 Total £

3 – 516,220 516,220 456,406 10 – 1,835,837 1,835,837 2,029,340 4 706 50,040 50,746 98,475

5 – 5 –

Total incoming resources 706

312,732 312,732 259,085 14,675 14,675 7,283 2,729,504 2,730,210 2,850,589

Resources expended

Costs of generating funds: Fundraising costs of generating voluntary income 6 – 186,847 186,847 125,744 Fundraising trading; cost of goods sold and other costs 6 – 909,408 909,408 941,846 Charitable activities: 3,150 1,641,307 1,644,457 1,245,261 Events, conferences and awards 6 Magazine publications 6 – 197,169 197,169 183,072 Governance costs

6

–

Total resources expended 3,150 Net incoming (outgoing) resources before transfers

Gross transfers between funds

(2,444) –

44,489 44,489 48,117 2,979,220 2,982,370 2,544,040 (249,716) (252,160) 306,549 – – –

Net movements in funds (2,444) (249,716) (252,160) 306,549 Total funds brought forward 97,933 6,780,457 6,878,390 6,571,841 Total Funds carried forward

13,14

95,489

6,530,741 6,626,230 6,878,390

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.

All incoming resources and resources expended derive from continuing activities.

The notes on pages 48 to 54 form part of these financial statements.

45

ROYAL T ELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

Consolidated balance sheet as at 31 December 2014

Notes 2014

£ Fixed assets Tangible assets Investments

£

9 10

2013 £

£

103,861 124,606 54,080 54,018

157,941 178,624 Current assets Debtors 11 1,030,196 800,529 Cash at bank and in hand 6,052,264 6,410,222

7,082,460 7,210,751 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 12 (614,171) (510,985) Net current assets

6,468,289 6,699,766

Net assets

6,626,230 6,878,390

Funds Restricted Memorial funds

13

95,489 97,933

Unrestricted General fund

14

5,927,952 5,848,444

14

602,789 932,013

15

6,626,230 6,878,390

Designated Transformation Fund

Funds

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 19 March 2015 and signed on its behalf by John Hardie, Chair of the Board of Trustees Company Registration Number: 00249462 The notes on pages 48 to 54 form part of these financial statements.

46

Notes 2014

FINANCE

Society balance sheet as at 31 December 2014 2013

£ £ £ £ Fixed assets Tangible assets Investments

9 103,861 124,606 10 4 4

103,865 124,610 Current assets Debtors 11 902,831 738,072 Cash at bank and in hand 6,018,095 6,303,792 6,920,926 7,041,864 Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 12 (398,561) (288,084) Net current assets 6,522,365 6,753,780 Net assets 6,626,230 6,878,390 Funds Restricted Memorial funds

13 95,489 97,933

Unrestricted General fund

14 5,927,952 5,848,444

Designated Transformation fund

14

Funds

15 6,626,230 6,878,390

602,789 932,013

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 19 March 2015 and signed on its behalf by John Hardie, Chair of the Board of Trustees Company Registration Number: 00249462 The notes on pages 48 to 54 form part of these financial statements.

47

ROYAL T ELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2014 1 Accounting Policies 1.1 ACCOUNTING CONVENTION The financial statements are prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with applicable accounting standards. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP 2005) issued in March 2005, applicable UK Accounting Standards and the Companies Act 2006.

The Society has taken advantage of the exemption in Financial Reporting Standard No 1 from the requirement to produce a cash flow statement on the grounds that it is a small group.

1.2 GROUP FINANCIAL STATEMENTS These financial statements consolidate the results of the Society, its centres and its wholly owned trading subsidiaries, RTS Enterprises Limited and RTS (IBC) Limited, on a line-by-line basis.

A separate Statement of Financial Activities and Income and Expenditure account are not presented for the charity itself following the exemptions permitted by section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 and paragraph 397 of the SORP. The total incoming resources for the charity for the year ended 31 December 2014 were £2,200,706 (2013: £2,184,312) with the negative net movements in funds being £252,160 (2013 positive net movement: £306,549).

1.3 INCOMING RESOURCES Voluntary income is recognised upon receipt and is deferred only when the Society has to fulfil conditions before becoming entitled to it (such as the service or benefit being provided) or when the donor has specified that the income is to be expended in a future period. No amounts are included in the financial statements for services donated by volunteers.

Income from trading activities is recognised as earned (as the related goods and services are provided).

Investment income is recognised on a receivable basis.

1.4 RESOURCES EXPENDED Expenditure is recognised in the period in which it is incurred. A designated fund is established for expenditure, which has been committed to projects, but remains unspent at the year-end. ◗ Costs of generating funds are those costs incurred in attracting voluntary income, and those incurred in trading activities that raise funds. ◗ Costs of charitable activities comprise all expenditure identified as wholly or mainly attributable to achieving the charitable objectives of the charity. These costs include staff costs, wholly or mainly attributable support costs and an apportionment of general overheads. ◗ Governance costs include those incurred in the governance of

48

the charity and its assets and are primarily associated with constitutional and statutory requirements. ◗ Support costs, which include central office functions, have been allocated across the categories of charitable expenditure, governance costs and the costs of generating funds. The basis of the cost allocation has been explained in the notes to the accounts.

1.5 TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS AND DEPRECIATION Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less depreciation.

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost less estimated residual value of each asset over its expected useful life, as follows: Leasehold improvements: Straight line over the life of the lease Computer equipment: Three years straight line Fixtures, fittings and equipment: Five years straight line

1.6 INVESTMENTS Fixed asset investments are stated at cost in accordance with paragraph 297(b) of the SORP 2005.

1.7 CENTRES Centres’ income and expenditure is recognised in the period in which the group is entitled to receipt and the amount can be measured with reasonable certainty. Income is deferred only when the Society has to fulfil conditions before becoming entitled to it.

1.8 FUNDS ACCOUNTING Funds held by the Society are: Unrestricted general funds – these are funds that can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the Board of Trustees.

Designated funds – these are funds set aside by the Board of Trustees out of unrestricted general funds for specific future purposes or projects.

Restricted funds – these are funds that can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the Society.

Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Further explanations of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the accounts.

1.9 FOREIGN CURRENCY TRANSLATION Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rates of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded at the rate ruling at the date of the transaction. All differences are taken to the income and expenditure account.

3 Voluntary income

Surplus/(deficit) for the year is stated after charging:

Group Depreciation of tangible assets Auditors’ remuneration Audit Non audit

Society Depreciation of tangible assets Auditors’ remuneration Audit Non audit

2014 2013 £ £ 34,919 31,646 20,500 20,065 5,200 13,490

34,919 31,646 12,750 12,050 5,200 13,490

4 Investment income and interest

Bank interest receivable

FINANCE

2 Surplus for the year

2014 2013

£ £

Patrons Members

397,530 335,305 118,690 121,101

516,220 456,406

Membership income received in the year amounted to £168,527 and the sum of £49,837 has been deferred at the year-end in accordance with the Society’s accounting policies.

5 Incoming resources from charitable activities The income was primarily from the Royal Television Society’s charitable activities

2014 2013

2014 2013

£ £

Events, conferences and awards Magazine sales and other

50,746 98,475

Total

£ £ 312,732 259,085 14,675 7,283 327,407 266,368

6 Total resources expended

Costs of generating funds: Fundraising costs of generating voluntary income Fundraising trading; cost of goods sold and other costs

Charitable activites: Events, conferences and awards Magazine publications

Direct Support 2014 2013 costs costs total total £ £ £ £ –

186,847 186,847 125,744

516,308 393,100 909,408 941,846 516,308 579,947 1,096,255 1,067,590 613,833 1,030,624 1,644,457 1,245,261 197,169 - 197,169 183,072

811,002 1,030,624 1,841,626 1,428,333

Governance costs 13,177 31,312 44,489 48,117

Total resources expended

1,340,487 1,641,883 2,982,370 2,544,040

49

ROYAL T ELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

7 Allocation of support costs The charity allocates its support costs as shown in the table below.

Support costs Management and other costs Premises costs Employee costs Finance, legal and professional and IT costs

Cost of generating funds £

Charitable activities

Governance costs

£

Total

£ £

53,633 107,634 5,795 167,062 90,426 135,639 - 226,065 260,006 474,526 - 734,532 175,882 312,825 25,517 514,224 579,947 1,030,624

31,312 1,641,883

Support costs included within expenditure in the SOFA have been allocated on the basis of salary percentage or on the proportion of floor area occupied by the activity. The cost allocation includes an area of judgement and the charity has had to consider the cost benefit of detailed workings and record keeping.

Included in the above within finance, legal and professional and IT costs are transformation expenses of £329,224, of which the sum of £131,690 has been allocated to the cost of generating funds and the sum of £197,534 has been allocated to charitable activities.

8 Taxation The company is a registered charity and no provision is considered necessary for taxation.

In the accounts of RTS Enterprises Limited there was no tax charge (2013: £nil) and for RTS (IBC) Limited there was a tax charge of £5,716 (2013: £11,367). The group tax charge has been included within direct governance costs in note 6.

9 Tangible assets

Land and buildings leasehold (short)

Fixtures, fittings and equipment

Total

£

£

£

Group and Society Cost At 1 January 2014 Additions Disposals

118,665 171,006 289,671 - 15,021 15,021 - (8,270) (8,270)

At 31 December 2014

118,665 177,757 296,422

Depreciation At 1 January 2014 Charge for year Disposals

22,466 142,599 165,065 12,023 22,896 34,919 - (7,423) (7,423)

At 31 December 2014

34,489 158,072 192,561

Net Book Values At 31 December 2014

84,176 19,685 103,861

At 31 December 2013

96,199 28,407 124,606

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FINANCE

10 Fixed Asset Investments

Group

Society

2014 2013 2014 2013 £

£

£

£

Shares in subsidiary undertakings Other unlisted investments (at cost) Other investments

– 80 54,000

– 18 54,000

4 – –

4 – –

54,080

54,018

4

4

All the fixed asset investments are held in the UK. The Board of Trustees considers it appropriate to state the fixed asset investments at cost.

At 31 December 2014, the Society owned all of the ordinary share capital of RTS Enterprises Limited and RTS (IBC) Limited, which organise and stage courses, exhibitions and other events related to the television industry. At 31 December 2014, the aggregate amount of these companies’ assets, liabilities, share capital and reserves was:

Total Assets Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

RTS Enterprises Limited

RTS (IBC) Limited

2014 2013 2014 2013 £

£

£

£

344,803 362,366 563,825 524,819 (344,801) (362,364) (563,823) (524,817)

2 2 2 2

Represented by: Share capital and reserves

2

2

2

2

As at the year-end £184,705 (2013: £188,995) of incoming resources had been deferred in the accounts of RTS Enterprises Limited, with £188,995 (2013: £86,995) being released to the profit and loss account.

RTS Enterprises Limited and RTS (IBC) Limited pay their profits to the charity by a deed of covenant. A summary of the trading results of each subsidiary is shown below:

RTS Enterprises Limited 2014 £

RTS (IBC) Limited 2014 £

Total 2014

2013

£

£

Turnover Cost of sales

617,644 1,218,193 1,835,837 2,029,340 (514,810) - (514,810) (643,911)

Gross profit Administration expenses

102,834 1,218,193 1,321,027 1,385,429 (101,958) (10,419) (112,377) (155,749)

Operating profit 876 1,207,774 1,208,650 1,229,680 Other interest receivable and similar income 2,256 759 3,015 2,776 Interest payable - (1,890) (1,890) (1,890) Taxation - (5,716) (5,716) (11,367) Profit on ordinary activities after taxation Payment under deed of covenant Retained profit for the year

3,132 1,200,927 1,204,059 1,219,199 (3,132) (1,200,927) (1,204,059) (1,219,199) –

–

–

–

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ROYAL T ELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

11 Debtors

Group Society

2014 2013 2014 2013

Trade debtors Amounts due from subsidiary undertakings Other debtors

£

£

£

£

258,548 200,249 18,920 19,000 - - 60,078 82,479 771,648 600,280 823,833 636,593 1,030,196 800,529 902,831 738,072

12 Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year

Group Society

2014 2013 2014 2013

Trade creditors Taxes and social security costs Other creditors Deferred income

£

£

£

£

123,371 93,528 105,782 78,549 28,824 41,618 23,108 30,251 201,355 157,773 193,755 150,213 260,621 218,066 75,916 29,071 614,171 510,985 398,561 288,084

13 Restricted Funds

Group and Society

London Awards Fund

Shiers Memorial Fund

£

£

Beresford-Cooke Fund

Total

£ £

At 1 January 2014 3,373 64,228 30,332 97,933 Interest received - 480 226 706 Expenditure - (2,040) (1,110) (3,150) At 31 December 2014

3,373 62,668 29,448 95,489

The Society received a bequest from the estate of the late Mrs F Shiers to establish the George and May F Shiers Memorial Fund.

The income of the fund that is under the control of the Society’s Board of Trustees is to be devoted to the study, collection and presentation of material concerning the history of television.

The Society received a bequest from the estate of the late Mrs Beresford-Cooke to establish the RTS Young Television Engineer Award. The income of the fund is under the control of the Society’s Board of Trustees and is to be used to assist the recipient of the Award to attend the IBC Conference in Amsterdam.

The London Awards Fund has been set up so as to recognise excellence in a young technologist.

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FINANCE

14 Unrestricted funds

General Fund

£

Transformation Fund £

Total £

At 1 January 2014 Expenditure Transfer of Funds Surplus for the year

5,848,444 932,013 6,780,457 329,224 (329,224) - - (249,716) - (249,716)

At 31 December 2014

5,927,952 602,789 6,530,741

The Transformation Fund represents the amount committed by the Board of Trustees to implement various initiatives arising from the strategic review undertaken in 2012.

15 Reconciliation of movement in funds £

Group and Society Deficit for the year Funds at 1 January 2014

(252,160) 6,878,390

Funds at 31 December 2014

6,626,230

16 Analysis of net assets between funds Fund balances at 31 December 2014 are represented by:

Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds Funds Funds

Tangible fixed assets Investments Net current assets Total net assets

£ £ £ 103,861 - 103,861 54,080 - 54,080 6,372,800 95,489 6,468,289 6,530,741 95,489 6,626,230

17 Liability of members The Society is limited by guarantee without any share capital. In the event of the Society being wound up, each member is liable to contribute for the payment of the debts and liabilities of the Society such amount as may be required, but not exceeding £1.

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ROYAL T ELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

18 Employees

19 Financial commitments

The average number of employees of the Group during the year was as follows:

As at 31 December 2014, the Society had annual commitments under non-cancellable operating leases which expire as follows:

2014

2013

Management and other 2 2 Membership 1 1 Events and conferences 6 6 Finance and IT 2 2

Expiry date: Within one year Two to five years

2014 2013 £ £ - 140,998

13,334 140,998

11 11

2014 2013

Employment Costs Wages and salaries Social security costs Other pension costs

638,181 568,756 62,824 58,158 29,163 30,216

730,168 657,130

£ £

The number of employees who received emoluments in excess of £60,000 was as follows:

2014 2013

£100,001–£110,000 1 £150,001–£160,000 - £190,001–£200,000 1

1 1 -

The comparative figure for the highest paid employee is for a period of ten months only.

The total contributions in the year to money purchase pension schemes for higher paid employees were £20,846 (2013: £20,791). The number of higher-paid employees to whom retirement benefits are accruing under such schemes is 2 (2013: 2).

No members of the Board of Trustees received any remuneration in the year. Certain members of the Board of Trustees are reimbursed for reasonable expenses incurred by them in carrying out their duties for the Society. The total expenses incurred by the trustees during the year was £3,269 (2013: £1,335).

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20 Related party transactions During the year the Society entered into a contract with M True Consulting Ltd for the services of Mike True to provide Programme Management support for the development of its new digital platform and online presence. Mike True is the partner of Theresa Wise, CEO of the RTS. Before contracting with Mike True, the day rates of other providers were market tested. In the opinion of the Trustees the day rate agreed provides good value for money when compared to practitioners with similar levels of experience. The Trustees were also involved in agreeing the contract and are involved on an ongoing basis in receiving progress reports and approving payments.

The total amount charged by M True Consulting Ltd to the Society in the financial year was £41,541 (2013: £nil), with £3,720 (2013: £nil) remaining unpaid and included in creditors at the balance sheet date.

NOTICE OF AGM

Royal Television Society AGM

Annual General Meeting 2015 19 May 2015, 6:00pm Board Room, RTS, 3 Dorset Rise, London EC4Y 8EN

55

ROYAL T ELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

Agenda for AGM: 19 May 2015

AGM

The 86th Annual General Meeting of the Royal Television Society will be held on Tuesday 19 May 2015 at: The Royal Television Society 3 Dorset Rise London EC4Y 8EN at 6:00pm.

VOTING BY PROXY Under Article 24, members of the Society are empowered to appoint a proxy to attend and vote at the AGM. The completed proxy form, on page 49, should reach Head Office no less than 48 hours before the meeting.

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AGENDA 1 To approve the Minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting held on 20 May 2014.

2 To approve the 2014 Annual Report.

3 To receive the Financial Statements for the year ended 31Â December 2014.

4 To appoint Arram Berlyn Gardner LLP as auditors for 2015/2016 and to authorise the Board of Trustees to fix their remuneration.

5 Any other business.

Form of proxy I, ....................................................................................................................................................................... of ...................................................................................................................................................................... being a member of the above named Society and entitled to vote hereby appoint ........................................................................................................................................................................., or, failing him, the Honorary Treasurer, or, failing him, the Chair of the meeting, as my proxy to vote for me and on my behalf at the AGM of the Society to be held on 19 May 2015 at 6:00pm and at any adjournment thereof. In respect of the resolutions referred to in the Notice of the Meeting, I desire my proxy to vote as indicated:

Please insert ‘x’ in the appropriate box if you wish to instruct your proxy on how to vote

AGM

If you wish to appoint another member please insert the name of your proxy here.

You may delete reference to the ­Honorary Treasurer and Chair. Initial the alteration

For Against Abstain

1.0 Approve minutes of the previous meeting held on 20 May 2014:

2.0

Approve the 2014 Annual Report:

3.0 To receive and adopt Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2014:

4.0 To appoint Arram Berlyn Gardner LLP as auditors for 2015/16 and to a ­ uthorise the Board of Trustees to fix their remuneration:

(If this form is signed without any indication as to how the proxy shall vote, the proxy will exercise his or her discretion both as to how he or she votes or abstains from voting)

Signature ........................................................................................................... Date .....................................

Form of proxy notes

1 Under Article 24, members of the Society are empowered to vote at the AGM by proxy. To be valid, this form of proxy must be deposited at the Royal Television Society, 3 Dorset Rise, London EC4Y 8EN not less than 48 hours before the meeting.

2 The proxy, who must be a member of the Society, must attend the meeting in person to ­represent you.

3 Unless otherwise directed, the proxy will vote or abstain as he or she sees fit.

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ROYAL T ELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

Minutes of AGM 2014

AGM

Minutes of the 85th Annual General Meeting of the Royal Television Society, held on Tuesday 20 May 2014 at The Hospital Club, 24 Endell Street, London WC2H 9HQ Present John Hardie, Chair, Board of Trustees (in the chair); Jim Bartlett; Paul Berlyn (auditor, Arram Berlyn Gardner); Sanya Burgess, Digital Editor; Keith Clement; Charles Byrne; Mike Green, Honorary Treasurer; Maggie Greenhalgh Centres’ Co-ordinator; David Lowen, Honorary Secretary; Arthur Pigott; Claire Price, Deputy Chief Executive; Jim Spring; and Theresa Wise, Chief Executive; John Hardie welcomed everyone to the 85th Annual General Meeting of the Royal Television Society. He noted that the meeting was small but perfectly formed and just quorate. There were no apologies.

1 APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON 23 MAY 2013 The Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 2013 were approved unanimously.

There was one proxy vote in favour.

Proposed: Mike Green Seconded: Charles Byrne

MATTERS ARISING: Jim Bartlett asked if the minutes could be published a little sooner rather than one year after the meeting.

David Lowen said it was normal company practice to publish the minutes in the Annual Report.

John Hardie said the Trustees would take the issue away and examine the possibility of circulating the draft minutes earlier to those who had attended the AGM.

2 APPROVAL OF THE 2013 ANNUAL REPORT The 2013 Annual Report was introduced with a short video. John Hardie mentioned a few of his highlights.

Theresa Wise had joined as Chief Executive in March 2013 with a mission to implement a five-year strategic plan for the Society to: broaden participation,

58

re-engage with students, add substantially to the value proposition, develop an effective digital hub and provide better communication between London and the heartlands. She would report on progress so far under Any Other Business.

John Hardie said he had been proud to attend the Cambridge Convention, organised by Channel 4 and chaired by David Abraham.

The Annual Report covered some of the very good awards and events held during the year, both nationally and in the centres, which were going from strength to strength.

The RTS Futures strand, aimed at a younger generation, continued to flourish, with events such as “From runner to superstar” and “How to get a job a job in TV”.

The early-evening events had attracted stellar speakers, including Jeremy Darroch, Adam Crozier and Danny Cohen, the BBC’s new Director of Television.

“Broadchurch: anatomy of a hit” was one of several sell-out events.

“Spectrum wars” was the subject of the November public meeting of the RTS All Party Parliamentary Group.

The Prince of Wales launched a new initiative, RTS Undergraduate Bursaries, at the RTS Craft Skills Masterclasses in October. Twenty bursaries would be awarded in the next few weeks to students from low-income households.

John Hardie thanked all the volunteers both nationally and locally and also the head office staff. Caroline Thompson had retired from the Board of Trustees and he thanked her work for the Society.

The 2013 Annual Report was approved unanimously. There was one proxy vote in favour.

Proposed: Jim Bartlett Seconded: Arthur Piggott

3 FINANCIAL REPORT, BALANCE SHEET AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2013 Mike Green reminded members of the Society’s two-year financial cycle – the Cambridge Convention in the odd years, the London Conference in the even.

Income in the odd years was greater than in the even. This year, 2013, had been a

Cambridge year, with a surplus of £306,000, compared with £157,000 in 2012.

Income in 2013 had increased by £398,000 to £2,850,000 due to: increased Patron participation; the effect of the enhanced membership proposition; the Cambridge Convention; and IBC income being the best ever – again.

Interest income reduced, year on year, due to the maturing of fixed-term charity bonds. The Trustees were looking at alternative ways of investing surplus funds.

In 2013, costs had increased by £249,000 to £2,544,000, mainly due to the costs of the transformation strategy and IT systems. .

The balance sheet remained strong.

Reserves were £6,878,000 at the end of the year, compared with £6,572,000 at the beginning of 2013, mainly in cash.

Reserves included £932,000 designated as the Transformation Fund – it was planned that more than half of this would be used by the end of 2014.

Keith Clement referred to page 37 and asked about the £941,000 against resources expended – fundraising trading.

Mike Green referred him to Page 41, Note 6, and said that this was the major, direct cost of holding the events. An increase of £250,000 from the previous year was due to Cambridge. He reminded the meeting of the two-year financial cycle – the costs increased, as did the surplus.

Keith Clement asked if the Cambridge profit was visible in the accounts. If this was excessive, then perhaps ticket prices were too high. Mike Green said these were not management accounts and the level of disclosure was as required by Charity accounting rules. The surplus on each event was available, but not published.

John Hardie said he was reluctant to start regarding individual events as profit centres and to start disclosing details without a great deal of discussion with the Trustees. The surplus from Cambridge enabled the Society to hold other charitable events. If there was a lower ticket price, it would expose the other events. He was willing to take this to the Trustees, if there were strong feelings at the meeting.

Theresa Wise said that, thanks to sponsorship, the Society did make a surplus on Cambridge, but nearly all of the

4 APPOINTMENT OF AUDITORS Arram Berlyn Gardner was appointed unanimously as auditors for 20014/15 and

the Board of Trustees authorised to fix its remuneration.

Proposed by: David Lowen Seconded by: Mike Green

would take a long time. The website would begin to take shape this year, but it would be a 20-month project.

2. Membership proposition Membership 5 ANY OTHER BUSINESS CEO report Theresa Wise said the RTS had: a trusted brand, characterised by longevity and quality; a strong financial position, giving it the ability to change without financial pressure; amazing senior partnership relationships; and a dedicated volunteer base in the nations and regions.

The growth strategy had been put in place to address declining membership and the lack of an appealing membership proposition. The membership base was now stronger and growing.

In addition, the Society had seemed to lack relevance to some of its major Patrons, it lacked a powerful digital presence, and there were tensions between head office and the nations and regions. There was also a perception that the RTS should possess a club where members could meet.

As an educational charity, the RTS lacked consistency in undertaking activities that could help connect with young people with an interest in our industries.

The Board of Trustees had, therefore, approved 15 strategic initiatives to transform the Society’s impact on its communities while preserving the integrity and trust of its core values. They had started to implement these in March 2013. It was not possible to tackle all 15 at once, so they were leading on eight of them. These were:

1. Digital hub This would take the longest time to implement, but it was important to get the Society’s face to the world, its back office support system and its technological underpinning right. There were 17 sets of requirements. A start had been made with a different design for the home page.

Theresa Wise introduced the new Digital Editor, Sanya Burgess.

The new design was an opportunity to refresh the brand. Theresa Wise stressed that the digital hub was important and

had increased by 600 to 2,100 since the announcement of the deal with The Hospital Club. The Trustees were working towards 2,750 by the end of 2014 and 5,000 in three years’ time. There were 500 student members, and the Society was working on a student proposition.

Theresa Wise was also exploring other deals for members, such as the 25% off Broadcast magazine subscriptions and the AA offer, and also a regional benefits proposition.

3. Education – connecting with the young The Royal Patron had launched the RTS Undergraduate Bursaries at the RTS Craft Skills Masterclasses. The Society had increasingly been receiving feedback about shortages in TV craft skills; and the large number of film and television productions coming to the UK had created a huge demand. The next masterclasses would cover programme production.

The RTS was partnering with Patrons for other bursaries aimed at less affluent students. The Society was working with the BBC Academy and Creative Skillset on a career shadowing project and on other initiatives with Sky, Bafta and NFTS. Ninety students had applied for the 20 places on the RTS Undergraduate Bursaries scheme – the expectation was that there would be more than 100 before entries closed at the end of May. The Society was organising a “Faculty Day”, aimed at making faculty better informed about the range of jobs available in the television industries and, particularly, about the skills most in demand.

4. New Patrons McKinsey & Company, Discovery Communications, Turner Broadcasting System, Virgin Media, Liberty Global, Accenture, Lumina Search and YouView had become Patrons. The Society was embracing issues around new technology and making a big effort to target potential patrons, both at a UK level and in the nations and regions.

59

AGM

remaining events make a loss. Most of the grass-roots events did not generate a surplus. It was important that they were all taken together.

Mike Green pointed out that the trading surplus for RTS Enterprises was £47,000 on a turnover of £844,000.

Keith Clement said he took the point, but said he was uneasy: the Society needed to be careful not to be seen as being for rich people and always interested in making a profit.

David Lowen reminded the meeting that tickets for Cambridge and the national awards were made available to the Centres.

Keith Clement asked if the arrangement with The Hospital Club involved a cost to the Society. He thought it was a terrific idea, but if it came at a huge cost, was it worth it?

Mike Green said the decision had been taken because the Society wanted to increase membership, and the hope was that, in the long term, arrangement would pay for itself. It was a small loss leader at present and the Trustees would revisit it in a year or two to assess the results. They were also looking at similar arrangements outside London.

John Hardie said the decision had been taken in the context of a six-year membership decline. The only value to membership had been Television magazine, so the Trustees had decided not to subscribe to Gift Aid and, instead, use the Society’s buying power to provide benefits to its members. The costs were relatively low because of who we were and the kind of people that the RTS would bring in. The Hospital Club had already contributed to membership growth and satisfaction, and several events had been held here. The Trustees would take a judgement in a year’s time to assess if it had been the right thing to do.

The Financial Report was accepted unanimously. There was one proxy vote cast in favour.

Proposed: David Lowen Seconded: Charles Byrne

ROYAL T ELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014 2013

AGM

Minutes of the AGM 2014 There would be at least two Patron events per year. The RTS should be a place where everyone could build informal relationships.

magazine was being planned, and there would also be an RTS Futures summer party.

5. Nations and Regions

7. Public Lectures

The RTS intended to provide a lot more support for the nations and regions and more contact with head office for centres. A PR company, Hobnob, had been appointed and was expected to be a great benefit in this regard, as would the digital hub.

Theresa Wise planned to visit each centre at least once a year and was looking forward to attending the first Scotland Awards in June.

Efforts were being made to reintegrate the East Anglia Centre into the Society.

David Lowen said he hoped that East Anglia would hold its first event in the coming year.

As the technical side of broadcasting was so wide, with many specialisms, the Society had decided to team up with organisations that covered such areas. The inaugural RTS/IET Public Lecture was held in May at the Royal Society with Dr Mike Lynch. It was a great success and had been videoed and was available for download.

More lectures were planned.

8. Television magazine

6. Partnerships with organisations

Work had been done on modernising the design and on digitising the content for online searches. The same designer had worked on the Annual Report. The magazine was available on subscription.

During the year, the RTS had formed partnerships with Creative Skillset, the BBC Academy, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, The Hospital Club, Sky and IBC. A joint diversity event with Broadcast

John Hardie thanked Theresa Wise and invited questions on her presentation.

Keith Clement asked if there was a list on the Society’s website of the college

60

courses that qualified for RTS Undergraduate Bursaries. David Lowen said they were available to students on all Creative Skillset-accredited courses – there was a list on the website.

Charles Byrne congratulated Theresa on the volume of work she and the team had achieved in the past year. John Hardie asked that this be minuted.

Keith Clement said he thought the CEO’s email newsletter was excellent.

Jim Bartlett said he had been concerned

by Theresa Wise’s criticism of the website at the last AGM and would have welcomed a chance to see the minutes before they appeared in the Annual Report. Theresa Wise said this had not been a reflection on the regional contributions.

Jim Bartlett said it was great pity more people hadn’t attended the AGM. John Hardie agreed – it was not satisfactory.

Charles Byrne suggested that the AGM could be scheduled with another event.

As there was no other business, John Hardie thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting at 7:00pm.

Picture credits All pictures by Paul Hampartsoumian except:

AGM

Page 7: 1, 9, 11, 13, 14 and 15 by Richard Kendal; and 10 STV Page 13: 1, 3, 5, 8 and 11 by Richard Kendal Page 23: Richard Kendal Page 25: Both by Richard Kendal Page 29: IBC Page 35: Vikings: MGM Page 37: Howard Lucas Page 38: Main picture: Paul Harness

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ROYAL T ELEVISION SOCI ET Y REPORT 2014

Who’s who at the RTS PATRON HRH The Prince of Wales PRESIDENT Sir Peter Bazalgette VICE PRESIDENTS Dawn Airey Sir David Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE FRS Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE Dame Colette Bowe OBE John Cresswell Mike Darcey Greg Dyke Lorraine Heggessey Ashley Highfield Rt Hon Dame Tessa Jowell MP David Lynn Sir Trevor McDonald OBE Ken MacQuarrie Trevor Phillips OBE Stewart Purvis CBE John Smith Sir Howard Stringer Mark Thompson OFFICERS Chair John Hardie Vice Chair Tim Davie Honorary Secretary David Lowen Honorary Treasurer Mike Green

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES John Hardie (Chair) Tim Davie Mike Green David Lowen Huw Jones Jane Lighting Graham McWilliam Simon Pitts Graeme Thompson CENTRES’ COUNCIL Lynn Barlow – Chair, Bristol Centre (from July 2014) Andy Batten-Foster – Chair, Bristol Centre (until July 2014) Mike Best – Chair, Yorkshire Centre Charles Byrne – Chair, Republic of Ireland Centre Isabel Clarke – Chair, Midlands Centre Alex Connock – Chair, North West Centre Gordon Cooper – Chair, Southern Centre Jennie Evans – Chair, Thames Valley Centre until March 2014) Tim Hartley – Chair, Wales Centre Kristin Mason – Chair, London Centre Graeme Thompson – Chair, North East and the Border Centre Penny Westlake – Chair, Thames Valley Centre (from March 2014) James Wilson – Chair, Scotland Centre Michael Wilson – Chair, Northern Ireland Centre

COMMITTEE CHAIRS Archives Advisory Group Steve Bryant (from November 2014) Awards Policy and Fellowship David Lowen Craft & Design Awards Nigel Pickard (to June 2014) Cheryl Taylor (from June 2014) Diversity Marcus Ryder Early Evening Events Dan Brooke Education Committee Graeme Thompson History Advisory Group Don McLean (from April 2014) IBC Conference Liaison Terry Marsh Programme Awards David Liddiment RTS Futures Camilla Lewis RTS Legends Paul Jackson Student Television Awards Patrick Younge (until June 2014) Stuart Murphy (from June 2014) Television Journalism Awards Stewart Purvis CBE

HEAD OFFICE Chief Executive Theresa Wise Deputy Chief Executive Claire Price (until January 2015) Personal Assistant/Office Manager Elaine Berg Accountant Breda O’Donoghue Assistant Accountant Angela Sacre Receptionist Lucy Evans (maternity leave from June 2014) Archivist Clare Colvin (part-time) Centre Liaison Maggie Greenhalgh (part-time) Events Events Manager Lindsey Cran (until October 2014) Events Manager Jo Mitchell Events Organiser Jamie O’Neill Assistant Events Coordinator Callum Stott Membership Membership Services Manager Ken Mackenzie (from May 2014) Membership Services Assistant Lewis Butcher (from October 2014) Publications Television Editor Steve Clarke (freelance) Television production and design Gordon Jamieson (freelance) Editorial Adviser Sue Robertson (freelance) Digital hub Digital Editor Sanya Burgess (freelance, from April until December 2014) Digital Editor Tim Dickens (freelance, from November 2014) Intern Rebecca Stewart (from June 2014) Intern Pippa Shawley (from August 2014) Intern Alastair Ballantyne (from November 2014) A company limited by guarantee.

Registered in London 249462 Registered charity 313728 Founded 1927

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ROYAL TELEVISION SOCIETY 3 Dorset Rise, London EC4Y 8EN Tel: 020 7822 2810 info@rts.org.uk www.rts.org.uk