5. Memorandum submitted by Meridian Maidstone
NUJ Chapel
Meridian is in the vanguard of a campaign by
Granada to destroy regional ITV. The plans announced by Meridian's
managing director will eventually be rolled out across the country
if they are given the go-ahead in the South. He told staff "this
is the blueprint for ITV."
Those plans include axing network programming
and regional sport, and centralising news operations on one site.
If Meridian is allowed to do this the implications for others,
such as Central's three site news coverage, are clear. There would
also be nothing to stop West Country's news being done from Bristol,
or Tyne Tees coming from the studios of Yorkshire Television.
We believe it can only result in a worse service
for viewers. With production journalists based outside the area
they serve mistakes will be inevitable. As on screen credibility
declines so will the ratings. It will be a slow and lingering
death as output is reduced, on the spurious basis that there is
no appetite for local coverage. In fact there is no appetite for
inferior local news.
In the South East of England we enjoy the highest
ratings of any regional news programme. The team that makes that
programme will be broken up under the Meridian plan. But even
in production terms it does not make sense. There is no cost saving
in having presenters and production journalists based in one `super
centre'. The same staff could equally be deployed in the area
they serve. Indeed the technology Granada is talking about installing
actually makes this easy.
We believe MPs and the regulators have one chance
to save the public service element of ITV. If the Meridian plan
is allowed to go ahead it means the end of independent television
in the regions.
QUESTIONS FOR
GRANADA MANAGEMENT
Meridian South East props up the ratings for
the other two programmes. It is the most successful regional evening
news programme in Britain, so why is the company ripping up a
successful formula and why, if the South East has been identified
as one of the country's biggest growth areas, is it being based
in Hampshire rather than here?
Which other broadcaster in this country is operating
the technology which Meridian plans to use? And if no-one is at
the moment—is Meridian being used as an experiment for the
rest of Granada? How will you avoid the continuing on screen errors
which plague the BBC Newsroom South East programme, and the problems
suffered on screen by Yorkshire TV and Granada Manchester when
they used new systems?
Meridian say this is an investment of £6
million, but selling the Southampton site and sacking 175 staff
will actually generate revenue and savings of between £10-13
million (£5-8 million from sale of Southampton site, savings
on salaries of estimated £5.25 million per year based on
175 staff on £30,000 including pension and NI payments).
What's happening to the extra money and why isn't it being invested
in Meridian?
Presenters currently do a lot of PR work promoting
Meridian talking to community groups—this can't happen when
they are based 120 miles away in Hampshire. (A senior executive
has confirmed that both will be based in Hampshire and will NOT
be on the road on a regular basis)
Your own briefing for your staff contradicts
itself about your intentions for Ashford. In one paragraph (page
6) it says "considering the possibility of opening a new
bureau in Ashford".
Later it says (page 14) "a new bureau which
we intend to open in Ashford". Is it a possibility or definite,
and why should we trust Meridian when in its 1991 licence application
it said it would have high street studios in Dover and Tunbridge
Wells which never materialised?
New Hythe currently acts as an emergency transmission
facility in the event of Southampton being out of action for any
reason. Where will the back up be if Kent does not have presentation
facilities?
There will be no sports department under the
new plan so how will you make programmes like Midweek Match and
Soccer Sunday?
November 2003
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