MICHAEL CULLEN ON THE PROSPECTS FOR THE NEW TV CHANNEL, UTV IRELAND
Surrounded by screens on three sides and what are said to be the latest in mod-cons for TV interviews, news anchors Alison Comyn (above) and Chris Donoghue rehearse with a report on President Higgins’s visit to China. The studio is part of a 16,500 ground floor space in the UTV group’s Macken House in the docklands, which up to last summer was a derelict shell.
After all the hullabaloo, criticism and confusion, UTV Ireland is up and running. Its critics may claim it is all about news and current affairs. Its competitors have suggested it is little more than an opt out. Media agencies appeared frustrated at worst, annoyed at best, at the lack of information surrounding programme plans for UTV’s expansion into the South.
It was not until Pat Kenny showed up at a UTV event in the Marker Hotel in August that agencies felt the station might succeed. Agencies were aware that UTV Ireland would have exclusive rights to Coronation Street and Emmerdale but they had to be convinced re-runs of the ITV Studios’ rights, plus news bulletins from the Republic, would be enough to loosen the tight purse strings and urge them to invest in something untried and untested.
UTV Media is a plc run by canny businessmen, who believe they can take anything up to €25 million this year in ad revenue. If so, it may mean TV3 having to find €10m elsewhere, RTE down by €8m and Sky and others also being hit. Commercial director Daragh Byrne joined from TV3, so he knows something about targeting 25-44s and housekeepers with kids.
A report in the Sunday Times saying UTV had to cut its ad rates ahead of its launch after agencies balked at plans to charge a premium over TV3, drew a blank from Byrne. All he would say was that commercial negotiations were strictly confidential and UTV Ireland was happy in its dealings with agencies and they were seeing strong demand in the market.
Carat chief executive Ciaran Cunningham said advertisers were being cautious about committing to a new channel. But he said deals could be done early in the year as viewing figures become available. The fact UTV Ireland’s carriage details were not confirmed until early December and schedule details were also still up in the air was of no help either.
But Matt Williams, who as group director of trading, says as TV is a live medium it is easier to know how to pitch on price. “We let the market decide,” Williams said, “so we float negotiations with interested parties.” Byrne says it is beyond his gift to predict how they will fair this year but all UTV can do is deliver an audience of scale in the €206m TV market.
The electronic programme guide (EPG) positions for the new channel were confirmed as Sky channel 116, UPC channel 110 and Eircom’s eVision 108. The new channel replaces the existing ‘Northern’ service on the UPC platform. It will be also be available on channel 6 of the free-to-air platform Saorview, the digital terrestrial TV service operated by RTE’s 2RN. TV3 challenged plans to allow UTV Ireland on to the State-owned platform on the basis that its licence required it to produce public service news, current affairs and Irish output.
UTV Ireland’s head of channel Mary Curtis knows broadcasting. She joined RTE in 1990 as a researcher. She later worked as both a producer and director and launched the popular Off the Rails fashion show. Discreetly authoritative and endearing, Curtis was pivotal in getting Pat Kenny to sign up to UTV Ireland to host a weekly show produced by Coco Television. In the event of a general election or referenda, Kenny will front the channel’s coverage.
REPORTING NEWS: UTV Ireland hired Claire Brock, Sarah O’Connor and Sinead O’Donnell as reporters for its Ireland Live and Ireland Live at 10 news bulletins. Brock joins from TV3 and also had stints at Q102, East Coast Radio and 98FM. O’Connor spent five years as Dublin courts reporter with UTV Radio Network News, covering such major stories as the Eamon Lillis murder trial and the Anglo saga. O’Donnell worked with TV3, Newstalk and Today FM.
Since the new channel was first announced back in November 2013, UTV Media group boss John McCann said poaching a ‘star’ name to anchor its new programmes was not on the cards. McCann has kept to his word, preferring to hire moderately low profile presenters. But they have recruited accomplished reporters and broadcasters, including Michael McCaffrey from the Sunday World as news editor and RTE’s Paul Colgan as economics editor.
Ronan O’Donoghue joined from the Irish Daily Star as head of brand partnerships. He now manages cross platform sponsorships, licensing deals, promotions, media partnerships, advertising funded programming and product placement initiatives. He was global account director with DDB in Vancouver and worked in Dublin with Mediaworks and DDFH&B.
UTV Ireland has bespoke studios and local news correspondents and cameramen in Cork, Galway and Limerick. As well as FM104 and Q102, both of which also operate out of Macken House, along with UTV Media Solutions, UTV local station network includes Cork’s 96FM, Galway Bay FM, Limerick’s Live 95FM and WLR in Waterford.
So does UTV Ireland’s exclusivity to Coronation Street and Emmerdale mean UTV Ireland is on to a good thing? Corrie and Emmerdale accounted for six of TV3’s 38 hours of peak programming but was less important to owner, British private equity fund manager Doughty Hanson, in recent years. When Corrie moved from RTE 1 to TV3 in 2001, after Granada became a shareholder the year before, audience figures fell from 600,000 to 370,000.
Daragh Byrne is the first to admit that it is inevitable that Corrie figures will slip again in the Republic now that the soap is single channel. TV3 is confident its new soap, Red Rock, will do the business and help to compensate for losing Corrie. TV3 is also confident that its Sony HD Studio in Ballymount will also help in terms of home programmes and outside hires.
Mary Curtis is upbeat about UTV Ireland’s prospects. She says home production will increase in “incremental steps” as they start off with shows like Rare Breed, a 12-part farming series. They hope to tap into the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) Sound & Vision scheme. Programming around the 1916 Rising celebrations is under consideration.
UTV Ireland can take heart from a Goodbody report which indicated “long-term upside” to its estimates on the new channel. Based on the numbers released by TAM Ireland KPMG, the €206m market data for 2013 was higher than previous estimates. Recent estimates assumed a market of €186m for next year and implied UTV Ireland would achieve a 21.5 per cent share.
Speaking at the official opening of the new studios, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said Government ministers will make themselves available for interview for the UTV Live news bulletin at 6.30pm and the more in-depth UTV Live at 10 which runs for an hour. Kenny said the move into the Republic by UTV Media was an important juncture on the road to recovery.
Addressing the Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) annual lecture in Dublin, Rob Clark, director of global entertainment at Fremantle Media, which has helped launch talent shows like The X Factor, Got Talent and Idols, said the global TV industry is on the lookout for the next big hit to pull in family audiences. But there is a problem out there these days.
Shows like Strictly Come Dancing, Masterchef and The Apprentice still work so there is no room on the schedule for new formats if and when they come along. Clarke said it was a myth to say good ideas for TV are numerous. In the 30 years he has worked in TV, he has only been involved in about 10 of them. UTV Ireland and TV3 should take note.
ON A SOUTHERN MISSION: Daragh Byrne, commercial director, Mary Curtis, head of channel and Matt Williams, group director of policy, UTV Ireland. Adland reckons the arrival of the new channel in the Republic may result in its taking somewhere around €25 million in ad spend.
