In place of its Autumn Conference VLV held a number of online sessions when the state of British broadcasting was debated by those who lead the industry.
Maria Kyriacou, CEO of Viacom UK and Australia
Maria Kyriacou, CEO of ViacomCBS UK & Australia, which owns Channel 5, was our first keynote speaker on 24th November. Prior to joining ViacomCBS, Maria was President of International at ITV Studios and became the Chair of the Creative Diversity Network in June 2020. Maria focused on Channel 5’s recent achievement in creating a space for distinctive UK content, which includes pre-school children’s output in Milkshake. This session was chaired by media journalist Ray Snoddy.
Sir Peter Bazalgette, Chairman of ITV
Sir Peter Bazalgette, Chairman of ITV, was our second keynote speaker on 24th November. Sir Peter has over 40 years’ media experience in the media and arts sectors and in 2017, he led an Independent Review of the Creative Industries for the government. Sir Peter set out his vision for public service broadcasting in the future as the Government embarks on a review of broadcasting in the UK. This session was chaired by media journalist Torin Douglas.
The future of local, regional and nations’ TV and Radio in the UK
On November 24th we also held a panel discussion to debate whether content in the nations and regions of the UK is sustainable in a global marketplace.
The panellists were Chris Burns, Head of Audio and Digital for BBC England, Damian Collins MP, former Chairman of the DCMS Select Committee, Matt Deegan, Creative Director of Folder Media and Owen Evans, Chief Executive of S4C. This session was chaired by former BBC presenter and correspondent, Mark Mardell.
Sir David Clementi, Chairman of the BBC
The first of our Autumn events was with Sir David Clementi, Chairman of the BBC on October 20th. It was chaired by Dame Colette Bowe, former Chair of Ofcom and past President of VLV. It was held as a webinar and joined by online attendees as well as those on the phone.
Sir David’s speech covered a wide range of issues including whether there is still a role for public service broadcasting and how it should be funded. He also set out what services he believes the BBC should provide in the future.
Attendees were invited to send questions in advance as well as live, during the event. As many of these as possible were put to Sir David in the time allowed. They covered the appointment process of the BBC Chair, the balance between public service and commercial content, what Sir David considers the ideal characteristics of the next BBC Chair might be and the high and low points during his time at the BBC.
We do not charge a fee to attend our online events, but VLV is a charity and incurs costs even in running online events, therefore we would appreciate a voluntary donation of £10 when you register for each event. Please also consider becoming a member of VLV if you want to support our work.
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