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BBC Director General Mark Thompson backs merger between Channel 4 and Five

Nick | 12 Jan 2009, 14:12

The BBC Director General Mark Thompson has told The Financial Times that “broadcasting must restructure to survive” and backed a merger between UK media companies Channel 4 and Channel Five (owned by RTL).

“Consolidation could offer the prospect of both short and long-term benefits: immediate cost savings and an increase in scale in key markets from advertising sales to programme acquisition, but also the chance for a smaller number of larger players to focus on credible and affordable digital plans.

“What UK broadcasting needs is the same as the rest of the economy: simplification, consolidation and the right kind of public-private collaboration. Much of the solution will come from making sense of existing pieces not inventing new ones. This year I hope we see that solution take shape.“

The FT notes that Mr Thompson supported a merger in 2004, when he was Channel 4 CEO. Mark Thompson and Channel 4 CEO Andy Duncan were both present at the c&binet dinner in Liverpool.

Design in recession: Starck, Conran and Bayley

Nick | 12 Jan 2009, 13:38

Will good design be compromised as a result of the economic downturn? This question was addressed by leading designers Philippe Starck, Terence Conran and Stephen Bayley at Guardian.co.uk this weekend.

Conran believes that “we’ve had enough of frivolity for a while”.  This is echoed by Starck – commenting that too much focus on “the beauty of a chair or lamp… [today] seems a bit obscene”. Meanwhile, Stephen Bayley argues that recession is “making companies think anew about design”:

All three agree that recession stimulates more intelligent design, with Conran citing Japanese firm Muji as an example of a world-class company that evolved as a response to a demand for affordable design. Starck says:

“Design has always been political, and now more than ever we focus on new goals, which I call democratic ecology. Everyone talks about ecology, but we need to make it happen, not speak about it… Longevity is something we really to need to think about. We must bring back the idea of heritage and “transfer” things, not just put them in the garbage. The garbage was a trend of the past 30 or 40 years. Now – no more garbage.“

The demand for more sustainable design predates the credit crunch (particularly with retailers demanding packaging reductions and other sustainability targets from their supply chain), but recession and the recent energy price spike place the issue front and centre. As Bayley says:

“Times of constraint have historically stimulated architecture and design. The profession of consultant designer began in America’s Great Depression when a team of cheerful opportunists led by Raymond Loewy, Henry Dreyfuss and Norman Bel Geddes persuaded consumers that life would not be complete without a streamlined, chrome wastebin, so America designed itself out of recession and back into consumerised prosperity.“

Starck and Conran were interviewed as part of the launch for their new commercial venture, mydeco, an aggregator and social network for people interested in interior design.

Kalima: Building a new market for the global publishing industry

Nick | 12 Jan 2009, 11:34

Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and HeritageAbu Dhabi investment fund Kalima is working with international publishers, distributors and literary agents to transform the book market in the Arabic-speaking world.

The ambitious project is the brainchild of a former McKinsey consultant, Karim Nagy, who now serves as its CEO.  It is funded by a grant from the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, with the backing of the Crown Prince and aims to stimulate the publishing industry in the Arab world, which has suffered from a shortage of books being translated in to the Arabic, in comparison with other major languages. 

Despite the fact that there are 250 million Arabic speakers worldwide, there are more books translated in to Spanish or German each year than have ever been translated in to Arabic. This has hampered economic and cultural exchange between Arabic-speaking countries and the rest of the world and was a key challenge highlighted by the United Nations’ “Arab Human Development Report 2003“, entitled “Building a Knowledge Society.“

A shortage of translators, problems with copyright enforcement and low levels of book-buying in the Arab region have created a vicious circle, which Kalima seeks to break by funding new publishing houses, creating new marketing and distribution initiatives and investing in new translators in the Arab world. The organisation’s mission statement explains:

“Kalima wants to revive the Golden Age of translation and to reunite the Arab world’s fragmented book industry. We’ll do this by bringing together publishers, literary agents, authors, translators and distributors to increase the number and choice of books available to Arabic readers.“

The first titles to be published with the support of Kalima include Il Segno (The Sign) by Umberto Eco, The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig and Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami.

Emma House, Exhibition Manager International Development at The London Book Fair commented:

“Publishers have understood for some time that the Arab world is a massive and largely untapped market – but have not had the opportunities to gain a foothold there, The Arab Market Focus at the London Book Fair will give publishers not only an overview of how to break into the market but also the chance to build business connections with potential partners in the region.“

Still in its infancy, Kalima will offer a fascinating case study for the question of whether new financial models, government intervention and new partnerships with creative businesses can correct market failure and open up major new opportunities for the creative economy.

From Dinosaurs to Digital – innovation in the copyright industries

Nick | 09 Jan 2009, 12:24

Andrea Siwek of the US-based Progress and Freedom Foundation (a “market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications for public policy”, supported by a range of multi-national media and technology companies) has published a study of business-model innovation in the copyrighted industries entitled “From ‘Dinosaurs’ to Digital.“

The study is a retort to market commentators who argue that the copyrighted industries in the creative economy (such as music, film, television and publishing) have been too slow to respond to the reality of the digital age. Siwek argues:

“Copyright industries are experimenting with production and distribution innovations with the intent of staying connected with consumers. The various distributors are giving consumers a wide variety of platforms to enjoy traditional media as well as new media based on the consumers preference. The digitization of copyright products is meant to increase convenience for consumers by giving them more control over how, when and where they enjoy these works. The bundling of these products is also verifying that copyright industries are striving to please consumers… the copyright industries have adopted multiple strategies to evolve and innovate in the emerging digital environment.“

The paper describes three broad categories of innovation, including: digital distribution of single products (eg: CinemaNow and iTunes), bundling online and offline products (eg: magazine publishers’ dominant advertising model), bundling of digital content (multiplatform services such as GuardianUnlimited and branded destinations such as WBTVG’s plans for branded channels).

But as Siwek concludes, not only are new distribution models unproven in terms of their ability to replace traditional revenue streams, they also remain reliant on effective copyright protection and enforcement:

“The problem of piracy is ongoing and policy makers should not lose focus on the problem of digital piracy regardless of the steps these industries have taken.“

The paper expresses a similar dichotomy to that which characterised much of the debate at the first c&binet dinner.

While there were attendees from companies like LastFM, Nitro and Fallon, which are working with copyright owners and advertisers to explore and new business models, there was also a strong belief from many at the table that the potential to develop new business models was often overstated and had been an unhelpful distraction in the debate about IP protection. As Patrick Ross argues for the Copyright Alliance:

“We’ll likely see a different handful of choices in different creative industries, but that’s the way it was in the distribution of physical goods. Again, as the digital marketplace matures, it will form itself around the same consumer preferences we have always had for creative works.“

“From Dinosaurs to Digital” attempts to draw both sides of the equation together. While consumer-focused innovation is absolutely essential, so too is a pragmatic debate about the enforcement of property rights.

Zaha Hadid calls for more public competitions for architecture commissions

Nick | 09 Jan 2009, 10:00

Leading architect Zaha Hadid has called for the UK’s public sector to hold more open competitions for building commissions as a way of encouraging a higher standard of modern architecture in the country.  She believes the UK market lags behind Europe in this respect.

Speaking to BBC radio recently, the Iraq-born, US-educated and UK-based architect said:

“I think the advantage Europe has is that they really took seriously the law that says, to build a public building you have to go through a competition. In the UK, first of all, there are not as many public works which go through competitions like that. The advantage in Europe is that there is a process of competition which gives you the right to do public work building.“

Critics have pointed out that many public buildings in the UK are subject to public competitions and that the UK has embraced modern architecture far more than her comments suggest. Nonetheless, it does highlight a broader point about the ability of governments to shape the growth of the creative economy through micro-economic policy.

Governments are the biggest customers for many of the creative industries, including architecture and advertising. While much of the c&binet forum discussion about the role of government is likely to focus on regulation and fiscal structures, there is also an opportunity for creative business leaders to present their ideas about how governments can use their spending power most wisely to promote the development of world-class creative companies and products.

Hadid is the architect of the aquatics venue for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Watchmen producer’s ‘open letter’ plea to Fox

Nick | 08 Jan 2009, 23:08

One of the producers of Warner Bros’ adaptation of the classic graphic novel Watchmen has written an open letter to film industry blog Hitfix calling for Twentieth Century Fox to drop its attempt to block the release of the $120 million production.

In December, a US District Court Judge ruled that Fox owned “at the very least, a distibution right” in the film because producer Lawrence Gordon had not acquired those rights from the studio before entering in to agreement with WB. The case could have a profound effect on this summer’s film release schedules but the letter from Lloyd Levin, entitled “A producer’s perspective”, adds an emotional dimension to an increasingly tense and urgent dispute. At the core of his argument is this passage:

“Shouldn’t Warner Brothers be entitled to the spoils – if any – of the risk they took in supporting and making Watchmen? Should Fox have any claim on something they could have had but chose to neither support nor show any interest in?

“Look at it another way… One reason the movie was made was because Warner Brothers spent the time, effort and money to engage with and develop the project. If Watchmen was at Fox the decision to make the movie would never have been made because there was no interest in moving forward with the project.

“Does a film studio have the right to stand in the way of an artistic endeavor and determine that it shouldn’t exist? If the project had been sequestered at Fox, if Fox had any say in the matter, Watchmen simply wouldn’t exist today, and there would be no film for Fox to lay claim on. It seems beyond cynical for the studio to claim ownership at this point.“