There were high hopes for James Warburton, who took over as CEO in January after sitting on the sidelines for a year after a bruising departure from his role as sales boss at Channel Seven. Warburton, an ambitious, energetic character, had been seen as an eventual successor to David Leckie.
But the shows he’s commissioned?—?including Everybody Dance Now, axed after only two weeks?—?have performed abysmally. Ten failed in its bid to secure the highly profitable NRL sports broadcast rights. Warburton was not available to be interviewed by Crikey.
“James always wanted to be a programmer,” said one Ten insider. “He was good at sales and believed he knew all about programming. James wants complete control and wants to do everything. He doesn’t want anyone else involved.”
“He’s not an instinctive programming guy,” said one producer. “He’s a bad decision maker in a job where you need to make solid decisions,” said another.
Those making programs for Ten say Warburton and co are obsessed with audience research findings rather than intuition about what will and won’t work.
“You sign a contract with Ten at 12, then you’re having a review at two and another at four,” said the creator of one of Channel Ten’s best-known shows. “They’ve put all their eggs in the research basket.”
Factors out of Ten’s control are also at play.
“US content deals are producing far fewer sure-fire hits than they ever have before and that was a massive part of Ten’s business model,” said Peter Horgan, CEO of media buying agency OMD.
And the advent of multichannelling has allowed Nine and Seven to use their second channels to nab Ten’s younger viewers with repeats of US comedies such as The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men.
Although the situation looks grim, wise heads say things can turn around. Channel Nine, only a couple of years ago, was considered a joke and now it’s a ratings triumph. One or two big hits can change momentum.
The only problem? There isn’t one in sight.
This article first appeared at Crikey.
