±«Óătv

Trust's third biennial review of the Window Of Creative Competition (WoCC)

Introduction

The ±«Óătv is required to operate the Window of Creative Competition (WoCC) within which in-house and independent producers can compete. The WoCC came fully into effect on 01 April 2007.

The ±«Óătv is required to operate the Window of Creative Competition (WoCC) within which in-house and independent producers can compete. The WoCC came fully into effect on 01 April 2007. The Trust must review the operation of the WoCC, and other commissioning arrangements as set out in the ±«Óătv Agreement, at least every two years. The Trust has completed its third review.

This third review has been conducted by the Trust without commissioning external consultants, delivering significant savings against previous reviews. In conducting a thorough examination of the processes and outputs that have resulted from the implementation of the WoCC, we invited discussion with a range of stakeholders from within and outside the ±«Óătv, as well as conducting a public consultation from 20 September 2012 to 7 November 2012. The terms of reference for the review are available here.

The Trust's report is published below, along with formal submissions to the review from the ±«Óătv and from the Producers Alliance for Cinematography and Television (PACT).

WoCC six-month progress update

As part of the Trust's third review of the WoCC published in March 2013, we asked the ±«Óătv to provide a six month report on progress against our recommendations.

In the six month update, the ±«Óătv Executive states that "±«Óătv Television has made substantial progress against the recommendations set out in the WoCC review six months ago."  We think the Executive's progress update supports an assessment of good progress in most respects against the Trust's recommendations.  The Executive appears to have focused on building greater confidence in an open and fair commissioning process with a range of initiatives to improve communication, perceptions of performance and the experience of producers engaging with the ±«Óătv's commissioning process.

We also welcome the Executive's publication of a charter of editorial commitments (published in August 2013 here and also contained as an appendix to the Executive's progress update), which along with other issues seeks to address some of the broader criticisms of the ±«Óătv's commissioning process that surfaced during the Trust's review.

Second review - 2010

For the second review in 2010, the Trust commissioned Deloitte to conduct an independent review of the processes and outputs resulting from the implementation of the WoCC. As part of this work we asked them to seek views from stakeholders. The Trust also conducted a public consultation from 15 July to 6 September 2010.

The Trust's report is published here, along with Deloitte's work and a substantive response to the public consultation from PACT.

First review - 2008

For the first review in 2008, the Trust commissioned Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) to conduct the independent review. We also sought views from a wide range of stakeholders interviews conducted for the Trust by Larkhill Consultancy Ltd, and conducted a public consultation from 17 March to 25 April 2008.

The Trust's report is published here, along with PwC's and Larkhill's reports to the Trust and a substantive response to the public consultation from PACT.

Summary of findings

Summary terms of reference