Based upon public perception, some broadcasters would appear to have weathered the last year better than others. Some have had their restructuring played out very publically, others have been more covert in their non-replacement of staff, while others claim, and some seemingly rightly so, that operational leanness has seen them through this, and previous downturns. The biggest story of the past few months, and the worst kept secret given that TVAplus reported it back in January 2009, was the restructure within News Corporation that saw a decentralization and paring down of the Hong Kong regional HQ. STAR India and STAR Greater China now report directly to James Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, Europe and Asia, News Corporation. And STAR’s three pan-regional channel brands: World, Movies and Channel [V] International, are now incorporated under Fox International Channels (FIC) Asia. Official responses to TVAplus’ questions on changes at NewsCorp and FIC Asia were not forthcoming by press time, but an announcement included some updates on the restructure. “Operationally, FIC has revamped its organizational structure through its decentralization and localization strategies to accelerate business growth in Asia,” says the release. “Led by Ward Platt, President, and Zubin Gandevia, Chief Operating Officer, the company has now 15 local offices in the region as independent business centers to take full advantage of the potential of each local market. Territory directors will be accountable for local profitability with functional support from the regional leadership team, which consists of industry veterans in distribution, creative, regional advertising sales, marketing, programming, technology and finance. The new additions bring a wealth of local and regional television experience to FIC’s global business network, ensuring flawless support for affiliates and advertisers to reach maximum audience.” Announcement also outlined the new Hong Kong-based organizational team, reporting directly to Zubin Gandevia, comprising Avinash (Avi) Himatsinghani, senior vice president and general manager of ASEAN; Jonathan Ellis, senior vice president, revenues & partnerships; Joon Lee, senior vice president, programming, creatives & channel operations; Nathane Banks, senior vice president, broadcast operations and equipments; Sonia Jackson, senior vice president, marketing and general manager, Hong Kong and Philippines; Edwina Ngao, vice president, affiliate sales & partnerships. Over at Disney ABC International Television (DAIT), some Hong Kong-based marketing and PR functions had appeared to be casualties of a restructure within the last year. On the contrary, says a DAIT spokesperson, “At Disney-ABC International Television (APAC), we’ve been fortunate not to have downsized as a result of the recession. Over the past year, we’ve made some important strategic hires and grown the DAIT team as part of our new integrated distribution structure. We are still continuing to look to add to the team which further demonstrates our commitment to both the region and to our clients.” Spokesperson points to the appointment of vice president business strategy & development and new media, Nicholas Wodtke, and the June 2009 announcement of “an integrated distribution structure for the Asia Pacific region aimed at accelerating international growth.” DAIT spokesperson continues, “This has clearly been a difficult and unpredictable time for everyone and while our businesses aren’t immune, the strength of our assets, brands, and management team positions us well for the long term. We are working closer than ever with our partners and local industry to ensure we are in the right place at the right time – the fact that we’re hiring within these challenging times is a reflection of that commitment.” “The economic downturn does not change our fundamental strategy – we are focused on executing against our long-term strategy which is to identify opportunities to invest in innovation & creativity, embrace new technology and in initiatives to grow our diverse set of businesses around the region.” “This includes building the right teams to face the market – whether that’s in sales, marketing, finance, technical or legal – which positions DAIT well to thrive as the economy rebounds. We are not just about putting our content on all platforms. We are building business models that make sense and move us forward in innovative ways and will be hiring the right people to fill those needs.” News Corp and Disney joint venture ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) has been through a realignment, which media reports attributed to the 2006-announced Home Run initiative – moving from tape-based sports and news production systems to a new file based facility. But ESS’s Singapore-based managing director Manu Sawhney says Home Run was not the only reason for realignment. “Project Homerun was a technological initiative taken in 2006 to prepare us for future; meeting our unique and complex broadcast production demands as well as the challenges of localizing content and its final stage was implemented in July 2008. As a result of this there were few roles that were affected. However, that was not the only reason for realignment. Coupled with this technological initiative was our renewed focus towards devising the strategy for our long term growth and expansion, this required evaluation of resources and expertise needed to embark upon and build on those plans. As a result, in some cases different sets of skills were required to achieve our focused growth across platforms and therefore a few roles were made redundant. But at the same time, we hired people across various functions in line with our new business focus.” Sawhney says a few roles were realigned as a result of ESS’ drive to improve operational efficiency across the organization, and points out that the realignment was not recession-driven. “It is important to note that the restructuring was done as a result of an exercise that began much earlier. An exercise to align our business and our resources with our future growth plans. The final phase of implementation of this exercise coincided with the time when the global business environment was on a downturn.” He continues, “(Any rationalization) is more a reflection of business realties, business growth plans, market opportunities and technological advancements and their impact on business. In some cases it could be restructuring and in other cases could be realignment. Both could lead to few redundancies but driven by very distinct objectives.” Meanwhile, TVAplus asked Discovery Networks Asia Pacific (DNAP), about a couple of high profile departures, are staff being laid off, or not being replaced? “The departures from Discovery were due to personnel resigning, not lay-offs,” states an emphatic Tom Keaveny, DNAP’s executive vice president and managing director. “With our decentralisation policy, the changes presented an opportunity to review existing structures and make changes to various departments, to further drive efficiencies and also align ourselves to Discovery’s global operations. This included redeployment of staff – for example to our offices in China, Taiwan, Australia, and India – to ensure that the regional teams have all resources necessary to achieve their business objectives and deliver Discovery’s brand promise as the world’s number one non-fiction media company.” What about trends toward ‘acting up’ when junior staff assume responsibilities from senior staff that have left? “If and when opportunities arise, we do try to fill the positions internally and utilise talent from with the organization,” says Keaveny, adding that no steps have been taken to rationalize the organization. “As mentioned, personnel have left Discovery to pursue other opportunities. There are still many opportunities to expand our business and will explore opportunities as they present themselves. As we have always done, we will hire based on what is needed to achieve our business goals. Discovery has a great team of talented, passionate individuals, each playing a vital role in making Discovery the brand that it is today.” ESS’s Sawhney offers insight into the changing needs of today’s TV industry, “It is very important to understand that in today’s world, the boundaries between the media are blurring. Industry needs to look beyond silos of mode of delivery. Consumer is seeking content across platforms and therefore the content needs to be conceptualized, created and distributed in a manner that meets this growing demand. Skill sets that are platform agnostic are the ones that are going to be more valuable. Capability to adapt and develop content for different platforms would be the key for future.” He continues, “Our staff is our biggest strength and ESS is committed to working towards developing an environment that will ensure the most productive, healthy and rewarding experience for our organization. We continue to seek out the best talent who show the passion, enthusiasm, aptitude and ambition to look beyond the traditional and conventional working of media. Capabilities to conceptualize, create, distribute and promote content across platforms seamlessly are important for the growth of business.” And over at Turner Broadcasting Systems Asia Pacific, president and managing director, Steve Marcopoto says the network has not had any recession related lay-offs. “The vast majority of staff departures have been replaced as we have remained in a growth mode.” “We’ve always run a tight ship, and focused everything on improving returns on our core while taking an ‘inch by inch’ approach to growth. We have not been big game hunters, nor perhaps big headline grabbers, but the compound result has been a very healthy financial state that stood up well to the downturn.” Are any areas more vulnerable in a downturn? “It seems that any business that does not have a multiple revenue stream has proven to be the most vulnerable. We’ve succeeded through this as a team and I am not just saying this to be PC: no positions have been any less of a priority during the financial crisis.” Marcopoto concludes on an optimistic note, “The downturn has not changed but only reinforced our belief in the attributes we look for in people that are going to join our team. They have to be customer-focused (whether internal or external), collaborative, energetic, optimistic, creative, solutions-oriented, reliable and want to have fun.”