Ian McCulloch doesn't like talking about himself - which is tricky, as with 27 years' experience at ITV under his belt, he is well-placed to comment on the seismic changes taking place at his former employer, in the wake of Michael Grade's impending exit as executive chairman.
McCulloch, the former commercial director of ITV, may have nailed his colours to the mast by leaving the broadcaster just four months after Grade joined in January 2007, but getting him to go on the record on Grade's untimely step-down is like pulling teeth from a particularly stubborn and sore-headed bear.
Either out of a lingering respect for ITV's "powerful brands" and "compelling content" or a desire not to upset his friends still working at the company, his only comment is a diplomatic: "The board had clearly decided a change was needed, and I wouldn't disagree with their decision."
McCulloch is similarly clam-like on the subject of Grade's successor - even though he himself is a 20/1 outsider for the chief executive role, according to bookmaker Paddy Power. He names no names, but indicates that the beleaguered broadcaster needs somebody who is "21st century" and understands the critical issues surrounding media convergence.
"ITV needs somebody who is current and more completely rounded in terms of creating commercial content," he says. "Broadcasting isn't just about linear TV any more. ITV has some really powerful brands, but it needs to exist as more than just one of the shows on telly. It has huge depth of resource in production, but it doesn't have the creative leadership it needs."
McCulloch's long career in television, spanning back to the days of LWT, qualified his appointment to the Digital Britain Steering Panel, where his specialist subject is media markets. With the industry facing technology-driven structural changes alongside the worst recession for 60 years, McCulloch's initial response to being asked for his views on the most urgent areas for action is a hollow laugh.
He elaborates: "The funding of PSB content is huge. The market can fund X Factor; that's not a problem. But could it fund a Panorama-type show? Probably not. You can either top slice money from the BBC or get money from the Treasury, but both are difficult. I would be amazed if the Treasury was up for pumping money into PSB content. So then you have to work out how to get people to pay for it."
Consultancy work
Since leaving ITV, McCulloch has been working as a consultant, helping distressed senior management teams cope as they sink "deep under water". Spotting that the recession will only increase demand for restructuring services of this kind, in March he launched a new consultancy, Xsequor, with ex-ITV chief executive Charles Allen and ex-ITV legal director Kyla Mullins.
McCulloch says: "The phone has been ringing more and more as the market has deteriorated.
Incumbent managements are overwhelmed - for example, private equity firms in year two of a four-year deal, where the market has crashed, there is no exit route in sight and the staff are desperately demotivated. The problem with this market is you can't sell anything - you are better off trying to weather the storm."
Xsequor - named after a corruption of the Latin word "Exsequor", meaning to fulfil or accomplish - will focus on ensuring analysis translates into action. The privately funded company so far has five clients on its books - although all have signed non-disclosure agreements - and it will look beyond media companies to work with any firms that are about "brands, IP and culture", such as government departments.
McCulloch has witnessed the approach where an army of graduates storm in with their laptops and exit leaving management with a sterile PowerPoint presentation and a large bill, and insists his approach will be less of a blitzkrieg. He says: "That is just cost-cutting. If the business is in change, you can rarely shrink your way to growth."
Xsequor will outsource the analysis to firms such as Boston Consulting, McKinsey and OC&C - with which Xsequor shares office space - and concentrate on working with board members to ensure the recommendations are implemented, calling in external regulatory, legal and HR specialists as each project requires.
Good discipline
Some may question the team's credentials for restructuring and realigning businesses, but McCulloch claims the pressure he was under at ITV, where he worked on strategies such as the merger of Carlton and Granada and creating new revenue streams from Granada Broadband, was "a good discipline". He says: "The deals we did had to be completed by a certain set of [financial] results and the City knew the timetable - there was nowhere to hide."
Furthermore, he believes that because the spate of company restructures is driven by external pressures - forced change, rather than debt-driven change - calling in outside help is a necessity, not an option. He says: "We are helping people have a good war. If managements keep resolving issues as they arise week by week, the pace will increase to the point where they can't run fast enough."
McCulloch earned a reputation as one of the industry's toughest traders while at ITV, but even he is scared by estimates that the UK's national debt will not rectify itself for 23 years.
Spelling it out in black and white, he says: "This market makes change happen, because if change doesn't happen, companies go bust."
CV
2009 Co-founder, Xsequor
2007 Consultant and adviser on the Digital Britain Steering Board
2005 Commercial director, ITV
2003 Managing director/chief operating officer, ITV Broadcast
2001 Operations director Granada Broadcasting
1999 Commercial director Granada Broadband
1994 Operations director Granada Enterprises
1980 Sales assistant, rising to agency sales director, LWT
1978 Salesman, Guy Salmon
Family Lives in Surrey with partner Alison and two children: Maisie, 13, and Florence, 10
Desert island media The Times, Britain's Got Talent, iPod
McCulloch on...
Contract rights renewal: CRR is working against the interests of viewers and advertisers. There are many technical areas where it has fossilised things as though it is 2003, and it has dampened the whole market. The unintended consequence of having CRR in place for so long is that it is damaging the content and is not serving consumers - it is starting to work against the interests of the market.
ITV's scaled-back regional output: This is a real shame, because ITV is the only network you can buy regional TV on. People sneer at regional TV as being second class and amateur, but it is a key strength of ITV and should be protected. There are clearly issues around funding regional television and, if the market can't sustain it, something needs to fill the gap.
Product placement: It was an extraordinary decision by the Government to ban it. Product placement is already here - in all the acquired programming, on Formula 1 and on football. When it is too obvious, it doesn't work anyway, because the viewer thinks it looks out of place.
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