ITV Studios to Undergo Restructure

LONDON: ITV Studios is to reorganize its program-making division into four content groups: entertainment, factual, daytime and scripted.

Controllers will be renamed creative directors and their numbers reduced to eight. Though the restructure will result in the loss of around 15 jobs, the move is said to be in an effort to streamline ITV Studios, rather than a cost-cutting measure. The changes include a new ITV Studios management structure, comprised of production management, accounting and a new talent and training team. The creative directors for each of the proposed genre divisions will report to the ITV Studios’ creative director, John Whiston.

ITV Studios’ managing director, Lee Bartlett, said, according to reports: "A year ago I outlined my vision for ITV Studios, which is to create a world-class content business that thinks and acts globally and one that achieves global fame for our ideas and our people…. As part of this journey we must evolve the way we manage our business and today’s proposals will simplify our creative structure and create a truly flexible production management team, so we continue to deliver first-rate programming for our U.K. and global clients."

Whiston added: "The changes we are proposing will allow us to focus on the game-changing programming that is so important to us and our clients—entertainment, daytime, factual and scripted content—and provide our clients with one point of contact, within our ITV Studios’ team."

ITV has now opened a 30-day consultation period with staff about the proposals.