On the eve of a significant turning point for digital television in Australia, the appointment of Robin Parkes as the first Sydney-based chief executive of Freeview is an unexpected one.
Rather than appoint a high-profile marketer, television executive or digital media boss, the Freeview board has opted for a “bubbly” chief operating officer, whose latest gig has been out of sight of the media world.
On December 15 Parkes will take control of the consortium to promote digital television for the free-to-air networks, including a second phase marketing push in 2009. Freeview, comprised of ABC, SBS, Seven, Nine, Ten, WIN, Prime Media and Southern Cross, launched in a ceremony held in Canberra last week. It will be the umbrella brand for the FTAs to launch their digital channels next year, offering at least 15 channels.
Parkes, who is not allowed to comment on Freeview until she assumes her new role, is currently COO at Sydney law firm Thomson Playford Cutlers. She previously spent four years with the STW group in various roles, including GM of direct marketing group Ogilvy Action.
Kim Dalton, Freeview chairman and a director of ABC television, claims the launch of Freeview is the most important Australian TV event since Bruce Gyngell said “those three simple words, ‘welcome to television’” in 1956.
So who is the person who has been charged with such an important event, and why has someone with no TV experience been appointed to this pivotal role?
“It wasn’t something we were ever looking for,” insists Dalton. Parkes’ marketing background seems to be the motivating factor in her appointment. Julie Flynn, chief executive of Free TV Australia says: “We’ve got a product to sell and we think she’ll do a fabulous job in bringing the various bits and pieces together for the marketing of the platform.”
Dalton concurs: “The broadcasters are experts in broadcasting and we all do it very well. Freeview is not about being a broadcaster; rather it’s about promoting and establishing a viewing platform. What we needed was someone who had a very strong background in marketing, stakeholder management, project management, someone with strong administrative and management experience.”
Parkes’ colleague Tom Boyce, partner at Thomson Playford Cutlers says: “Robin didn’t come to us with a legal background, but she brought a certain energy to the firm and kicked plenty of goals for us. She is a bubbly personality, very friendly and skillful in bringing people together”.
Media analyst Paul Budde, general manager of Budde Communication, admits the decision to appoint Parkes as CEO is a surprising one.
“I would have thought it would be someone that comes from the digital media industry or someone with a stronger marketing background,” he says.
Conversely, independent analyst Peter Cox of Cox Media argues that the move echoes what all the main media lobbying groups, including pay TV body ASTRA and Free TV Australia, have done.
“They appoint people to head them who are there to be PR people, to be lobbyists – that is their role. They don’t need to know anything about television because they’re not there to do anything in television,” he says. However, Dalton insists Freeview is not a lobby or policy organisation: “It’s a marketing organisation and Robin had all the skills and experience to drive that and that’s why we gave her the job”.
Some believe Parkes’ job will not just be about marketing, but also motivating reluctant networks.
Cox argues: “It’s being driven by the ABC, because the commercial networks actually don’t want this. This is why they’ve slowed it down so far. They’ve had HDTV for the last two years and have done nothing with it, they have the next channel available from January 1 next year and they are talking about perhaps starting it in April or later. The last thing they want is success, because if they have success they’re going to cannibalise themselves.”
Cox’s view is dismissed by Dalton: “Freeview was an initiative that got underway through the networks not the ABC. It was Seven, Nine and Ten that got together and decided to do this, based on what had happened in the UK. All of the networks are absolutely committed to this.”
While the motivation of the networks may be questioned by some, there seems no doubt Parkes will be leading the charge in one of the most important evolutions in digital TV. Free TV’s Flynn says: “All five FTA networks have been contributing, but I think appointing a CEO will give Freeview the opportunity to pull all that work together and take it forward”.
So far the networks are working together, evidenced by the simultaneous broadcast of a 60-second Freeview TVC across all channels when it launched last week. But whether they have a real hunger for digital remains to be seen.
Parkes’ marketing prowess, and perhaps more importantly, her mediation skills will be called upon if the choppy waters of converting people to digital TV are to be navigated successfully.
