Ten CEO Hamish McLennan claims John Stephens was ‘only man’ who could turn network around
McLennan
Ten CEO Hamish McLennan took the stand this afternoon in the John Stephens case and accused rivals Network Seven of pressuring the veteran programmer into reneging on an agreement to join Ten.
As proceedings continued in the rival TV network’s battle for the programmer credited with helping to change the fates of both Seven and Nine, McLennan told the court he felt Stephens was the only person to turn around the networks ratings woes.
McLennan was the first witness to be called to the stand by Ten legal counsel David Studdy SC, as the network argues Stephens breached his contract with Ten by failing to take up the job announced on March 7 and staying on at Network Seven.
Under cross-examination by Seven’s legal counsel Andrew Bell, McLennan admitted Ten was seeking to prevent Stephens from working for Seven or Nine which Bell said was to secure a competitive advantage over its principal competitors.
He said: “I felt Stephens was being pressured into breaking the agreement with us and I felt that was wrong and I felt that he had an obligation to fulfil that contract with us.”
When Stephens told McLennan in an email he wanted to back out of the contract with Ten, McLennan wrote to Stephens saying he could work for anyone else other than Seven or Nine, suggesting the ABC, SBS, Foxtel or production companies such as Shine, the court heard.
Studdy explained Ten cannot force Stephens to work for them, and the decision is one for the court.
Bell talked McLennan through the stages of his discussions with Stephens, said to have been carried out over eight days, in the middle of which Stephens had elective surgery on his hip.
Seven submits he was under the influence of painkillers when he signed the contract with Ten.
The court heard McLennan had initially offered Stephens a full-time role and he admitted under cross-examination Ten was under huge commercial stress and McLennan, as the third CEO of the network in three years, was under pressure to turn it around.
“Channel Ten has had a few hard years, yes,” McLennan told the court.
He agreed with Bell when he said Ten’s ratings have been the lowest in its existence and none of the chief executives before him have successfully changed its course.
Bell suggested longterm commitments with US networks was holding Ten back, rather than scheduling, however McLennan argued a good programmer could still take charge of scheduling for the two US import contracts Ten has. And programming such as local sport and news would also benefit from programming smarts.
McLennan admitted Ten was “under huge commercial stress”, as Bell submitted, and “had been for a number of years”.
“You had been charged with turning it around and you regarded him possibly coming over to Ten as very important to your ability to turn it around,” Bell said.
“That was also the Board’s expectation that he would be an important part of turning the network around.”
Bell submitted Stephens had told McLennan in their first meeting on February 25 that he “may” be up to the challenge and also had him admit he was aware Stephens had been in pain post-surgery, and taken medications that made him drowsy.
At this point Stephens was still being presented with a full-time role and McLennan said he, “got the impression (Stephens) was quite excited about the role”.
However McLennan also admitted that four days after his surgery on February 26, and four days before he signed with Ten on March 6, he had told Stephens he proposed to put a contract together within 48 hours. The proposal was for Stephens to join Ten part-time, on a two-year contract, but still in a senior role reporting directly to McLennan.
Bell put to McLennan that he was keen to move quickly, and after some prodding, McLennan agreed.
As McLennan proposed the part-time role he suggested Stephens hold off on telling Seven CEO Tim Worner.
“It was a slightly tongue-in-cheek coment where I felt that he would be bullied by Seven,” McLennan told the court. “I was trying to help Mr Stephens with the situation. I felt they would be pressuring him so I was trying to help Mr Stephens”.
First thing the next morning McLennan issued a press release announcing Stephens’ appointment, Bell said.
“I assumed he would end up talking to Seven anyway so it was a matter of managing the announcement,” McClennan. “I thought they would apply a lot of pressure to him on that Thursday night, but at the end of the day I had a contract.”
In his affidavit provided to the court McLennan submitted that Stephens was the only person in the local industry would could assist Ten in improving its ratings performance.
As McLennnan took the stand, Bell suggested to McLennan that his limited experience in television, having only been CEO of Ten for 12 months, and had no experience as a TV programmer or scheduler.
Bell also questioned McLennan’s confidence in Ten’s programming boss Beverley McGarvey who McLennan said had suggested Stephens as talent for the network and had “heard rumours that he would be obtainable” before McLennan approached him on February 20.
Should Stephens join Ten, McGarvey would have retained her senior position, McLennan said, although he would have had her reporting to Stephens as director of scheduling and acquisitions.
“That would have involved Stephens going from a one or two days a week consulting agreement with Seven with aspirations of retiring at the end of the year to possibly the most demanding job in Australian television with the challenge of turning Ten around – a very big challenge indeed,” Bell said.
McLennan agreed, and went on to agree with Bell that Stephens would have had “significant reservations about assuming such a role” as he admitted Stephens said he said he was concerned he had “bitten off more than he could chew”.
Bell submitted given Stephens’ position, a 67-year-old man who had worked hard throughout his career, currently working one or two days a week with the intention of retiring at the end of 2014, was not willing to take on the level of responsibility presented by Ten.
Stephens then indicated he did not feel the role could be performed part time, and McLennan said this was a “backflip” from his previous position.
The court also heard Stephens then expressed concern about News Corp’s interest in buying Ten, and McLennan told the court, as he told the programmer, “there was no indication they will do that”.
McLennan will return to the stand tomorrow.
Megan Reynolds
I thought it was Hamish’s job to turn the network around?
perhaps he needs to fight Lachlan Murdoch on the streets of Bronte?
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Why have they not considered that it’s impossible to ‘turn around’ a business that functions on a defunct and irrelevant model?
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The easiest way to turnaround the Network is get rid of Murdoch…
It is very sad day if John Stephens is the only person who can “turn around the Network”…what happens after the trial when he does not come ?
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Can I have couple of million a year to not be responsible for turning things around?
Where do I sign…
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John Stephens the only person in Australia who can turn 10 around? Doesn’t say much for McClennan’s confidence in his own team. Also raises the obvious question about his own role…..isn’t that what HE (McClennan) was hired to do?
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My dad is 67, sits at home and watches shitloads of TV…he’s available for a couple of days a week……..
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The only person in Australia who can turn 10 around? Hell, if that’s true, then they must be in bigger trouble than I thought.
To turn ten around gives you net, the remaining part of the word is work. This should not be about the money, and the effort should not be about clawing back ratings.
So far it has been a case of lucky dipping in a bag of unknown fire crackers in the hope of pulling out one that will wow the crowd. What if they are all damp squibs?
Every performer knows that when the audience has been elated and uplifted by the best, there comes a time to let them settle again, only by this route will you ever be able to build them up again.
Good programming and serving the viewing public is what television should be about. The rats will not follow the pied piper if he fails to whistle the tune.
Dig a deeper trench, and the water will run into your garden.
I am starting to sound like a soothsayer…..maybe that’s what is required.
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Oh well Hamish if the only man who can turn Ten around isn’t available as George Carlin once so elegantly it it seems like you’re SOLAJWF….. Shit outta luck and jolly well fucked!
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If any TV network was serious in any way about turning their businesses around they’d be looking to smart 20 and 30 somethings to set their programming agenda, not a 67 year old.
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@Jeremy.. are you suggesting that a 67 year old is incapable because they are 67? I would take a smart 67 year old who knew their shit any day over someone 40 years their junior who knew fuck all. Knowledge and not age should be the determining factor in people getting employed numbskull. Ageism is just as odious as racism or sexism and should attract the same derision.
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The odd thing is Stephens is credited as the only guy who can turn Ten around, yet his salary is 20% of the CEO even when excluding LTI.
If I was Stephens I’d be asking for rem. similar to Hamish … based on this whole circus it appears his value is at that level rather than the $400k rumoured to be his OTE.
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@ Jeremy
Your comment about the aged being out of touch has upset me to the degree that I am in need of a suitable physic. I shall bespeak a man with a carriage and instruct him to convey me to the city apothecary in the morning.
I assure you young man that once my spheres are back in orbit, I shall be instructing my solicitor to forward a missive in the strongest tones.
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