EXCLUSIVE: Channel 4 and Disney are among the television giants declining to pay annual fees to the UK industry’s new independent bullying and harassment complaints body, Deadline can reveal.
As executives gather in Scotland for the Edinburgh TV Festival, sources said there is growing uncertainty over whether the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (now commonly known by its CIISA acronym) can be sustained by voluntary contributions, with the body planning to clearer about funding refuseniks as it bids to secure its future.
Deadline hears that others yet to pay annual fees include Amazon Prime Video, All3Media, Fremantle, and Banijay. Netflix and Paramount-owned Channel 5 declined to confirm whether they are providing ongoing financial support to CIISA, raising questions about their commitment to the body.
The BBC, ITV, Sky, Warner Bros. Discovery, BAFTA, and union Bectu have all pledged to make annual payments. Hundreds of other creative industry organizations have also signed up, including the Royal Albert Hall and Royal Shakespeare Company.
The idea of an independent misconduct authority has been kicked around by the industry since the Noel Clarke scandal four years ago, but its existence has become more pressing amid a string of power abuse crises involving the likes of MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace and ITV chef Gino D’Acampo. Both denied wrongdoing.
The BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and Sky helped fund CIISA’s startup costs in 2022, but as the body begins work, it will rely on annual fees to fund its operating overheads, which will be £2M ($2.7M) next year.
CIISA is asking stakeholders across TV, film, theater, and music to make annual contributions contingent on their annual revenue. Those with sales of more than £500M have been asked to pay £50,000 into CIISA, while the lowest contribution can be discretionary for companies with revenues of less than £250,000. Keira Knightley and Emerald Fennell are among the stars who have helped CIISA appeal for regular contributions.
Channel 4’s reluctance to pay annual fees has raised eyebrows, given its position as a publicly-owned broadcaster with a “zero tolerance” approach to unacceptable behavior following scandals involving stars such as Russell Brand. One person claimed Channel 4 had been “very difficult about coughing up the cash.”
Asked why it is not funding CIISA annually, a spokesperson said: “Channel 4 was an early supporter of CIISA and we have committed to their industry-wide standards. We have made substantial contributions to CIISA over the last two years and are actively engaging with them — most notably focusing on putting in place the appropriate remit, structures, and services to ensure their effectiveness — as we are keen to support them in building their success.”
Disney, Amazon Prime Video, All3Media, Fremantle, and Banijay declined to comment. The position of these companies is that they remain in constructive conversation with CIISA as they seek clarity on how funding will be used.
Warm Words Not Enough
In a letter to UK Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee this year, CIISA CEO Jen Smith was unsparing about the financial uncertainty. She said voluntary contributions are taking “much longer than expected,” are “rapidly becoming unfit for purpose,” and that the body cannot survive on goodwill alone. “Warm words must be translated into long-term financial commitments,” she said.
CIISA has declined to name and shame individual companies, but the organization is changing tack in the coming weeks. Nazir Afzal, a CIISA board member and former prosecutor, said the body will actively publish its funding partners, effectively revealing non-funders by omission.
He compared the model, which is still being finalized, to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK’s financial services regulator. “If you’re looking for a loan or mortgage and your [lender] is not on the FCA website, you’re playing with fire,” he told Deadline. “There’s a strong case for saying that if your [employer] is not on the CIISA list, then the environment they have is not as safe as it could be.”
It is not clear whether this will be enough to overcome reservations. Sources at companies that have declined to back CIISA financially have questioned what the money is being spent on. There are also concerns that CIISA’s work is duplicative of standards already in place across the industry. “Writing guidance doesn’t represent value for money,” said one skeptic. “We would like more clarity over CIISA’s long-term remit, its mediation and investigative functions.”
Afzal acknowledged the concerns and said CIISA is consistently addressing industry questions. He stressed that the body’s operating functions are “lean” (it doesn’t even have its own office space) and that it will publish accounts to boost transparency.
But CIISA is yet to deliver on its central pledge to launch a misconduct reporting service, with the complaints hotline not now expected until next year at the earliest. Eagerly awaited by freelancers, Afzal said CIISA will “find the funding” to deliver the service, even if it is unable to convert the likes of Amazon into fee-paying partners.
Lisa Nandy
Whether the reporting service can be maintained in the long term under a voluntary funding model is unclear. CIISA has held talks with the government about introducing a mandatory levy, as well as making funding contributions a conditional part of accessing tax breaks.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy is considering these proposals, even if Afzal considers them a last resort. A staunch supporter of CIISA, Nandy said in December that she was “astonished” to discover Banijay was not funding the body following the MasterChef misconduct scandal that led to hosts Wallace and John Torode being fired.
A Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport spokesperson said: “We are looking at ways to ensure that CIISA has proper buy-in and support from across the sector. We are pleased that organisations including Sky, Warner Bros. Discovery and the BBC have taken a strong stand, with the BBC announcing that they expect production companies working with them to support the CIISA standards.”
ITV has taken the same step as the BBC and told Deadline it was a “proud ongoing financial supporter of CIISA.”
Lack of Support “Ludicrous”
Philippa Childs, head of TV industry union Bectu, said it was “ludicrous” that large companies were not making annual payments to CIISA.
“These contributions are small change to the companies, but vitally important for workers and the reputation of the industry as a whole. Existing reporting mechanisms are not working, and industry heavyweights like these need to put their money where their mouth is if they want to achieve lasting change,” she told Deadline.
“The only conclusion one can draw from organizations’ refusal to sign up, is that they want to continue to be able to protect talent at the expense of the hard-working freelancers whose skills are crucial to the creative industries.”
Afzal added: “We are here working with all these institutions to deal with decency deficit, to attack the trust deficit and, ultimately, to plug the accountability gap.”