Leckie’s 10-year plan for Seven

13Dec07

SEVEN
Network chief executive David Leckie has been named The Australian’s
Media Person of the Year after leading the network to its first win in
the television ratings in a non-Olympics year since 1978.

Now
Mr Leckie, who joined Seven in 2003 after a long career at Nine, has
set his sights on Seven winning the ratings 10 years in a row.

Mr Leckie was named Media Person of the Year by Media’s panel of
judges after winning our award for the Radio and TV Person of the Year.

The accolade follows a stunning year for Seven, in which it won the
ratings with 37.5 per cent of the overall audience. It also won the
ratings in each capital city market and strengthened its lead in news
and current affairs.

Speaking to Media (The Australian) yesterday, Mr Leckie attributed Seven’s success to consistency.

"We decided our major demographic was 25-to-54s and four to five
years ago we started to charge towards that. It took a long time and it
took a lot of luck," he said. "And everyone knew momentum and
relentless pressure was the way to get there, and they have done it."

He also said his key lieutenants – programming chief Tim Worner,
news and current affairs chief Peter Meakin and sales chief James
Warburton – were critical to the success.

"They are better than the opposition by a mile," he said.

Seven will maintain the pressure, with Mr Leckie saying: "We have
had a fantastic year but we have to win 10 years in a row, that’s our
focus."

He also refused to claim the mantle of being No1, a catchphrase so
long successfully employed by Nine when it was owned by Kerry Packer.

"We won’t say we are No1. All I’m going to say is we have achieved
leadership in our major demographic of 25-to-54s and we are really
proud about that."

Asked if toppling Nine from the top ratings spot after so many years
was vindication after his dismissal from that network, Mr Leckie said:
"I’m not going to get into that, that’s years ago now, it doesn’t
matter."

But asked how different it was working for Seven’s major owner Kerry
Stokes compared with Packer, he said they were "completely different
people".

"But it’s very interesting that the last man standing is Kerry Stokes. And he’s a fantastic guy to work for."

Mr Leckie agreed he had provided "some leadership" at Seven but
regretted his "ranting and raving the other day", a reference to his
outburst at The Chaser’s War on Everything crew last month.

"It was a disgraceful exhibition by myself, The Chaser thing was not
leadership. That was pathetic and I regret that profoundly. So I have
to improve, too."

Seven last year sold half its TV, magazines and Yahoo!7 businesses
into a joint venture with private equity group KKR in a deal valued at
$4 billion.

That joint venture – the Seven Media Group – is half-owned by Seven
Network Limited, which in turn is 43 per cent owned by Mr Stokes, with
the rest traded on the stock exchange. Mr Leckie said the joint venture
was "working extremely well" and "we’re also pleased about our momentum
and our margins".

Seven recently launched 7HD, its new high-definition digital TV
channel, which Mr Leckie said would initially lose money but was needed
to drive sales of digital TVs.

"It’s going to cost us real money for the next year or so but we will get the chance to trial some programs," he said.

This year Mr Leckie chaired the free-to-air TV industry
representative group Free TV Australia and he remains a true believer
in the sector’s future.

"I think free-to-air TV has a long way to go … and we do 75per
cent of all production for commercial TV, which shouldn’t be
underestimated," he said.

Next year the commercial networks will produce four new Australian dramas.

"The massive amount of Australian production announced for next year
by all the networks is fantastic and it wouldn’t happen unless we were
a strong industry. It gives a lot of employment to a lot of people," he
said.

But he still believed they should be able to do more with their
multi-channels, pointing to Seven’s imminent broadcast of the
Australian Open tennis.

"We can only show one match on our main channel and then flip to
another match on the other channel, but there are 49 matches going at
the time," he said.

"There are also other restrictions that we’ll be talking to the new Communications Minister (Stephen Conroy) about."

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