Media Update: Casual approach to TV's future

ANDREW QUINN, chief executive of the ITV network, observes that 54 per cent of the new programmes being commissioned for 1993 are from independents, and that established broadcasters are still clearly overstaffed. 'One of the effects of the Broadcasting Act is the casualisation of the workforce,' he says. With cutbacks at the BBC, he is worried about who will train and develop talent for the future. BBC staff report that redundancies are cutting swathes through departments, as old hands, unhappy with the huge changes which many think are destroying the BBC, decide to call it a day. However, as one senior producer observed: 'The BBC seems to be hiring young, cheap contract staff instead.'