V and Y Productions Ltd Case Study

I. BRIEF BACKGROUND

V and Y Productions Ltd (VYP) is a UK based independent TV Production Company that produces television programmes in the genres: documentaries, drama series, scripted comedy and general entertainment. It has however been more popularly known for its comedy and entertainment series. Their programmes are being commissioned by a number of TV broadcast companies namely BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. It is founded by Steve Voddil and John Young who are both veterans in making programmes and in the industry as a whole.

Generally, TV production companies gain reputation from their people not only for their relevant achievements but more importantly for the creativity and genuineness that are being reflected in the works being made and produced for the broadcasting companies. However, these skills are only limited to those who have long been in the industry.

VYP have been in existence since October 2004 starting off with only 12 employees. Today, they have 60 direct employees and outsourced much of the routine in the TV production work. The company has key employees who own shares as well aside from the two abovementioned.

The company have established a reputation of having the best people which they maintain and develop over time. Recently, they have had series of programmes which have been considered successful based on audience viewing figures. VYP also holds a 1.4% market share UK's commissioned TV programmes.

II. IDENTIFICATION OF PROBLEM/S

Concentration of small players in the industry. As implied by the market share of VYP, the number of small players can be a threat to the company since VYP only holds merely a percent of the total TV programme producers. Although at least having a part of it is good enough for the company, outdoing the rest that to hold a bigger share may be done through more strategic marketing activities.

Risks of Outsourcing. Underlying disadvantages of outsourcing are identified if the company would keep doing so throughout its operations especially in making their programmes in spite the costs it cuts initially in the production. Outsourcing implies a lot of security risks considering that their people are what make up the company's reputation. These freelancers can easily be pirated by other competitors and may cause a major fallback for the company.

Costly External Facilities. Booking external facilities may have saved the company some costs initially yet this continue on while they intend to expand the business, costs may substantially get higher than acquiring their own facilities which they could maximize with no time limits and other restrictions.

Lack of Cost Control. Considering the relativity costs to the funds depending on the programming, costs can be difficult to determine and control