{"id":9368,"date":"2025-08-19T12:56:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T12:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/9368\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T12:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T12:56:07","slug":"tv-giants-refuse-to-fund-uks-anti-bullying-harassment-body-ciisa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/9368\/","title":{"rendered":"TV Giants Refuse To Fund UK’s Anti-Bullying & Harassment Body CIISA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE<\/strong>: Channel 4<\/a> and Disney<\/a> are among the television giants declining to pay annual fees to the UK industry\u2019s new independent bullying and harassment complaints body, Deadline can reveal.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs executives gather in Scotland for the Edinburgh TV Festival<\/a>, sources said there is growing uncertainty over whether the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (now commonly known by its CIISA<\/a> acronym) can be sustained by voluntary contributions, with the body planning to clearer about funding refuseniks as it bids to secure its future.<\/p>\n

\n\tDeadline hears that others yet to pay annual fees include Amazon Prime Video, All3Media, Fremantle, and Banijay. Netflix<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe BBC<\/a>, 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. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe idea of an independent misconduct authority has been kicked around by the industry since the Noel Clarke scandal four years ago<\/a>, 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\u2019Acampo. Both denied wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and Sky helped fund CIISA\u2019s startup costs in 2022, but as the body begins work, it will rely on annual fees to fund its operating overheads, which will be \u00a32M ($2.7M) next year. <\/p>\n

\n\tCIISA is asking stakeholders across TV, film, theater, and music to make annual contributions contingent on their annual revenue. Those with sales of more than \u00a3500M have been asked to pay \u00a350,000 into CIISA, while the lowest contribution can be discretionary for companies with revenues of less than \u00a3250,000. Keira Knightley and Emerald Fennell<\/a> are among the stars who have helped CIISA appeal for regular contributions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tChannel 4\u2019s reluctance to pay ongoing annual fees has raised eyebrows, given its position as a publicly-owned broadcaster with a \u201czero tolerance\u201d approach to unacceptable behavior following scandals involving stars such as Russell Brand. One person claimed Channel 4 had been \u201cvery difficult about coughing up the cash\u201d for future operations, though it has contributed in the past.<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked why it is not funding CIISA annually, a spokesperson said: \u201cChannel 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 \u2014 most notably focusing on putting in place the appropriate remit, structures, and services to ensure their effectiveness \u2014 as we are keen to support them in building their success.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney, 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tWarm Words Not Enough<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIn a letter to UK Parliament\u2019s Culture, Media and Sport Committee this year, CIISA CEO Jen Smith was unsparing about the financial uncertainty. She said voluntary contributions are taking \u201cmuch longer than expected,\u201d are \u201crapidly becoming unfit for purpose,\u201d and that the body cannot survive on goodwill alone. \u201cWarm words must be translated into long-term financial commitments,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tCIISA 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHe compared the model, which is still being finalized, to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK\u2019s financial services regulator. \u201cIf you\u2019re looking for a loan or mortgage and your [lender] is not on the FCA website, you\u2019re playing with fire,\u201d he told Deadline. \u201cThere\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt 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\u2019s work is duplicative of standards already in place across the industry. \u201cWriting guidance doesn\u2019t represent value for money,\u201d said one skeptic. \u201cWe would like more clarity over CIISA\u2019s long-term remit, its mediation and investigative functions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfzal acknowledged the concerns and said CIISA is consistently addressing industry questions. He stressed that the body\u2019s operating functions are \u201clean\u201d (it doesn\u2019t even have its own office space) and that it will publish accounts to boost transparency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBut 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 \u201cfind the funding\u201d to deliver the service, even if it is unable to convert the likes of Amazon into fee-paying partners.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Lisa<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLisa Nandy<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tWhether 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCulture 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 \u201castonished\u201d to discover Banijay was not funding the body following the MasterChef misconduct scandal that led to hosts Wallace and John Torode being fired.<\/p>\n

\n\tA Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport spokesperson said: \u201cWe 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.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tITV has taken the same step as the BBC and told Deadline it was a \u201cproud ongoing financial supporter of CIISA.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLack of Support \u201cLudicrous\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tPhilippa Childs, head of TV industry union Bectu, said it was \u201cludicrous\u201d that large companies were not making annual payments to CIISA.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese 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,\u201d she told Deadline.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe only conclusion one can draw from organizations\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfzal added: \u201cWe are here working with all these institutions to deal with decency deficit, to attack the trust deficit and, ultimately, to plug the accountability gap.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Channel 4 and Disney are among the television giants declining to pay annual fees to the UK…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[3412,6016,9260,1887,9261,18,117,19,17,9262,127,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-9368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-channel-4","10":"tag-ciisa","11":"tag-disney","12":"tag-edinburgh-tv-festival","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-lisa-nandy","18":"tag-netflix","19":"tag-tv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}