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CORINTHIAN IDEALS
Mike Silverman, CEO of CTV on why customer service must always come first
T he image is a striking one, and perhaps emblematic of
the industry that Corinthian operates in. A London dou- ble-decker bus, on a skid pan, leaning over on two wheels as it corners at high
speed. The site of that famous black and white photograph has long since closed, redeveloped into a state of the art complex of television facilities and hi-tech offices at Chiswick Park in the west of London.
Corinthian Television, known to one and all in the industry as CTV, operate this centre which provides production, post production and transmission services to a range of major international broadcasters.
“Essentially we work under long term contracts,” explains CEO Mike Silverman. “This ranges from provid- ing live studios, video, audio, graph- ics production and post production and transmission playout, right down to very basic things like the building and all the services that go with it. That’s everything from reception, security and even the entertainment services for our clients’ staff.
“That means that the client out- sources the service provision, which means they don’t have to worry about real estate, they don’t have to invest in capital expenditure and they reduce head count.”
It’s a simple idea, but like many simple ideas a very good one. Freed up from mundane day-to-day problems the ‘creatives’ can get on with creating.
“That’s what they do best,” says Silverman, “creating content, manag- ing and marketing channels.”
Occupying one of the prime sites at Chiswick Park, Corinthian operates an 85,000 square foot building com- prising four floors of 20,000 feet each. Within these there are two studios of 2,800 square feet. There is an added advantage in the fact that the location is out of the congested centre of London, with excellent road and rail links and easy, 20 minute access to Heathrow airport.
But as technology drives inex- orably forward, location is less of an issue. Corinthian, after all, outputs to such far flung places as the southern fringes of Europe and as far East as Russia. In the next few years there is talk of reaching further still. So in a highly competitive business Corinthian works hard to foster good relations with existing clients and attract new ones with the reliability, professional and convenience of the package they offer.
“It’s about customer service first and foremost,” Silverman nods. “It’s a demanding and very fast moving envi- ronment, particularly nowadays with the level of competition that our clients operate in. With the marketplace being so competitive they have to be fleet of foot and we have to be very responsive.
“So if there is a change or a new service required we have to be able to respond to it very quickly, to cost, design, install and bring it to air quick- ly. Being at the forefront of the technol- ogy we can effectively leverage exist-
ing facilities swiftly and effectively. “But above all our strength is having staff who can deal with all
the operational and technology issues in a way that’s a pleasing experience for the client whilst also delivering services to very demand- ing service level requirements.”
Mike Silverman and Barry Johnstone co-founded the original company in 1980. Selling it to Michael Green two years later, Johnstone headed a management buyout in 1995. The beautiful Chiswick Park location – developed by Stanhope and designed by Richard Rogers Partnership – became home to Corinthian’s 150 employees in 2002. And now the aim is to grow the company further still.
To this end, Silverman has recruit- ed former LPC commercial managing director Maurizio Cimelli as Corinthian’s new Managing Director. Furthermore, Technicolor has now acquired a majority stake in the
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