TV Page-Ready: Department Spotlight

We all know PA Media is most well-known for being the UK and Ireland’s news agency, but did you know that it’s also the main aggregator of TV listings information in the UK, providing camera-ready and digital solution to most of the UK’s publishers?

When you scan your newspaper, an entertainment magazine or digital platform over the weekend to check the TV listings for the week ahead, it’s most likely that our dedicated TV Page-Ready team based in our Yorkshire office in Howden, are the ones responsible for putting together this content and piecing the final version you see.

Comprising of a 50-plus strong team each with different responsibilities and working to deliver this content to a tight turnaround, Operations Manager for the department, Nick Hayward provides the lowdown on the TV Page-Ready department and tells us everything you need to know about how the department works.

• If you can define in just a sentence or two what is TV Page-Ready – how would you describe it?

TV Page-Ready is a department which specialises in the creation and delivery of camera-ready TV Listings to all magazine and newspaper publishers in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

• How big is your team and what are the key job roles within the department?

There are 53 permanent members of staff within the department and the key job roles are as follows:

Operations Manager – Oversee the running of the departments within Page-Ready Data TV and manages the relevant staff.

Key Account Holder – these individuals manage their relevant contracts and is responsible for the subbing and delivery of content.

Senior Page Producer – provide support to the Key Account Holder in their duties and helps to provide support for the production aspects within the department.

Page Producer – responsible for the production of the pages.

Editorial Writers – take information provided by broadcasters and production companies to write TV features, picks and choices for the week’s TV.

Image Operators – source, crop and enhance images for use alongside TV listings and features in all publications we support.

• What kind of tools and technologies do the team use in their day-to-day work?

All work is carried out using Apple Macs and utilises many Adobe software packages including InDesign and Photoshop.

• What does an average day at work look like for the department?

The average day varies from day to day and week to week, as every day provides new and fresh challenges due to the nature of the fast-moving world of Television, News and Sport.

• What are the steps involved that sees the work the team does to it being a finished piece of work that the public consumes?

The schedules are received from the broadcasters who input this data into our internal systems so Page-Ready TV Data can access this information. Using our specialist software, this information is gathered and displayed on the bespoke templates for each publication. This content is then tailored to the house style of each individual customer – including the adding of images and features – before being subbed, amended and delivered.

• What would you say are the key skills needed to be a team member of the TV Page-Ready department?

A high level of English language skills are a must, as well as flexibility, communication, a good eye for detail and a good all-round knowledge of current affairs.

Learn more about PA Media’s TV Page-Ready department here.