Although this is now becoming a major fraud investigation, there is still the issue of former staff and freelance staff.
While freelancers don't know if they will ever get invoices paid at all for work they did for Arena in the final few months, the staff are in an difficult position of not knowing whether their status is employed or not. Although the firm has ceased trading the administrators have not released them to officially look for other employment.
I have never been employed by Arena, and can only share the staff and freelancers I have spoken to bewilderment at the way the firm has disappeared with little warning, and the mess left behind.
ITV Region: ITV News Meridian
BBC Region: BBC South Today
commseng post_id=57017 time=1638710819 user_id=1125 Wrote:Although this is now becoming a major fraud investigation, there is still the issue of former staff and freelance staff.
While freelancers don't know if they will ever get invoices paid at all for work they did for Arena in the final few months, the staff are in an difficult position of not knowing whether their status is employed or not. Although the firm has ceased trading the administrators have not released them to officially look for other employment.
I have never been employed by Arena, and can only share the staff and freelancers I have spoken to bewilderment at the way the firm has disappeared with little warning, and the mess left behind.
Someone I know was finally given redundancy by them this morning. My understanding is a handful are being retained to deal with selling the assets
ITV Region: ---None Selected---
BBC Region: ---None Selected---
Although surely the fraud around the assets will delayed the process too - firstly with questions around who owns them but also they may be required as evidence in the fraud case.
As for the furlough stuff - always wise when telling staff to break furlough to advise them to do so via email, leaving a nice audit trail.
@Brekkietweets
If the assets are not sold fairly quickly their worth will diminish. The workload is still there, and so other firms will buy from elsewhere to cover it before too long.
ITV Region: ITV News London
BBC Region: BBC London News
G-GHER operating for Sky News (and maybe others, or maybe for someone else!) this morning. Seems to have done the arrival of HMS Queen Elizabeth on the 9th, too.
It appears to be from Gallagher Air LLP, which is not an operator I've ever heard of! Wondering if Sky News has taken it in-house and chartered a helicopter, and used some of the freelancers who worked with Arena to fly it and camera-op?
Edit: Operated by A2B Heli Charters Ltd.
The administrator's report is now filed at Companies House.
Unfortunately the URL is a large and specific one, but the report can be found going to:
https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company and searching for Arena Television Limited. Click on that, and it is the top item under filing history.
It is a 130 page report.
Among the sentences is:
Quote:There is a shortfall of several thousand assets resulting in the liabilities of c£282m which are not supported by underlying assets as the lenders had been led to believe
Certainly a lot to take in over the 130 pages.
The directors had not been to Redhill Aerodrome since December 2020 and are believed to have left the UK.
A shortfall of "several thousand assets" that money had been loaned on is staggering.
The list of creditors to the Television and Aviation sides of the business contains a huge list of very familiar names, many of whom are small businesses, often sole traders. I doubt they will ever see anything much out of the administration process.
I'm aware that some of the assets have already been sold off, or the sale agreed, so the next report will also make for interesting reading I'm sure.
I saw G-TVHD was flying over London for the fireworks.. Whats the story with that? Was it rented out to another company to fly, or is it not owned by Arena and was returned to the leaser?
ITV Region: ITV News Meridian
BBC Region: BBC South Today
commseng post_id=62053 time= user_id=1125 Wrote:Certainly a lot to take in over the 130 pages.
The directors had not been to Redhill Aerodrome since December 2020 and are believed to have left the UK.
A shortfall of "several thousand assets" that money had been loaned on is staggering.
The list of creditors to the Television and Aviation sides of the business contains a huge list of very familiar names, many of whom are small businesses, often sole traders. I doubt they will ever see anything much out of the administration process.
I'm aware that some of the assets have already been sold off, or the sale agreed, so the next report will also make for interesting reading I'm sure.
It's extraordinary to see that list. Like you I see some familiar names in there. Over 90k owed to both FTVS and Focus !
aaron_scotland post_id=62063 time= user_id=735 Wrote:I saw G-TVHD was flying over London for the fireworks.. Whats the story with that? Was it rented out to another company to fly, or is it not owned by Arena and was returned to the leaser? It was flying for a new company, A2B Aero, with familiar names from the Arena days.
I think the actual aircraft was leased by Arena if you read the administrators 130 pages.
Markymark post_id=62066 time= user_id=1078 Wrote:commseng post_id=62053 time= user_id=1125 Wrote:Certainly a lot to take in over the 130 pages.
The directors had not been to Redhill Aerodrome since December 2020 and are believed to have left the UK.
A shortfall of "several thousand assets" that money had been loaned on is staggering.
The list of creditors to the Television and Aviation sides of the business contains a huge list of very familiar names, many of whom are small businesses, often sole traders. I doubt they will ever see anything much out of the administration process.
I'm aware that some of the assets have already been sold off, or the sale agreed, so the next report will also make for interesting reading I'm sure.
It's extraordinary to see that list. Like you I see some familiar names in there. Over 90k owed to both FTVS and Focus ! There are a few non-banking firms who must have been regular suppliers to Arena who are owed large sums.
FTVS being an obvious one, as Arena didn't own their own gennys as far as I am aware (why would any OB company go through the hassle?!!) In the old days BBC OBs had some of its own, and we were forever having to fix them on top of getting the rest of the job done.
Re the helicopters:
Quote:the planes for the private charter business, and the helicopters for the aviation news broadcasting business, were all leased assets. The respective leasing companies confirmed their desire to collect these assets
Clearly, assuming they were worth the leased amounts, these were in addition to the £282m debts not supported by assets.
ITV Region: ITV News Meridian
BBC Region: BBC South Today
commseng post_id=62069 time= user_id=1125 Wrote:FTVS being an obvious one, as Arena didn't own their own gennys as far as I am aware (why would any OB company go through the hassle?!!) In the old days BBC OBs had some of its own, and we were forever having to fix them on top of getting the rest of the job done.
They didn't have any transportable ones of their own, just a couple of fixed ones at Redhill, because the regular electrical supply there wasn't beefy to power a large 30 cam truck, and everything else at once. Although I seem to recall they may have been on trailers, but I never saw them move !
I've not had a chance to read through the report yet, but the Telegraph are reporting that the only funds the administrators found were £2761 in petty cash. This one sounds like it's going to take quite a while to unpick.
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