‘Cheeky’ Springett quits Video Networks

Video Networks marketing director Mark Springett has left the company as part of a restructuring exercise that could see as many as 13 redundancies from the marketing team.

The departure last week of Springett, a colourful character and a former Mirror Group Newspapers commercial director, follows that of director of sales and operations Ted Hatch. It is not known whether either has a job to go to.

Head of marketing Susan Branchflower is now overseeing the marketing department, which numbered 20 at the beginning of the year.

The troubled video-on-demand company made a decision in June to halve its workforce of 626, in the face of mounting losses. Chief executive Simon Hochhauser blames BT – which supplies the broadband lines over which Video Networks runs its Home Choice Entertainment service – for failing to reduce the cost of wholesale broadband. It has been costing Video Networks &£50 per month per subscriber to deliver its services. Additional funding has so far not been forthcoming for the company – which counted Sir David Frost and Lord Owen among its original backers – and it has taken the decision to stop customer recruitment in an effort to cut losses.

HomeChoice has so far recruited 15,000 subscribers, who have a choice of 1,000 films, 2,000 TV programmes and 1,500 music videos.