The UK business is not diverse unlike the EMEA division, it has a very typical English colony caste hierarchy system with whites on top, asians in the middle and blacks at the bottom.
Senior management are instrumental in keeping this bias system by forging relationships with staff who resemble themselves and promoting this select group.
The black UK staff members who have been with the business for a long time are still junior team members whilst their superiors are white, a few asian. Age and length of service have little to do with your status in the company.
Programming reflects the limited mindset of the senior and mid management, there is continuous talk of a desire to diversify content but they state the struggle to find content is due to the need to have exceptional non white talent such as Idris Elba, but your below avg non famous white talent is easily promoted and spread across the portfolio. Most of the specialists, talent that contribute to the programming are not known but their whiteness is enough for the company to invest in their success. The same level of faith and investment is not and would not be made to non white talent that is not already regionally or globally known by the general public, such as Morgan Freeman or Idris Elba.
Quite simply, if you don't have a diverse team of decision makers, how can you diversify your content. But ultimately they are aware of this and it appears to be a conscious decision.
I don't have high hopes for this channel, ultimately the younger audience are not watching this type of content much anymore and figures are already decreasing. The people who work there are so closed and insist on creating a divergence between themselves and the average person of all backgrounds they won't be able to change.
