» SubscribeMain section
-
Top story
Government considering options to solve funding crisis at Channel Four
Leigh Holmwood Guardian
DATELINE: 18/12/08
The government is considering four options to solve Channel 4's funding crisis, (writes Guardian Leigh Holmwood on 16 December) including privatisation and a potential tie-up with BBC Worldwide.
Lord Carter, the new minister for communications, technology and broadcasting, is expected to outline his proposals when the interim report of his Digital Britain panel is published at the end of January, at around the same time that media regulator Ofcom will reveal the recommendations of its public service broadcasting review.
Despite the two reports being published separately, their recommendations are expected to be similar in nature.
The Guiardian understands that Carter's report will identify four options for the future of Channel 4, which has claimed it will suffer a funding gap of £150m a year by 2012 because of the advertising downturn and structural change in the industry because of the rise of digital media.
These options are understood to be privatisation, a merger with Channel Five, a tie-up with BBC Worldwide, or further public subsidy to keep it afloat. The BBC has been privately lobbying heavily against the idea of any formal tie-up between BBC Worldwide and Channel 4, telling ministers that its rival would not bring anything to the table and that any merger would not get past European regulations.
Sir Michael Lyons, the BBC Trust chairman, last week publicly said that any transfer of assets from BBC Worldwide to Channel 4 would be "pretty extraordinary". Instead, the BBC has offered the idea of a limited operational partnership with Channel 4 in order to use Worldwide's "global scale and product diversity".
It is understood that the government has sympathy with the BBC's argument, while Ofcom is said to be "nervous" of a full tie-up between the two.
Outright privatisation of Channel 4 has also met strong opposition, with the commercial broadcaster and Ofcom both understood to be against the idea. The fact that Channel 4 might only bring in around £600m in the current economic climate is also a factor against a sell-off.A potential merger between Channel 4 and Channel Five has risen up the agenda in recent days, with Five's owner RTL, again looking seriously at the idea, which was first broached four years ago.
A tie-up between the two would reportedly bring in savings of more than £30m with the merger of sales teams and the trimming of overheads. However, the Channel 4 chief executive, Andy Duncan, is said to be against the idea, which he originally blocked in 2004 when he replaced Mark Thompson, now the BBC director general.
With recommendations on the future direction of public service broadcasting nearing, the major players have been recruiting City firms to help advise them.Channel 4 has hired the services of NM Rothschild to assess potential funding solutions, while the department for culture, media and sport is being advised by investment bank UBS.
Meanwhile, the BBC has signed up Goldman Sachs to advise on the future of BBC Worldwide. Next year is expected to be a key one for UK public service broadcasting, with both Ofcom and the government accepting the need to come to some to conclusions on the sector's future quickly.
The Digital Britain action plan, billed by the government as a bid to "secure the UK's place at the forefront of innovation, investment and quality in the digital and communications industries", was established in October and is being led by Carter, who straddles both the DCMS and department for business, with a panel including figures from government, regulators and industry.Carter's interim report is currently being written with the final version expected in late spring next year.
The Digital Britain report is then expected to be the basis for a green or white paper on the future of public service broadcasting or, with a general election due not later than June 2010, form part of Labour's next manifesto.
Despite no time being given to a new communications bill in 2009 in the Queen's speech, the prime minister, Gordon Brown, is said to be aware of the importance of the resolving the PSB funding situation with policy advisers from 10 Downing Street sitting on the Digital Britain panel and helping to influence its conclusions.
Last modified: Thursday, December 18, 2008
Your comments:
» Click here to add your comment.
Comments will be subject to approval and should not be defamatory, obscene, racist, in breach of copyright, or contrary to law. The CPBF is not reponsible for any views expressed here.
Previous public service broadcasting stories
The Slippery Slope of Public Funding: Where Will it End? Now we know:
ITV strike ballot called off
Sertuc conference postponed
Here we go again!
Campaigning for quality television
The future of PSB - postponed
Opting Out
Citizenship and Public Service Broadcasting
How do Ofcom and the BBC Trust see their Roles?
Commission recommends new TV channel for Scotland
Ofcom's 'smash and grab' raid on the BBC licence fee
World Service threatened
Wales, Devolution and Democracy
CPBF responds to Ofcom public service review
NUJ slams 'simplistic' top-slicing arguments
PSB on ITV - No thanks!
BBC unions ballot for action on jobs
Crisis looms in kids' telly
Scottish Broadcasting Commission wants to hear your views
Begin the fight back: How corporate strategists neutered the BBC
Joint statement from the BBC, BECTU, the NUJ and UNITE
BBC unions ballot for action
New Labour takes revenge on BBC
Future of ITV PSB at stake
Crunch time for TV
Digital switchover and the Whitehaven experience
BBC Trust agrees to cuts
CPBF responds to Ofcom's second PSB review
CPBF welcomes Scottish Commission
Save Storyville
Broadcasting Commission in Scotland
-
Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
-
Previous stories
Public Service Broadcasting
The Slippery Slope of Public Funding: Where Will it End? Now we know:
ITV strike ballot called off
Sertuc conference postponed
Here we go again!
Campaigning for quality television
The future of PSB - postponed
Opting Out
Citizenship and Public Service Broadcasting
How do Ofcom and the BBC Trust see their Roles?
Commission recommends new TV channel for Scotland
Ofcom's 'smash and grab' raid on the BBC licence fee
World Service threatened
Wales, Devolution and Democracy
CPBF responds to Ofcom public service review
NUJ slams 'simplistic' top-slicing arguments
PSB on ITV - No thanks!
BBC unions ballot for action on jobs
Crisis looms in kids' telly
Scottish Broadcasting Commission wants to hear your views
Begin the fight back: How corporate strategists neutered the BBC
Joint statement from the BBC, BECTU, the NUJ and UNITE
BBC unions ballot for action
New Labour takes revenge on BBC
Future of ITV PSB at stake
Crunch time for TV
Digital switchover and the Whitehaven experience
BBC Trust agrees to cuts
CPBF responds to Ofcom's second PSB review
CPBF welcomes Scottish Commission
Save Storyville
Broadcasting Commission in Scotland
