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Privatising Channel 4 would be a win for the government – and a loss for everybody else

By:   []

Date: 2021-09

Today, the UK government’s consultation on the privatisation of Channel 4 closes.

The public have had ten weeks, over the holiday period, to tell the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) why they do, or do not, want the channel to be sold off. What will become of our answers though, is hazy. The consultation says that all “in-scope” responses will be taken into account but that the number of responses won’t count, rather the “careful consideration of the points made in the responses”. Make of that what you will.

The key to understanding the proposed sell-off of Channel 4 is that it should be placed in the context of this government’s dislike of public service broadcasting (PSB), which includes not just the BBC and Channel 4, but ITV, Channel 5, Ulster TV and STV. There is also the question of Boris Johnson’s possible personal animus against Channel 4. There is evidence the prime minister cancelled a number of interviews and a debate with Channel 4 after the then-head of news referred to him as a “known liar” in August 2019.

But whatever the reasoning behind this privatisation drive – and whether it stems from Number 10 or DCMS – it is a fact that the unique nature of Channel 4 – its risk-taking, its diversity of content, its push into the regions for content – make it a powerful part of the UK’s public service broadcasting ecosystem. So pulling it out of public ownership will impact the BBC and ITV. We know from judicious leaks to selected newspapers that the BBC will be forced to accept a lower-than-inflation licence fee increase over the next five years, leading to huge cuts in an already diminished content provision. We know that this is on top of a 30% cut in funding for the BBC since 2010. So selling off Channel 4 is a logical step for a government engaged in this savage diminishing.

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The government has also set up a panel to look into the future of Public Service Broadcasting. An inkling of the direction this panel might take is given in the first instruction about its work. The panel is asked to consider:

“Whether the concept of public service broadcasting is still needed, and, if so, what a modern PSB system should contribute to economic, cultural and democratic life across the United Kingdom.”

It seems extraordinary that any government would question the need for a publicly owned broadcast media. By contrast, the Irish government last year set up a Media Commission designed specifically to find ways to strengthen what its culture minister, Catherine Martin, described as “an energetic public service broadcaster that informs, entertains and reflects us as a people, and delivers value for money”.
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