Privatization will secure the future of British Channel 4, ministers say

UK’s public but commercially funded broadcaster, Channel 4, is better off competing with streaming giants Amazon (NASDAQ 🙂 and Netflix (NASDAQ 🙂 under private ownership. Culture Secretary Oliver Dauden says Wednesday that he will have access to a lot of money.

The British government announced in June https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/british-government-plans-sale-broadcaster-channel-4-2021-06-22, a broadcast released for nearly 39 years. I was planning to sell the station.Previously as an edgy alternative to the BBC ITV (LON :). The talks ended on Tuesday.

Channel 4 criticized this move. The chair told the Guardian in July that the government was “at risk of sleepwalking the irreversible and dangerous sale of an important, successful and highly beloved British agency.”

But Dauden will say on Wednesday he is worried about his long-term future.

“And I believe that if Channel 4 wants to grow, I’ll need cash someday,” he told the Royal Television Society Convention, according to a speech excerpt.

“Without it, Channel 4 wouldn’t have the money to invest in technology and programming, nor could it compete with the streaming giant.”

Channel 4, which airs the AID drama “It’s a Sin” this year, has a mission to provide rewarding and unique programming to viewers who are not well serviced by other broadcasters.

Instead of creating a program, we outsource it to a production company to help maintain a successful independent television sector in the UK.

Channel 4 said this month that removing its own publisher-broadcaster model could reduce its contribution to the creative economy by £ 2 billion ($ 2.76 billion) in a decade, according to a survey by Ernst & Young. I did.

Mr. Dauden would say that channel 4 public services cannot be weakened.

“Therefore, we make sure that if we choose to continue the sale, we are subject to appropriate public service obligations,” he said, adding that this would cover the commitment to outsource programming from independents. I did. London News Today