There's basically nobody in the UK TV sector who thinks that this is a good idea. The widely held belief it's politically motivated because the government doesn't like the hard hitting news agenda of Channel 4 News.
In essence, Channel 4 costs the UK taxpayer nothing. It's not funded by the Licence Fee as it's completely ad funded, and it uniquely does not make *any* of its own programmes. When C4 came along it revolutionised the UK TV sector by allowing new independent production houses to prosper. At the time, both the BBC and ITV commissioned almost entirely in-house from their own production companies. There certainly wasn't anything like the TV studio sister-companies of US film studios making TV series in the UK. Over time, many of those smaller indies merged and became super-indies, some of which have been swallowed up by larger studios, but the landscape over time has changed enormously. But Channel 4 continues to have an incredibly diverse portfolio. Those indies revolutionised not just UK TV but international TV. The real danger here is that the only people who would want to bid for a private Channel 4 would cut costs by bringing their productions in-house. Good for the bottom line, but not good for the diverse TV production community that Channel 4 has nurtured. Of course the sector is changing as we move from linear channels to streaming, and the value of the radio spectrum that Channel 4 occupies (there is still a lot of viewing in the UK on "Freeview" - the digital version of "rabbit ears", except we use rooftop antennas largely), will decrease over time. But the channel carrying public service obligations also gets other benefits. It sits at position "4" in every EPG no matter which digital TV system you subscribe via (BBC1 is at #1, BBC2 is at #2, ITV is at #3 and Channel 5 is at #5 - from there on other things come into play) - which gives whoever owns it significant audiences almost regardless of what they put on. In truth it all feels mean spirited. The money raised will be tiny, since there will be "Public Service" obligations that come along with the channel ownership, but a commercial company will take a profit out of it which means less investment in challenging programming that others are less likely to provide. (Netflix et al really don't fill this hole. They all have global - not local - ambitions. And I'm already seeing vastly more rubbish reality fare creeping into these services since it's much cheaper than expensive dramas.) The creative industries are one of the UK's strengths - think not just of all those British actors adopting (variable) American accents, but the writers, directors, producers, composers and so on. So nurturing a channel that supports the bedrock of all that seems a good thing to me. I can't with any conscience defend every show that Channel 4 puts out. Its breakfast is made up of repeated episodes of US sitcoms - if episodes of Frasier and Everybody Loves Raymond are your thing, then great. (I do like the former). And Naked Attraction is obviously made to pander to audiences who just want to ogle naked bodies. But, even though these have US co-funders, I don't think It's A Sin (HBO Max), Derry Girls (Netflix) or We Are Lady Parts (Peacock) would have existed without Channel 4. And those are just from the last year or so. So yeah. This is not great news. Adam On Tue, Apr 5, 2022 at 1:50 PM Mark Jeffries <[email protected]> wrote: > Two views I've seen from Twitter people with industry experience: One > claims that C4's lineup ain't so hot compared to its 80s and 90s glory > years, mentioning that where the rule-breaking morning show "The Big > Breakfast" (unofficial inspiration for FX's cult favorite "Breakfast Time") > was is now "Friends" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" reruns. Someone else > has pointed out that the Tories are saying that Netflix and Amazon are > proof that C4 isn't needed, which sounds like all those Republicans back in > the 90s who said that we didn't need PBS now that Bravo, A&E and Discovery > are around (and we all now what those cable channels are now). Not to > mention that Amazon Prime is funded by all those other things Bezos sells, > while Netflix is spending money like a drunken sailor with no sense of any > future profits. > > Mark Jeffries > [email protected] > > > On Tue, Apr 5, 2022 at 7:21 AM Doug Eastick <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> https://deadline.com/2022/04/channel-4-sale-decried-uk-tv-industry-politicians-public-1234994600/ >> >> I'm not sure about each side of this, as today is the first I thought of >> it. My gut tells me that a publicly owned, but commercially funded, is >> probably better for diversity and opportunity of alternate content. >> >> In Canada, bellmedia and CTV seem to have staff slashing announcements >> every six months. 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