Government planning to Sell Channel 4

[JAS84]

Good question. Especially for Simpsons, considering it looks like Sky will lose the rights to that soon.

[Brekkie]

The CEO of Pact is claiming multiple independent producers could go out of business if C4 is sold, especially those outside London.

https://tbivision.com/2021/09/08/pact-ce...rivatised/

[Col87]

I don’t know if Channel 4 will be sold or not and would anyone even want it as they will likely still be a lot of requirements which as pointed could put any buyers off.

I do wonder if BBC Studios would be allowed to buy it and put into the UKTV network. The issue here would be news would BBC News be allowed to make programs for a commercial channel. Other than that look at the current line up of shows and it is very heavy towards lifestyle shows with only a small minority of sport. This is all very interesting though as buying channel 4 is also buying the box network of music channels which channel 4 have large ownership of. I think it going to be interesting whatever happens though.

[i.h]

I don’t know if Channel 4 will be sold or not and would anyone even want it as they will likely still be a lot of requirements which as pointed could put any buyers off.

I do wonder if BBC Studios would be allowed to buy it and put into the UKTV network. The issue here would be news would BBC News be allowed to make programs for a commercial channel. Other than that look at the current line up of shows and it is very heavy towards lifestyle shows with only a small minority of sport. This is all very interesting though as buying channel 4 is also buying the box network of music channels which channel 4 have large ownership of. I think it going to be interesting whatever happens though.

If ideology is the driving reason for the sell off, I'm not sure they'd sell it to the other state broadcaster

[JK1985]

I don’t know if Channel 4 will be sold or not and would anyone even want it as they will likely still be a lot of requirements which as pointed could put any buyers off.

I do wonder if BBC Studios would be allowed to buy it and put into the UKTV network. The issue here would be news would BBC News be allowed to make programs for a commercial channel. Other than that look at the current line up of shows and it is very heavy towards lifestyle shows with only a small minority of sport. This is all very interesting though as buying channel 4 is also buying the box network of music channels which channel 4 have large ownership of. I think it going to be interesting whatever happens though.

There is not a hope in hell that BBC Studios will buy Channel 4 - the uproar will be deafening. No, Channel 4 will remain, and I sincerely doubt there is anyone out there who want to buy the channel with all the public service commitments that they will have to undertake. Being available on the fourth channel on the EPG is very important.

[Col87]

I don’t know if Channel 4 will be sold or not and would anyone even want it as they will likely still be a lot of requirements which as pointed could put any buyers off.

I do wonder if BBC Studios would be allowed to buy it and put into the UKTV network. The issue here would be news would BBC News be allowed to make programs for a commercial channel. Other than that look at the current line up of shows and it is very heavy towards lifestyle shows with only a small minority of sport. This is all very interesting though as buying channel 4 is also buying the box network of music channels which channel 4 have large ownership of. I think it going to be interesting whatever happens though.

There is not a hope in hell that BBC Studios will buy Channel 4 - the uproar will be deafening. No, Channel 4 will remain, and I sincerely doubt there is anyone out there who want to buy the channel with all the public service commitments that they will have to undertake. Being available on the fourth channel on the EPG is very important.

yes it not just that but they have at least 7 slots on freeview that could be very important to a buyer a company or consortium might just think it worth it on the epg slots alone. PSB commitments can easily be gotten round or reduced ( just look at commercial radio and how ofcom where to jump to their tune of dropping most commitments) I think the hourly news and one or two documentary strands a week could be a price worth paying if a company wanted it badly enough.

I agree they could be some angry if the BBC took on channel 4 but they already have a small part of it in S4C ( which I know is not really the same thing ) so having the commercial part of it in UKTV running it ) could technically work. However I think a compromise could happen here. A consortium of possibly BBC Studios ITV and some production companies take it over and the government sell it that way.

[dbl]

I do wonder if BBC Studios would be allowed to buy it and put into the UKTV network.

I know it's 'what if' but definitely isn't happening.

[Brekkie]

I don’t know if Channel 4 will be sold or not and would anyone even want it as they will likely still be a lot of requirements which as pointed could put any buyers off.

I do wonder if BBC Studios would be allowed to buy it and put into the UKTV network. The issue here would be news would BBC News be allowed to make programs for a commercial channel. Other than that look at the current line up of shows and it is very heavy towards lifestyle shows with only a small minority of sport. This is all very interesting though as buying channel 4 is also buying the box network of music channels which channel 4 have large ownership of. I think it going to be interesting whatever happens though.

There is not a hope in hell that BBC Studios will buy Channel 4 - the uproar will be deafening. No, Channel 4 will remain, and I sincerely doubt there is anyone out there who want to buy the channel with all the public service commitments that they will have to undertake. Being available on the fourth channel on the EPG is very important.

yes it not just that but they have at least 7 slots on freeview that could be very important to a buyer a company or consortium might just think it worth it on the epg slots alone.

What worries me is some kind of fudged compromise which saw C4 remain publicly owned but it's digital channels sold off.

[Col87]

There is not a hope in hell that BBC Studios will buy Channel 4 - the uproar will be deafening. No, Channel 4 will remain, and I sincerely doubt there is anyone out there who want to buy the channel with all the public service commitments that they will have to undertake. Being available on the fourth channel on the EPG is very important.

yes it not just that but they have at least 7 slots on freeview that could be very important to a buyer a company or consortium might just think it worth it on the epg slots alone.

What worries me is some kind of fudged compromise which saw C4 remain publicly owned but it's digital channels sold off.

Yes there is that. Channel 4 more 4 and Film 4 all have PSB value but E4 4 Music and 4 Seven have no PSB value in them at all. The latter 3 along with the rest of the box network of channels could very easily be sold off. I would think Bauer would take back the box network and keep 4 music slot with a different channel replacing it. E4 has no value at all it has no PSB content at all it’s either constant repeats of US imports or repeats of stuff like gogglebox. The few original shows are cheap reality stuff like first dates so could very easily see it been sold off and 4 seven closed down and sold on. I think if the main channel more 4 and film 4 are kept though then that would be a good result but at the moment channel 4 outside the paraolympics and Channel 4 news are doing themselves no favours and making themselves an easy target for takeover.

[Brekkie]

It's easy to say E4 has no PSB value but it does serve an audience that television in general struggles to reach - though probably older than it would like now and without a hit which contributes to the TV landscape in the way Skins and The Inbetweeners did in the late noughties. Losing it though could be as big a mistake as losing BBC3, but I think it is fair to say that C4, More4 and 4Seven would be the channels they'd keep in that scenario with E4 lifting the value of the rest of the portfolio.

Film4 has PSB credentials but it also has value, and the channel and film production side could be separated. BOX has always been kept at arms length and would be an easy sale and I think 4Music would be sacrificed in that scenario considering as much discussed it really isn't a music channel anymore. I think if anyone bought a portfolio including E4 and 4Music they would probably look to strengthen the connection between them both and brand them as sister channels.


Ultimately though all the digital off shoots are lifted by being part of the C4 family, and C4 is lifted by having the digital off shoots. There would be a danger that seperated the spin offs would ultimately fade into insignificant, and potential buyers would know that too.

There would be similar issues too with any existing broadcaster buying C4 as a whole and having their own competing channels, although in the case of Discovery I think having the C4 brand to utilise could boost some of their own free to air channels and a channel like 4Quest or 4Max would actually fill a hole in the C4 portfolio too.

[msim]

This was discussed on Radio 4 Media Show yesterday. David Elstein was on making the case for privitization. I say making the case but it was actually embarrassingly awful listening to such a rabid idiot flailing about spouting hysterical nonsense.

To people like Elstein (who's had it in for the BBC for years too) this is purely ideological. It's got nothing to do with what serves the public best. Any crazy argument is thrown out there, all lacking coherence or evidence in the hope that something - anything - sticks. The exact same thing is going on at OfCom where the Government has pre-decided to give the job to Vagina Monologues Dacre and are desperately trying to rig the recruitment process.

[HTV Best]

I don’t know if Channel 4 will be sold or not and would anyone even want it as they will likely still be a lot of requirements which as pointed could put any buyers off.

I do wonder if BBC Studios would be allowed to buy it and put into the UKTV network. The issue here would be news would BBC News be allowed to make programs for a commercial channel. Other than that look at the current line up of shows and it is very heavy towards lifestyle shows with only a small minority of sport. This is all very interesting though as buying channel 4 is also buying the box network of music channels which channel 4 have large ownership of. I think it going to be interesting whatever happens though.

BBC Radio Devon provide the news on Radio Exe so why not BBC News on Channel 4?

[Omnipresent]

The Lords Communications and Digital Committee is reviewing the future of Channel 4 with oral evidence hearings underway.

There have also been written evidence submissions including these from David Elstein and Simon Albury MBE:

https://committees.parliament.uk/written...38913/pdf/

https://committees.parliament.uk/written...38511/pdf/

[JK1985]

I don't see the government getting their way with this. I feel there is a majority in parliament who may not be fans of Channel 4, but understand the risk of selling this off to say an American owner, and then the programming going down the toilet fast. Ofcom are not exactly known for having a firm hand on channels keeping to the commitments.

If it aint broke, don't fix it will be the attitude - as Channel 4 receives no public money, as it is fully self funded. They receive no licence fee money either. When anti Channel 4 people rant about how bad the channel is, and it should be sold off, as it is a publicly owned corporation, they always tend to ignore or forget the fact that it is publicly owned yes, but not publicly financed.

You only have to look at the Channel 4 information section, and they explain very well how their funding method works, and really is the best.

https://www.channel4.com/corporate/about...-channel-4

[XIII]

The CEO of Pact is claiming multiple independent producers could go out of business if C4 is sold, especially those outside London.

https://tbivision.com/2021/09/08/pact-ce...rivatised/

Not that I'm being cynical but given Channel 4 tends to favour the super indies rather than the smaller indies, I'm not sure if that is true.