Channel 4 under fire for ignoring Midlands
Spending in region negligible as it fights plan to privatise it
CHANNEL 4 has been condemned after admitting almost none of its programmes are made in the Midlands – despite investing millions in other parts of the country.
Just 0.4 per cent of its budget for new programmes is spent in the Midlands, according to an analysis of the broadcaster’s annual report.
Julian Knight, Conservative MP for Solihull and Chairman of the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said: “Frankly this is another example of the Midlands being passed over by a public service broadcaster.”
Channel 4, currently owned by the Government, is fighting proposals to privatise it, and has argued it should remain publicly-owned partly because of its commitment to the English regions. But the annual report casts doubt on Channel 4’s commitment to the Midlands.
It said that the broadcaster spent £356 million on “first-run” original content in 2020.
Most of the investment went on content for the main channel, Channel 4 itself, while £27 million was spent on original content for digital channels such as E4, Film4 and the Box music channel.
But the vast majority of that money was spent in London, and only £141 million was spent with production companies based outside the capital.
This included £28 million in the “nations”, including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and £106 million in the English regions. A a further £7.2 million was spent on what Channel 4 calls multi-region content.
The annual report reveals that just one per cent of the spending outside London was in the Midlands, including both the East Midlands and West Midlands.
This compares to 38 per cent that went to the North of England, and 35 per cent in the south of England.
Channel 4 said 20 per cent of the non-London expenditure was in the nations, and five per cent went on multi-region content.
Given that just 40 per cent of Channel 4’s budget for new programming was spent outside London, it means around 0.4 per cent was invested in the Midlands.
It comes as the broadcaster attempts to head off plans to privatise it. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden announced a consultation on
whether to sell the channel, which was founded in 1982 to deliver to under-served audiences.
Mr Knight said: “These figures don’t wholly surprise me. Channel 4 chose to set itself up in Leeds rather than the obvious choice, which was Birmingham.
“It’s a complete waste in terms of the great talent and diversity that we have in the region and their ability to create, which we have seen in huge focus in recent years with shows like Peaky Blinders.
“The BBC has just announced some investment in Birmingham. It’s very disappointing that Channel 4 ignores the Midlands when actually,
it has a bigger population than Scotland. It looks likely Channel 4 will be privatised in the future and I hope that will lead to a change of direction, so there is more focus on the Midlands rather than being so London-centric.”
A Channel 4 spokesperson said: “Spend outside London was down due to Covid-enforced budget cuts across the board.
“Our creative pipeline was stopped overnight at the first lockdown but despite reducing our originated content budget, money was ring-fenced to create content to help audiences get through the extraordinary times.”