Channel 4 privatisation ‘could mean £86 million loss to nations and regions’

CHANNEL 4 has unveiled details of their alternative approach to privatisation.

Proposals include expanding its workforce outside London and making the organisation becomes more “northern-based”.

Some 300 roles are already based outside the UK capital and under the new plan this would increase to 600 by 2025.

The broadcaster’s own proposals were first presented to the government earlier this year, ahead of the announcement that the channel would be sold off.

The chief executive of Channel 4, Alex Mahon, said the company “are absolutely not here to protect some sort of status quo or anachronistic institution”.

She added: “We also recognise that standing still in this everchanging world is not an option.”

Ms Mahon warned that the UK Government’s privatisation plans could have a potentially “major impact on the television landscape, on where things are made, on who makes them, on what gets funded, and on where people work”.

Channel 4 has been publicly owned since its creation in 1982 by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher and is entirely funded by advertising.

However, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries confirmed she would be tabling legislation this year to allow the station to be sold, in a decision which was met with widespread criticism.

Ms Mahon said the channel’s own plans “represent our vision” of what the station can do “whilst continuing to be owned by the British people”.

The Government’s proposed privatisation is “extremely different to the proposal we envisioned, of rooting our impact more in small and medium businesses, and more across the entirety of the UK”.

She said scrapping “the publishable custom model” – which currently allows Channel 4 to make its own shows – would mean a 25 per cent independent quota – whereas 100% of what they currently buy comes from external producers.

“This could mean the loss of around £320 million a year to the indie sector. The White Paper only mandates a 35% Ofcom quota of spend out of London, and last year Channel 4 voluntarily spent 50% out of London. This could mean a loss of £86 million a year in the nations and regions,” she said.