Predictably, the Leftie lynch mob refuses to accept what is best for British TV
TORIES are supposed to loathe Channel 4. And it doesn’t always help itself with its news anchor shouting ‘f*** the Tories’, or broadcasting an alternative Queen’s speech by Iranian dictator Ahmadinejad or a deep fake of Her Majesty. Despite this, and for the metropolitan elite who say I’m out to destroy the broadcaster, I’d like to say that I really like Channel 4.
I’ve spent evenings curled up on the sofa in front of Bake Off, First Dates or Jenny and Lee bickering on Gogglebox. My kids grew up on TFI Friday, Frasier, Friends and Crystal Maze.
Channel 4 plays a unique and important cultural role in British life. Since it was established by that radical Leftist Margaret Thatcher in 1982, it has more than fulfilled her aim of stimulating the independent production sector – which has exploded from a £500million industry in 1995 to £3 billion in 2019.
However, as her memoirs reveal, job done, Mrs Thatcher concluded in 1988 that Channel 4 should be sold.
Broadcasting is now a totally different and digital world. Streaming giants have exploded
Channel 4 is niche and State-owned, a restrictive incongruity in itself
on to the scene, with juggernauts such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ upending the old order. Technology has transformed the way we consume content. Our viewing habits are no longer confined to TV channels but have morphed into a world where we choose what we want to watch, and where and when we want to watch it.
To suggest that Channel 4 isn’t already competing with new platforms for audience share, talent, ideas and skilled employees is wilfully delusional.
Netflix spent £779million on UK original productions in 2020 – more than twice as much as Channel 4.
IN FACT, Channel 4 decreased the amount it spent on new content by £158million at a time when it should be investing in new programmes, technology and skills. The channel is niche and Stateowned, a restrictive incongruity in itself. And because of the way Channel 4 is owned, it cannot build a back catalogue to export, or have an in-house studio to create and sell content. Instead it relies almost entirely on advertising, which is increasingly migrating online.
It would be irresponsible for any government to sit back and allow the status quo to continue. So last week I made the decision that it is time to unleash the broadcaster’s full potential and open Channel 4 up to private ownership and investment while protecting its crucial public service broadcasting remit.
Sadly, the reaction was as predictable as it was inflammatory.
Few opponents want to engage with the issue of guaranteeing Channel 4’s long-term future. They’re happier sneering, accusing me of not being ‘smart enough’ to understand Channel 4 or descending into full-on abusive hysteria. One Labour MP claimed a Channel 4 sale would be ‘the seedbed of fascism’.
I shouldn’t be surprised. This streak has always existed in and around Channel 4.
Its former head of news, Dorothy Byrne, who has been defending the station, is the same person who in a lecture compared our Prime Minister to Vladimir Putin.
But let’s dump the lazy, overwrought and ill-informed rhetoric from the Leftie luvvie lynch mob and take a cool look at the facts.
Our independent production companies are flourishing, with only seven per cent of the industry’s revenue coming from Channel 4. We made more films in the fourth quarter of 2021 than Hollywood, and dozens of new studios are due to open.
Channel 4 is a distinct cultural asset which has created some of the best programmes we have ever been lucky enough to watch. But its salad days are in the past.
It is time to look to a grown-up future against the backdrop of a digital future. We believe we can sell Channel 4 to a buyer who will fund emerging talent, independent and impartial news, and invest in every corner of the UK.
Creative talent can be found everywhere, hidden in plain sight in all backgrounds and corners of this country. The Government intervened to move Channel 4 to Leeds, despite much opposition within the broadcaster, and there is no reason for a sale not to accelerate that process, moving more of the broadcaster north.
Post-sale, I want to reinvest the proceeds into levelling up the creative sector, training a skilled workforce to fill the jobs in our booming film and TV studios. To develop creative skills in leftbehind parts of the country. Channel 4’s sale won’t just benefit the broadcaster. It will deliver a creative dividend for all.
That is a truly Conservative and Thatcherite vision for Channel 4. One where we protect the public service elements of broadcasting, ensure its sustainability and invest in creative skills, opening up the sector to a much broader section of society.
It is fundamentally Conservative to want Channel 4 to grow so it can invest in better technology, content and people and have an even bigger impact on our creative economy than it already has.
That’s what I want to get on with – and the overblown reaction from the same people who snobbishly decried my appointment the moment I walked through my department’s doors won’t stop me.
In 1988, Margaret Thatcher was right. She could see that Channel 4 would only ever reach its full potential when it was free from the constraints of the State – and that is the vision and the outcome we will deliver.
It will only ever reach its full potential when it’s free of constraints