The time is right to sell Channel 4

THE liberal and Left-wing cavalry have gathered round Channel 4 with swords drawn, to save it from what they see as a wicked Tory plan to privatise it. Millions must have been astonished to learn that it was publicly owned in the first place.

They might be even more surprised to learn that it was the wicked Tories who set up this rather Left-wing broadcasting organisation, back in 1982.

Its foundation is an interesting example of Margaret Thatcher’s pluralist broadmindedness. Launched to provide ‘alternative’, ‘minority’ culturally radical programmes, it began reasonably well.

But Channel 4 has always looked like a commercial channel, crammed with advertisements. And that is indeed where it gets its income, though it increasingly struggles to do so.

Though publicly owned, it is not Statefunded. But, having gone through many incarnations since 1982, is it really such a paragon of independent production and innovative television? Despite its right-on founders’ belief in cultural diversity and ground-breaking, it has since joined much of the rest of the broadcasting sector in a race to the bottom.

As Tory peer Daniel Hannan recently told the House of Lords, the channel’s current output includes Kitchen Nightmares, Undercover Boss, Steph’s Packed Lunch, Countdown, A Place In The Sun, A New Life In The Sun, Sun And Sea And Selling Houses. He asked: ‘Is it really credible to say that we are defending something that couldn’t be provided by the private sector?’

Partisans of C4 argue that it gave a huge boost to independent production companies, which is undoubtedly true. But as Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries points out in The Mail on Sunday today, such companies are booming even though C4 now takes only a small share of their work. She wants to keep the channel’s public service remit while opening it to much needed private investment.

As Nadine Dorries rightly points out, Lady Thatcher would approve.