The government is facing backlash after it announced that it plans to privatise Channel 4.
After 40 years of public ownership, the government have backed the Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries’ plans and are pushing ahead with plans to privatise the TV channel.
The Culture Secretary revealed in a tweet last night that it is the government ownership that is holding back Channel 4 from “competing against streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon”.
Channel 4 rightly holds a cherished place in British life and I want that to remain the case. I have come to the conclusion that government ownership is holding Channel 4 back from competing against streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon. 1/3
— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) April 4, 2022
The MP went on to say that “A change of ownership will give Channel 4 the tools and freedom to flourish and thrive as a public service broadcaster long into the future. I will set out the future plan for Channel 4 in a White Paper in due course.
“I will seek to reinvest the proceeds of the sale into levelling up the creative sector, putting money into independent production and creative skills in priority parts of the country – delivering a creative dividend for all.”
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The Guardian reports that the government is hoping to make around £1 billion from the sale, which will make it one of the largest sales since Royal Mail’s privatisation over 10 years ago.
The money made from the sale is to be reinvested in a named ‘creative dividend’ which will be shared amongst the industry, but it appears that this one-off promise of financial gain is not enough to disturb forty years of nationalisation and the thousands of employees that will be affected by the privitisation.
Shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell pointed out that this will have more effect on the north, stating to the BBC that: “Selling off Channel 4, which doesn’t cost the taxpayer a penny anyway, to what is likely to be a foreign company, makes absolutely no sense. It will cost jobs and opportunities in the North and Yorkshire, and hit the wider British creative economy.”
Channel 4 released a statement sharing their disappointment with the plans to the public: “With over 60,000 submissions to the Government’s public consultation, it is disappointing that today’s announcement has been made without formally recognising the significant public interest concerns which have been raised.
“Recently, Channel 4 presented DCMS with a real alternative to privatisation that would safeguard its future financial stability, allowing it to do significantly more for the British public, the creative industries and the economy, particularly outside London. This is particularly important given that the organisation is only 2 years into a significant commitment to drive up its impact in the UK’s Nations and Regions”.
Channel 4 moved outside of the London bubble and into a new headquarters in Leeds just seven months ago, taking over The Majestic, amongst other buildings around the city, since September 2021. At the time, it was reported that Channel 4 hoped that the move would ‘soften’ plans for privatisation.
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Since 2018, Channel 4 moved 400 roles out of London, basing themselves around Leeds and Manchester, as well as branching out to other cities like Bristol and Glasgow.
Only in January, a spokesperson for Knight Frank, the UK’s leading independent estate agents, stated the knock on effect of bringing national TV giants Channel 4 to the city has allowed Leeds to become “a magnet for bright, young tech, media and creative companies”.
Former member of Scottish Parliament, Ruth Davidson, is also worried about how the privatisation will affect Scotland and efforts to ‘level up’ outside of London.
Channel 4 is publicly owned, not publicly funded. It doesn’t cost the tax payer a penny. It also, by charter, commissions content but doesn’t make/own its own. It’s one of the reasons we have such a thriving indy sector in places like Glasgow. This is the opposite of levelling up
— Ruth Davidson (@RuthDavidsonPC) April 5, 2022
As pointed out by the official statement from Channel 4 in response to the news, the proposal is going to require a “lengthy legislative process and political debate” so it will be quite some time before the TV channel is privatised.
More information is expected to be announced following the backlash of the announcement.
Feature Image- WikiCommons
