An MP has warned that government plans to sell off Channel 4 could 'cost jobs' in Yorkshire, less than a year after the publicly owned broadcaster moved its headquarters to Leeds.
Channel 4 is to be privatised by the Tory government after 40 years of public ownership.
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries on Monday tweeted that ministers are pursuing a sale of the channel to private owners.
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She tweeted: "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.
"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."
As the Mirror reports, last summer Sir David Attenborough backed a letter warning ministers "to stop short-sighted political and financial attacks" on public service broadcasters.
The 95-year-old intervened hours before ministers launched a review of the future of Channel 4 - home to Great British Bake Off, Gogglebox and Countdown.
That review warned "this is 2021, not 1982 - and the broadcasting landscape has changed beyond recognition," with increased competition from services like Netflix.
Now after the review, ministers have decided government ownership is "holding back" Channel 4 and it will be sold to a private bidder - despite the business performing well.
The move will be contained in a Media Bill in the Queen's Speech on May 10, alongside other yet-to-be-announced reforms to public service broadcasting.
Channel 4 is publicly owned and non-profit but receives no taxpayer cash, instead being funded entirely through its commercial activity.
Yet Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who is set to push through the sale, wrongly claimed in November that it was "in receipt of public money".
The announcement on Channel 4 came hours after the Treasury asked Royal Mint to create a "non-fungible token" (NFT), while families battle the worst drop in incomes since the 1950s.
Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell fumed: "Nothing screams of a rudderless and out of touch government like announcements on Channel 4 and NFTs while people's energy bills are through the roof and the cost of living is soaring.
"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.
"Coming hot on the heels of the Government shelving many of its plans for new laws, this shows that the Conservatives have run out of ideas, run out of road, and have no interest in levelling up."
But a spokesperson for Channel 4 said it was "disappointing” the decision had been made “without formally recognising the significant public interest concerns which have been raised.”
The statement added: “Channel 4 remains legally committed to its unique public-service remit. The focus for the organisation will be on how we can ensure we deliver the remit to both our viewers and the British creative economy across the whole of the UK.
"The proposal to privatise Channel 4 will require a lengthy legislative process and political debate.
“We will of course continue to engage with DCMS, Government and Parliament, and do everything we can to ensure that Channel 4 continues to play its unique part in Britain's creative ecology and national life."
