Former footballer and Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker has told the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council to "stop with the lies" regarding his views on Channel 4. Ben Bradley, who represents Mansfield as an MP as well as acting as the leader of the council, tweeted out his views on the future of the television company.
In a tweet, which has since been deleted, he said: "If Channel 4 wants to compete in the modern market, it needs to be able to invest and grow. It can't do that unless it is free from the State. Taxpayers can't fund that. So it needs to be a private business. No need for state involvement anymore!"
Mr Lineker responded: "So much misinformation/lying. Channel 4 competes very well in the modern market. Channel 4 does not receive taxpayer funding. Please stop with the lies."
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Channel 4 receives no public funding - it is funded by its own commercial activities, such as advertising on the channel. Its board is run by the regulator Ofcom in agreement with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport - currently Nadine Dorries MP. The Channel 4 service was originally established under the Broadcasting Act 1980 and was provided for by the Independent Broadcasting Authority.
The Channel is due to be privatised, according to an email sent to its staff on April 4, and Ms Dorries has stated that government ownership has been holding it back. She said: “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."
Mr Bradley told Nottinghamshire Live: "Gary Lineker, and others, are pretending that I have said something that I haven't said. At no point have I said that Channel 4 receives taxpayer funding. I have said that in order to compete, and invest and grow in the market, it can currently only access funding on that scale from the taxpayer.
"That's not viable. If Channel 4 wants to match the big players, it needs to be able to invest private capital, because the taxpayer can't do that or underwrite that risk. That's nothing to do with what funding it gets now. It's about what it would need to compete with Netflix and Amazon in the future.
"There is a clear tendency from celebrities who are funded by these broadcasters, to deliberately put words in my mouth that I haven't said. It's no surprise that Gary Lineker would want to defend state involvement in media when it pays him almost £2m a year. These are not impartial observers, and I have not said what he is accusing me of saying."
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