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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Letters

Michael Grade promised my father that he would oppose Channel 4 privatisation

Richard Attenborough
Lord Attenborough. ‘My father must be turning in his grave,’ writes his son Michael. Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

Perhaps Lord Grade, who now supports the privatisation of Channel 4 (Report, 4 April), needs reminding of the promise he gave my father, Lord Attenborough, when he was running the channel and my father was its chairman. Namely that he would die in a ditch before he’d see Channel 4 privatised or its public service commitment in any way diminished.

My father must be turning in his grave. I only wish he was here to face, expose and oppose him.

Grade knows only too well that once profit becomes the prime motive, undertakings about risk, diversity, regional spread, grassroots commissions etc will inevitably be eroded and tragically disappear.
Michael Attenborough
London

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