The teetering in tray that faces the government after its long, hot summer offers opportunities as well as challenges, not least for the new culture secretary, Michelle Donelan. The proposed privatisation of Channel 4 is one of them: here is the perfect opportunity to quietly drop plans that, even according to the government’s own consultation paper, hardly anyone wants. Nadine Dorries led the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) up to the top of the ideological hill, like the grand old Duke of York, without checking that her muskets were primed. So the government’s tactics, such as meddling with the wording of the channel’s annual report to bring it to heel, looked petty and ridiculous because its field commander appeared not to understand what exactly it would be privatising.
The set-up of Channel 4 is admittedly complicated. Established by Margaret Thatcher’s government in 1982 to produce “innovative, alternative content that challenges the status quo”, it is publicly owned but commercially funded. Unlike the BBC – which is financed through the licence fee – it makes no call on taxpayers, who would therefore have no financial gain from its privatisation. The advertising market on which it relies is tough, but there are better ways to support it than to flog it off, such as taxing online advertising on commercial streaming platforms, as suggested by the Media Reform Coalition.
The big advantage of its current remit is that, though it has to pay its way, it is free to reinvest its profits in programming, enabling it to take risks with gamechanging shows such as Russell T Davies’s Aids drama, It’s a Sin, or the Muslim riot grrrls sitcom We Are Ladyparts. It could also go ahead with an episode of Gogglebox the day after the Queen’s death, arguing that the “much loved national institution” would bring “a valuable sense of continuity for viewers”, while its rivals felt compelled to scrub their schedules for wall-to-wall tributes. On Monday came a discussion of Britain After the Queen, which it was hard to imagine airing on the BBC or ITV.
Whatever one thinks of these commissioning and scheduling decisions, they involve precisely the sort of alternative and/or innovative content that would suffer – along with news and current affairs – if the broadcaster was forced to put profits first. According to industry analysts, the sacrifices for this ideological lunacy could amount to 40% to 50% of its £660m programming budget. Meanwhile, as many as 60 television production companies around the UK that depend on Channel 4 commissions would be in danger of going bust, affecting the government’s levelling up ambitions outside London. If saved from privatisation, the channel could and should do even more to focus on its regional strengths, innovation and appeal to diverse audiences. For all its assets, there is still room for improvement.
In the absence of an economically and culturally sound rationale for the sell-off, some speculated that the broadcaster’s disrespect for the then prime minister Boris Johnson was to blame, while Ms Dorries made a discredited claim that paid actors were imported for a reality show in which she took part. But these were merely covers for a scattershot campaign against an innovative media organisation. The case for privatisation is not proved, and no plans for the sale have yet been published. The responsible course for Ms Donelan is to lead the DCMS back down the hill again. In the current chaos, it will barely register as a retreat.
