UK government confirms Channel 4 sales have stopped

The UK government has confirmed that Channel 4 will not be sold.

The decision marks a dramatic reversal by Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives, who previously pushed for privatization when Nadine Dorries was culture minister, against the advice of 96% of respondents to a government consultation on the issue.

Dorries’ successor, Michelle Donelan, has since reviewed the business case for keeping Channel 4 in public ownership and recommended against going ahead with a sale approved by 10 Downing Street.

“Channel 4 is a British success story and a hub of our thriving creative industry,” Donelan said. “After investigating the business case and consulting with the industries involved, I have decided that Channel 4 should not be sold.”

In news leaked yesterday and received by The News Agents Journalist Lewis Goodall, Donelan, instead released a “sustainability package” with an “ambitious package of measures” that would allow Channel 4 to produce its own programs for the first time, increase investment in skills and jobs outside London and reach his credit. limit increase. How the internal target will be met will be closely scrutinized in the coming months by the UK manufacturing sector, many of whom have used Channel 4 IP as a basis to grow their business.

“This announcement represents a major opportunity in the UK as Channel 4 has committed to doubling its skills investment to £10m and doubling the number of jobs outside London to 600,” added Donelan. “The package will also secure the future of our leading independent manufacturing sector. We will work closely with them to add new protections such as: B. increasing the amount of content Channel 4 must run from independent producers.”

Alex Mahon, chief executive of Channel 4, said the “principle of public ownership is now established for the foreseeable future and will enable us to gain even more power in the digital world”.

“Channel 4 is innovative, editorially brilliant and loved by an audience that others don’t reach, especially the young and underrepresented,” she added. “In the analog world, we have achieved this spectacularly. Now, in the digital age, we’re doing it again. Working with the UK’s leading television and film producers, we continue to develop ideas that engage audiences and change perspectives around the world.”

Next steps

Mahon went on to say that Channel 4 “will act faster, invest more, take more risk, break down barriers and push boundaries”.

Some of the measures will require the implementation of legislation, Donelan said, and this will be done through an upcoming media bill to “relax restrictions on publisher broadcasting mandated by Channel 4, giving it more opportunities to do its own to produce content and to monetize It.”

Changes will be implemented “gradually with the necessary checks and balances and after consultation with the industry”, according to the press release from the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Department.

Channel 4 currently has a mandate to commission 25% of its programs from smaller “genuinely independent” production companies and this will be increased in line with the easing of the internal rule, he added.

The move is a major victory for Channel 4, which has been preparing for the worst privatization for the past 18 months. This is the second time a selloff has surfaced, with a similar scenario that played out in 2016 ending similarly to this one. The network was launched under Margaret Thatcher’s government more than 40 years ago as an alternative to the BBC and ITV.

The prospect of no sales brightened when Sunak took over as prime minister in October. Sunak is worried about the rising cost of living, while Jeremy Hunt, his chancellor, was outspoken against a sale and would have had a big say in the final decision. Sunak himself was more lukewarm, saying he would “proceed with privatization plans” during his summer premiership campaign.

Dorries tweeted yesterday that “three years of progressive Tory government” were being “washed away” and cited Channel 4’s turnaround as a factor.