Channel 4 Denies Future Of Pay TV Channels In Doubt

Channel 4 has strongly denied claims that the future of FilmFour and its digital entertainment channel E4 could be threatened by the ITC’s decision to award the digital terrestrial licences made available following the collapse of ITV Digital to the BBC and BSkyB (see NewsLine). However, today executives are believed to be meeting to decide the fate of FilmFour in the face of continued losses.

According to a recent report in The Times, the future of the two Channel 4 subscription channels has been cast in to doubt by the fact that the BBC’s free-to-air service will not accommodate them.

It is understood that FilmFour and E4 lost a total of £48m last year, leading some broadcasting executives to question whether FilmFour, in particular, can survive. A spokesman for Channel 4 acknowledged on Friday that the channels would lose a percentage of their total revenue by not being included on the digital terrestrial platform. However, he remained adamant that their future was secure.

He said: “We are very confident our pay-TV services will continue to prosper on cable and satellite, despite the ITC’s decision to make DTT a free-to-air only platform. E4 is one of digital TV’s great success story and for the last 6 weeks has been the most popular multi-channel service in the UK, while FilmFour remains firmly on target with its business plan.”

Research released last week by Mediaedge:cia suggests that the ITC’s decision to award the DTT licences to the BBC/BSkyB consortium is the right one, as a free to air option will open up the digital TV proposition to a wider potential audience (see ITC Made The Right DTT Choice, Says Mediaedge:cia).

Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com

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