Ofcom Warns That Channel 4 Faces £100m Funding Gap
Ofcom has warned that Channel 4 faces a £100 million a year funding gap by 2012 because of the “external situation” in the market.
The Ofcom chief executive, Ed Richards, made comments about the public service broadcasting review before a speech at the Royal Television Society, which is due to take place later today.
He said Channel 4’s financial situation is worsening and has deteriorated a fair amount since an Ofcom review 18 months ago.
Richards said: “To break even, Channel 4 would need to cuts its investment in public service content year on year to 2012.”
He added: “We have subjected these projections to close scrutiny and, while we are not as pessimistic as Channel 4 itself, we do believe this annual deficit could amount to between £60 million and £100 million by 2012.”
Richards rejected the idea that the BBC should be the only public service broadcaster, hinting that giving some of the BBC’s licence fee money to Channel 4 could be a possibility.
His comments also raised questions over whether ITV and Channel Five would be free of public service broadcasting obligations from 2014.
He said: “Between now and 2014, ITV1 and Channel Five should retain important PSB roles but focused on UK origination and news and (for ITV1) the nations and regions. These are the audiences’ priorities for meeting public service purposes.”
Ofcom: 020 7981 3040 www.ofcom.org.uk Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com