Conservatives Would Privatise Channel 4, Says Shadow Culture Secretary

Channel 4 will be privatised if the Conservative party wins the election expected in late spring, and the revenue raised put towards galleries and museums. A statement released to the Sunday newspapers from shadow Culture Secretary Peter Ainsworth outlining the plan has provoked consternation from both Channel 4 bosses and Culture Secretary Chris Smith.

Both Smith and Channel 4 made statements during last year saying that there was no possibility of the channel being privatised- Channel 4 at its annual report last May (see Channel 4 Doesn’t Rule Out Subsidiary Flotation) and Chris Smith when presenting the Communications White Paper in December (see White Paper Paves Way For Communications “Revolution”). Channel 4 did not, however, rule out the possibility of floating certain subsidiaries, and it is these and other commercial activities such as E4 (see Ali G Launches E4) which have convinced supporters of privatisation that the channel should go it alone.

The main argument against removing the ‘protection’ of public-service broadcaster status is that, once privatised, the station would lose investment and have to make commissions according to profit, rather than covering the minority tastes it was established for. The Conservatives argue that when the station was established, during their term in office, public service status was necessary to allow the station to become established. Now that scheduling has come to rely on more mainstream programming such as American imports Friends, Sex And The City and Frasier, goes the pro-privatisation argument, the channel is behaving like a commercial channel anyway.

Ainsworth stated that under the proposals, Channel 4 would continue to operate as a regulated public services broadcaster but that the estimated £2bn made from the sale would be used to create a fund to support cultural and sporting groups.

Channel 4: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com Conservative Party: 020 7222 9000 www.conservatives.com Department for Culture, Media & Sport: 020 7211 6000 www.culture.gov.uk

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