MGEITF 2006: Allen Uses MacTaggart To Criticise Channel 4
The outgoing chief executive of ITV, Charles Allen, heavily criticised Channel 4 at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, saying the broadcaster may need a fundamental remodelling of its structure to bring it in line with its commercial competitors.
Delivering the MacTaggart lecture on Friday night, Allen didn’t hold back, saying there was a stark imbalance and that the channel enjoyed significant privileges via its public ownership.
“[Channel 4] gets a free ride in terms of its spectrum and makes absolutely no return to either the Treasury or to shareholders,” he said. “In exchange for these privileges, you would expect Channel 4 to be held to a far tougher set of obligations than its commercial competitors. Wrong. Channel 4 has a PSB remit high on warm words, low on specifics. Effectively it makes it up as it goes along.”
Allen accused the broadcaster of delivering less than its commercial competitors in terms of original production, production outside London, news and children’s programming, saying the channel had far too many acquired programmes and US imports.
He also criticised its spending on certain programmes, effectively saying the channel had gone downmarket with its schedule of quizshows, gameshows, chatshows, cartoons, soap, reality, lifestyle and shock docs.
Allen continued his attack on the broadcaster, showing disapproval of its gaming channel and move into commercial radio. “When was the decision taken that the UK wanted or needed a nationalised gaming channel or another publicly-owned radio company?” he asked. “These are big decisions, not just for Channel 4, but for the UK as a whole. Where was the public value test or the market impact assessment? For 25 years, Channel 4 has operated on a free rein.”
He said: “Channel 4 is behaving like a 25-year-old still living at home. Dipping into mum’s purse, even when it’s got a fat paycheque in its back pocket. Is it not high time the enfant terrible of UK broadcasting grew up? If Channel 4 does need an injection of public cash for PSB, it begs the question: what exactly is the rest of its schedule for?
“If the acquired US programmes aren’t paying for its news, why are they there? If Deal Or No Deal isn’t paying for Dispatches, what is its role? If these programmes can no longer subsidise the PSB content, they do not have any place on Channel 4. If we need to pay for its PSB content out of public money, the current Channel 4 model is dead.”
The top TV exec lamented the “old” Channel 4, the one that “preferred the risky to the risqué, sought out the bold, not the banal, the Channel 4 that was brave rather than brazen.”
He suggested that the solution was to have a Channel 4 that pays it own way. “Let’s reach for the public purse only where real public value is being delivered,” he suggested. “Let’s give Channel 4 a proper remit. And, yes, let’s put the issue of ownership firmly back on the agenda.”
Despite admitting it was not his place to make such demands, Allen believed the answer was to re-evaluate Channel 4’s structure, responsibilities, privileges and purpose. “Either Channel 4 finds its soul again or it reaps the commercial logic of its current position. Deal or no deal.”
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