MGEITF 2009: “Channel 4 has the most significant creative opportunity in its history”

The end of Big Brother has given Channel 4 the most significant creative opportunity in its history, according to channel head Julian Bellamy.

Bellamy said that after the final series of the reality show airs next year, the channel will have over 200 hours of airtime available and £50 million freed up to invest in new programming.

Speaking at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, Bellamy said that “Channel 4 in 2011 will be hugely different to Channel 4 in 2009”.

There has been speculation that ITV could pick up the series once it finishes, and while Bellamy does not know if another broadcaster will move in for it, he said that “if we were a purely commercial channel we would definitely be in talks to recommission it”.

Elsewhere, Bellamy admitted that he got Channel 4’s scheduling wrong when ITV1 aired Britain’s Got Talent. “We neither matched it nor were we interesting enough,” he said.

“We’ve got to be bolder and more interesting,” he said, adding that the broadcaster is working on “a big idea that will play across a few days while Britain’s Got Talent is on”.