The Channel 4 logo. (Lewis Whyld/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)Is selling off Channel 4 revenge for its Brexit coverage?
That was the question posed on Twitter yesterday by Julian Knight MP, a former colleague turned Tory MP.
Knight now heads the Commons Media Select Committee so these are not light words.
What might have raised the Government’s heckles? Unfair Googlebox criticism? Grillings on Channel 4 News?
If it’s either of these, ire may be misplaced. While Channel 4 commissions and approves these programmes, both are made by outside production companies — as is standard practice in the TV world.
Herein lies the rub. What are people actually buying when they buy Channel 4?
If a rival likes a Channel 4 show, there is nothing to stop them simply going directly to the production house and commissioning something similar. Most already do. ITN, which makes the nightly Channel 4 News, also produces bulletins for rivals ITV and Channel 5.
In the world of streaming and TV, content is king. Love Productions, maker of the Great British Bake Off, demonstrated this when it jumped from the BBC to Channel 4 in 2016 because Auntie wouldn’t pay what it thought it was worth.
What does buying Channel 4 actually offer then? A well known brand and a ready-made UK streaming platform. It would be an attractive bulkhead for Discovery, which has ambitious goals to grow its streaming service globally.
The fear is that any acquisition would be a means to an end, simply a way of breaking into the UK market. Once established, there may be little incentive to invest in the type of programming that gave the broadcaster its unique position in national life.
The sad truth is that while Channel 4 is worth a lot to the public, in the public marketplace it may be worth much less. Selling it leaves everyone poorer.
