Conservative MPs have queued up to criticise plans to privatise Channel 4, raising doubts over whether the government has the parliamentary support required to sell the channel.
Sir Peter Bottomley, the father of the house, told the House of Commons on Wednesday: “Channel 4 is in the best state it’s been creatively and financially for decades.”
The Tory MP suggested that ministers may have been offended by some of its news coverage – such as replacing Boris Johnson with a melting ice sculpture in a climate change debate – and added that the “government could do best by leaving it alone”.
Damian Green, another former Tory minister, expressed “profound scepticism” about the government’s privatisation plans and said the media industry was united in “saying Channel 4 isn’t broke and doesn’t need fixing in this way”.
The House of Commons heard suggestions that selling the channel could result in regional job losses, undermine the government’s levelling up agenda in cities such as Leeds, and leave the UK with another broadcaster owned by an overseas media company.
Channel 4 has an unusual business model devised by Margaret Thatcher’s government, which requires it to commission all of its shows from independent businesses. It operates as a publicly-owned outlet that carries advertising but is required to reinvest its profits into new programming rather than hand over the money to shareholders.
Culture minister Julia Lopez said the government has concluded Channel 4 needs private ownership in order to survive, even though almost the entire British media industry is publicly opposed to the plan.
Dr Neil Hudson, the Conservative MP for Penrith, said: “Please, please can I urge the government to rethink this Channel 4 privatisation idea. Now is the time to support, bolster our public service broadcasters – not challenge them or leave them to a competitive subscription-based service which is the last thing our rural communities need.”
Full details of the government’s proposals to sell the channel will be unveiled on Thursday, along with the results of a 60,000-person public consultation on the issue – which are believed to overwhelmingly oppose privatisation. Potential buyers include ITV or a US media company such as Discovery.
Many MPs said the government was misguided in its belief that Channel 4 needed to compete with the likes of Netflix, especially given the streaming service has recently seen a fall in its subscriber numbers and was heavily indebted.
A key concern for politicians is the fate of small independent television production companies in their constituencies who fear they will lose out if Channel 4 is sold to a private sector owner. Ian Paisley Jr, a representative of Northern Ireland’s DUP, highlighted the success of the sitcom Derry Girls and the millions of pounds that the broadcaster spent with companies in the region.
Labour’s Lucy Powell said Channel 4 could be “gobbled up” by US media companies if sold off and warned the battle over privatisation would “clog up parliament for months to come”.
