Responding to a question from the SNP during prime minister’s questions, Cameron said all options should be considered to make sure the state-owned, commercially funded channel has a “strong and secure future”.
He said he was a “huge fan of Channel 4 and Channel 4 was a great Conservative innovation”. But he added: “I think it is right to look at all of the options, including to see whether private investment into Channel 4 could help safeguard it for the future.”
After the election, the government denied it was trying to sell off Channel 4 to raise up to £1bn for the Treasury, following reports that such a move had been blocked by the Lib Dems during the coalition.
In June, Lady Neville-Rolfe, a junior minister in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), told parliament: “There are no plans currently to remove the public service conditions imposed on Channel 4 or to privatise it.”
But a civil servant accidentally provided evidence that the government was looking at such a plan when they were photographed entering Downing Street with a document setting out options for a sell-off.
The leaked document said: “Work should proceed to examine the options of extracting greater public value from the Channel 4 corporation, focusing on privatisation options in particular.”
The leak suggested that the culture secretary, John Whittingdale, was keen on the move despite having said the future of Channel 4 was not under current debate.
On Wednesday Labour condemned Cameron for having “misled the public on their plans to privatise Channel 4 for months”.
Michael Dugher, the shadow culture secretary, said: “First they said that ownership of Channel 4 was not under debate and now the prime minister has finally come clean that they are drawing up options for privatisation.
“Channel 4 produces distinct and important public content and the broadcaster should remain not-for-profit. An ideological sale of Channel 4 is clearly not in the public interest. Labour will continue to stand up for Channel 4 and oppose any reckless attempts to privatise it.”
John Nicolson, the SNP’s spokesman for culture, media and sport, also called for clarification, saying it was “impossible to reconcile” the prime minister’s answer with the government’s recent statement that there were not plans to privatise Channel 4.
“My understanding is that there are government proposals to privatise Channel 4 and they are at an advanced stage,” he said. “The SNP will resist any move to privatise this much loved public institution. Privatisation will drain an estimated £150m a year from programme-making and into the pockets of shareholders. Distinctive Channel 4 output like the Paralympics coverage, Dispatches and Unreported World will be threatened.”
The Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow warned privatisation would take up to £150m programming and warned that his bulletin could be one of the first casualties.
Snow told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: “Channel 4 doesn’t need private investment ... We have here a channel that is generating £900m-plus every year in profit, all of which goes back into programming.
“It costs the taxpayer not one penny and we in turn pay taxes into the Treasury.”
He added: “Privatisation would require the owners to take a profit and that would mean £1oom to £150m of that £900m would have to be taken in order to satisfy their needs.”
Earlier this year the Guardian reported that the Channel 4 chairman, Lord Burns, was understood to be looking at options for a partial or full sell-off of the broadcaster.
Burns, a former Treasury economist and chair of Santander UK, is believed to be preparing various proposals that would allow Channel 4 to maintain its remit to provide distinctive public service programming in the event of a sale.
In a statement at the time, the DCMS said: “The government has made no decisions regarding reform of Channel 4. Channel 4 has an important remit and we are looking at a range of options as to how to continue to deliver this, including options put forward by Channel 4.”
(theguardian.com)
