[Closed] The Government are now going to privatise Channel 4

I thought channel 4 was private LOL!

Its a non-profit public service broadcaster. Its profits are all ploughed back into TV production. Obviously this will never do. Profits should be going into the pockets of their mates, and more importantly news output (including programmes like Dispatches) needs to be far less critical of the government. Remember that it was channel 4 who exposed all the Brexit campaigns Cambridge Analytica data scandal, amongst many other things

It'll probably be sold off to one of their right wing chums for buttons too.

They'll probably pay one of their "chums" to take it on. All done in the name of "freeing" Channel4 from, er, something. This was nailed on when ITN stuck to their remit, rather than folding to government pressure at the last election.

I always thought it was private too! 🙂

This is at least in part the Labour Party's fault. Privatisation is not a vote winner for the Tories, things have changed dramatically since the days when former Tory Prime Minister Macmillan attacked Thatcher for "selling the family sliver".

In fact opposition to privatisation and even its reversal would in many cases be a vote winner for the Labour Party, people really don't like privatising profit nationalising loss.

Yet despite a short interlude during Corbyn's leadership this is not a theme taken up by today's Labour Party, which gives the Tories little to worry about in terms of opposition.

Btw ref : "Now that they’ve effectively neutered the BBC"

Serious and genuine question, why and how do you think they have done that? And who are you calling "they"? Boris Johnson's government? Before that?

This is at least in part the Labour Party’s fault.

🤦‍♂️

Ah yes... everything is still Tony Blairs fault then, comrade?

FFS!

Just remind me how long it's been since he ****ed off and how long the Tory's have been in power?

Don't be ridiculous.

And can we please stay on topic and not let this dissolve into another 'Jeremy Corbyn is absolutely right about everything and everyone else is a Tory' thread?

We've quite enough of those on the go.

The assault on the BBC began as soon as Dave came to power and their news output now is a shadow of what it was back then. They now clearly plan on doing the same to Channel 4 which is the only remaining outpost on TV of properly independent journalism. The Tory's have kept all ministers well clear of channel 4 news for years now. They won't go near them. Whereas they'll happily chat to Laura Kuenssberg all day

Btw ref : “Now that they’ve effectively neutered the BBC”

Serious and genuine question, why and how do you think they have done that?

Why - so they don't get called out for the nonsense the government are up to
How - by ensuring that if they don't toe the line they their will be consequences to the future of the BBC. Have you actually watched any BBC political interviews/questioning, it is embarrassing.

And he's off in a rant!

Who mentioned anything about Tony Blair? Apart from you.

I was thinking of Keir Starmer, who is actually the present Labour Party Leader.

Do you expect him to mount an effective opposition to Tory privatisation plans?

If the case against Channel 4 privatisation is as strong as you suggest Starmer will force them into an embarrassing U-turn

If the case against Channel 4 privatisation is as strong as you suggest Starmer will force them into an embarrassing U-turn

How, exactly?

What exactly are you expecting the opposition leader to do to stop a decision made by a government with an 80 seat majority?

I'm all ears....

Actually... don't bother

lets keep it on topic instead, eh?

The assault on the BBC began as soon as Dave came to power and their news output now is a shadow of what it was back then

Okay fair comment if that's how you see it. But how was that achieved? I don't think the UK government has direct control on BBC news output.

By "why" Kerley I meant why did binners think that, not why did they do it.

How, exactly?

What exactly are you expecting the opposition leader to do to stop a decision made by a government with an 80 seat majority?

I’m all ears….

Actually… don’t bother

lets keep it on topic instead, eh?

So basically this thread is just a pointless rant. As far as you are concerned nothing can be done to stop the privatisation of Channel 4

With your attitude binners it's hardly surprising that Keir Starmer is your man.

Can we have another thread about appointments to BBC bodies, department reorganisations, recruitment from other media outlets, and the effect all that has on the BBC's news output? It could run and run and isn't needed here.

But how was that achieved?

They achieved it by immediately threatening that the BBC's charter would be pretty much constantly 'under review' and made no secret of their desire to see it broken up and privatised. They then appointed their mates in senior BBC roles. This very effectively cowed the news and current affairs footage.

They're now repeating the same exercise with Channel 4 to get them to back off with their constant criticism of the government

Everything Johnson's government does is Starmer's fault. Including this. Obviously. 🥱

Let the will of the people be done 😉

According to the TV industry magazine Broadcast, GB News peaked in its opening minutes with 336,000 viewers, meaning it outperformed the 100,000 who watched BBC News across the hour and the 46,000 who watched Sky News

So basically this thread is just a pointless rant. As far as you are concerned nothing can be done to stop the privatisation of Channel 4

Oh go on then... lets hear it

Lets hear the exact measures that the leader of the opposition takes to stop a decision taken by a government with an 80 seat majority....

Johnson is perfectly prepared to preform u-turns if he feels opposition is strong enough.

Currently after the Chesham by-election result he is under pressure to reverse his liberalisation on planning.

At least C4 has a good new HQ - the old cinema (then nightclub) right in the centre.

Oh go on then… lets hear it

I can't be arsed now. It's clear that this thread isn't about having a sensible discussion. It's just another thread about how terrible the Tories are and how everyone should hate them for being so terrible.

(then nightclub)

Ah... I remember it well.

Lets hear the exact measures that the leader of the opposition takes to stop a decision taken by a government with an 80 seat majority….

It's difficult to lay out an 18 point plan but I think the first thing to do would be for Starmer to come out in clear opposition to it.

So, let's see if he does that.

There was a good piece on R4 this morning pointing out that C4 aren't allowed to own their own IP so the best way to raise money if it is going to be privatised is to change that rule, let them build a back catalogue for say 5 years and then sell it.

So that'll never happen.

As it stands at the moment, I don't think Ch4 would be that much of a prize for private ownership. It has to spend all it's profits on making programmes. There would have to be substantial changes to it's remit and I can't see how or why they'd do that. You'd essentially kill off all the independent film and production companies in one swoop. Not even these Tories are that stupid.

C4 aren’t allowed to own their own IP

There are other C4 not for profit companies that own IP, and plough money made from that IP into content. The channel itself has to commission its content from others, but that's what it was set up to to do... help build that sector, which it has done, and still does do, very well. It doesn't make a profit, but it has helped many others to make a living in the industry, and grown it.

EDIT: I'm out of date, looks like the other companies were wound back into the main company.

Not even these Tories are that stupid.

I'd disagree with that. Look what's presently being sacrificed on the alter of Brexit. Ideology trumps everything with this shower, and this fits in perfectly with their culture war agenda. People in independent film and production companies are all bloody lefties and remainers after all, so if they go to the wall... meh. People can watch GB News instead

You’d essentially kill off all the independent film and production companies in one swoop. Not even these Tories are that stupid.

Netflix and Amazon Prime are available to view, to name but two. The model has changed. We are all Americans now.

You’d essentially kill off all the independent film and production companies in one swoop. Not even these Tories are that stupid.

Two issues.

One: The Tories and their voters don't give a shit about independent film and production companies.

Two: Even if they did give a shit the Tories and their voters absolutely are that stupid.

I wouldn't consider C4's news output any better or worse than most of the other commercial channels from the POV of bias, mainly because it's just another channel that buys the service in from ITN (Just like ITV and Channel 5).

The bigger problem (IMO) is that some of the more interesting/controversial Comedy/Drama/documentary (and commercially risky?) content that C4 have commissioned in the past may well not be the sort of thing a private organisation funds.
C4 has made some good stuff over the years, not all of it was the kind of thing a commercial outfit would be comfortable with.

The BS about freeing them to compete with streaming services is laughable, half their content is already available via "competing services" like Netflix, why not let them continue to exploit that relationship derive some revenue and invest it in more production.
Their viewing figures for both "linear TV" and Streamed content must be well ahead of some streaming services.

We've got enough commercial broadcasters in the UK already, the Niches that C4 and the BBC occupy are somewhat unique to the UK. Institutions with less (not zero) commercial influence that arguably put more back into our nation culturally than they take out financially.

It's another skirmish in the culture war and of course part of the process by which they set a precedent for privatisation or plain old defunding (licence fee cancelation) of the BBC. A stepping stone to the goal of destroying any semblance of independent broadcasting we have in the UK, and ensuring all meeja is run by Murdoch, Desmond and other greedy, Tory aligned Shitehawks...

****ing Tories!

part of the process by which they set a precedent for privatisation or plain old defunding (licence fee cancelation) of the BBC.

Yup, that I would assume is the real goal/prize

Yawn.

Keep backing neoliberal parties - keep getting for-the-market sell-offs.

Same old Guardian type ranting and complaining about bad old Tories acting like Tories / free-marketeers and then when we're given an opportunity to push back against the market ideology in a general election ... It's bad old Corbyn, and his commies etc.

Ernie is 100% correct.

Centrists moan about stuff (On and off) but then won't get behind the opposing Ideology to see the back of this sort of thing.

But but but ideological purity.... Yeah of course. Socialism pushes back against the things you actually hate.

then when we’re given an opportunity to push back against the market ideology in a general election … It’s bad old Corbyn, and his commies etc.

I voted for the beardy communist bastard twice, so don't blame me

You lot are absolutely fruit loop if you're laying the blame for this on the labour party/Keir Starmer/Blairites/The Guardian/whatever.

This is Toy's Toryin'. Thats it. Pure and simple. End of story. No matter how much you twist it to fit your totally hatstand, conspiracy-theory, tinfoil helmet, narrative

The assault on the BBC began as soon as Dave came to power and their news output now is a shadow of what it was back then

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutton_Inquiry

Oh christ! Its a lefty pile-on

IRAQ!!!

There goes another thread

*sigh*

🙄

FFS binners, you are just white noise on any thread thread you touch these days, you are worse than checkw just wailing like a child trying to drown anyone out who disagrees with you.

I just find it fascinating that absolutely everything ends up being Tony Blairs fault and inevitably its something to do with Iraq.

Even when we're discussing the latest salvo in Boris and the Brexiteers ongoing culture war

Just out of interest; is there anything that isn't Tony Blairs fault?

The crucifixion, perhaps?

It's you that mentioned Tony Blair's name on this thread binners.

And as far as I am aware when he was Opposition Leader Tony Blair opposed every piece of privatisation legislation but forward by the Tories.

But according to you no one can do anything about any Tory government proposals because they have an 80 seat majority.

So rant away as much as you like, and you certainly like ranting, and just be grateful that the Tories give you plenty to rant about.

In the meantime, in the real world, people like Marcus Rushford, who arent put off by a large Tory majority, get Boris Johnson to carry out U-turns.

Do we know Marcus's viewpoint on the commercial viability of Channel 4, its potential ownership and the subsequent effect on the UK independent TV production sector?

He didn't play last night, so I'm presuming he will have spent the evening formalising his proposals?

Failing Marcus's direct involvement, I'll ask again: how exactly do you propose that Keir Starmer stops the Tory's, with their 80 seat majority, flogging off Channel 4 to their mates?

In the meantime, in the real world, people like Marcus Rushford, who arent put off by a large Tory majority, get Boris Johnson to carry out U-turns.

I'm pleased you reminded me of that absolute gem, i'd forgotten that had happened. He clearly had the bollocks to stand up to Johnson where Kier Starmer doesn't.

I’ll ask again: how exactly do you propose that Keir Starmer stops the Tory’s, with their 80 seat majority

No you are right binners there's absolutely nothing that can be done, Keir Starmer, and all the other Labour MPs, might as well pack their bags and go home.

And you can carry on moaning and moaning, and when you've done that, moan some more.

I’ll ask again: how exactly do you propose that Keir Starmer stops the Tory’s, with their 80 seat majority, flogging off Channel 4 to their mates?

Any practical suggestions at all....

Any feasible way to prevent them doing it if thats what they want to do, given that every single Tory MP is absolutely nailed on to vote for it...

Any practical suggestions at all….

Well all he needs to do is get 81 Tory MPs to miss or abstain from a vote with a 3 line whip.

If you're dealing with Tory MPs you've got to lean into the corruption angle...
I think it's time for C4 management to organise a little ERG Bunga-Bunga party the night before the vote.
All the coke and hookers a duly elected individual could want. Those who aren't too Snoozy to make it in for the vote might just find a persuasive Brown envelope full of photo's from the night before brings on a pang of conscience...

Or Kier could try appealing to the "Red Bricks" asking them if this random sell off of a media organisation is what they actually voted for? Tell them Rupert would Cancel 'Bake off' and make them pay to stream 'Holyoaks'.
Perhaps suggest they might prefer Boris spent his precious time sorting out trade relations with our neighbours and maintaining the free flow of sausages from the continent...

But lets be honest, they don't give a ****.

you're right, it's already a lost cause, lets stop caring.

I had absolutely no idea it was publicly owned until today.