Dowden: ‘C4 could be privatised by 2024’
May 14, 2021
UK culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee that privatisation of Channel 4 was “on the table” as an option to “provide a sustainable future for the broadcaster”.
He said that th “rapidly changing broadcasting landscape”, and the growth of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, meant sweeping changes were possible.
Channel 4 was launched in 1982 as a publicly-owned, commercially-funded public service broadcaster. It does not receive public funding but is ultimately owned by the UK government, with all money going back into the broadcaster, which commissions all of its programmes from independent producers.