News & Insights

Last public servant out, turn off the signal- the privatisation of Channel 4

Last night, the chief executive of Channel 4 sent an email to his staff. Its message was short, and not particularly sweet. The Government had decided to proceed with their plans to privatise Channel 4 and take it out of public ownership for the first time in the 40 years since Margaret Thatcher’s Government set it up.

We examined the consultation on the decision shortly after it was launched back in July of last year. In his article on it, Rhion suggested that it bore many of the hallmarks of a tick-box consultation after a decision had already been made, predetermination by any other name.

We’ve not yet seen the results of the consultation, the government response has not yet been published (presumably it will be published alongside the official announcement), and naturally we should wait to see what it says, but finding anyone willingly to publicly support the Government’s plans, outside of the Conservative Party at least, is something of a fool’s game.

With the Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries, already having demonstrated a somewhat dubious appreciation of the industry, and Channel 4 in particular (last year she told a select committee that they were in receipt of public money when they aren’t), the response to the consultation should be fascinating.

There are a few different questions we’ll be looking for when the response to the consultation is published. Firstly, what was the level of support for the plans, and how was this expressed? The consultation reportedly received more than 60,000 responses, and while it’s not (as we always say) a numbers game, it would be foolish to pretend that the degree of support or opposition is unimportant. The way views are expressed will also be important. As Rhion identified in his piece, many of the questions “smack of ‘Do you agree with us, and if you don’t where is your evidence..?”, so it’ll be interesting to see how much analysis is included.

The second question is how impact assessment has been handled. As always, there are several levels of different impact assessment, and one of the striking things about the consultation in this case was that none of them seemed to have been done. Those rooting for the channel to stay in public hands have highlighted the immense amount of business it provides to independent television companies in its programming, and the likely knock-on effect of shuttering the station. It’ll be interesting to see what account the Government have taken of this in their analysis.

Perhaps more importantly than economic concerns, Channel 4 has also been a somewhat more diverse environment in both programming and appearance, than much of the rest of the media environment which remains depressingly ‘central casting’. It’ll be interesting to see if the Government get many responses highlighting this, to their questions asking if anyone can identify any potential equalities impacts. Whilst asking these questions is not a sin, and can be a useful way of gathering information, it is a bit ‘too little, too late’, and we would have expected to see a much more robust equality impact assessment process than we thus far have.

The third question will be about what account has been taken of expressed views. The Government do seem to be taking a somewhat all-or-nothing approach, and if the consultation comes down (as seems likely) vastly against privatisation, we’ll be expecting to see some very good explanations of why the Government disagrees and is proceeding, and possibly some mitigating measures to help address any issues raised. If they do not give adequate such explanations, it will simply add to the speculation that this is a Government stitch-up for political purposes.

With the Government still pressing hard on ‘culture war’ issues, the consultation on the privatisation of a fiercely independent (and often highly critical of the Government) broadcaster might be something of a bellwether to get a feel for how the Government’s attempts to reshape society might play out. We hope that they are sensible and see the value in full and proper consultation, but in light of the path up to this point, we’re not entirely convinced yet.

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