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The British government gives up on privatizing Channel 4

2023-01-05T12:47:20.222Z


The abandonment of the privatization plan was greeted with relief by Alex Mahon, chief executive of Channel 4.


The British government indicated on Thursday that it was abandoning its much criticized plan, announced in April, to privatize the television channel Channel 4, which plays an important role in the audiovisual creation of the United Kingdom.

Channel 4 has been government-owned since its launch in 1982 but derives its funding from advertising, without benefiting from license fees like the BBC.

It must reinvest its profits in creation and its fate, in discussions for months, was very followed in cultural circles.

Channel 4 is a British success story and a mainstay of our burgeoning creative industries.

After reviewing the business case and consulting with relevant sectors, I have decided that Channel 4 should not be sold

,” UK Culture Minister Michelle Donelan said on Thursday.

Last April, her predecessor under the government of Boris Johnson, Nadine Dorris, announced her intention to privatize the channel, explaining that she wanted to help her "

compete

" with the streaming giants.

Read alsoDelphine Ernotte for the merger of public audiovisual

Among the successes of Channel 4, there are in particular The Great British Bake Off, a pastry show with considerable success during the confinements, or the series It's a Sin or Derry Girls, hailed as much by critics as by the public.

The channel sometimes broadcast innovative programs that were openly irreverent and sometimes controversial.

Last fall, a program asked the public to comment on the possible destruction of works of art by “

problematic

” authors, including Adolf Hitler.

The abandonment of the privatization project was greeted with relief by Alex Mahon, managing director of Channel 4, who welcomed “

a decision that allows us to be even more of a power in the digital world

”.

Members of the ruling Conservative party, who are generally very critical of public broadcasting, regularly accuse Channel 4 of being biased, especially since former information director Dorothy Byrne called the former Prime Minister in 2019 Boris Johnson as a "

liar

" and a "

coward

".

Source: lefigaro

All life articles on 2023-01-05

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