Channel 4 privatisation to be re-examined

The new culture secretary has said that the government will reconsider plans to privatise Channel 4, prompting speculation of a “U-turn” on the controversial proposal.

Michelle Donelan, who replaced Nadine Dorries as secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, has said the “business case” for selling Channel 4 will be re-examined after the sale of the public broadcaster was put on hold.

“As the prime minister said, we do need to re-examine the business case and that’s certainly what I am doing,” Donelan told the BBC’s Today programme.

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Asked to confirm if she was willing to look again at the policy, the culture secretary said: “I’m the type of politician that bases their decisions on evidence, that bases their decisions on listening, and that’s what I will be doing over the coming weeks.”

Her comments “suggest that a U-turn could be on the cards,” said the i news site, just months after her department announced it would formally trigger the process to sell off the advertising-funded broadcaster.

The Telegraph added that the development could signal a “reprieve” for Channel 4 and The Spectator said there would be “corks popping” at the broadcaster’s Horseferry Road headquarters.

The government said in April that, following a ten-week public consultation, it had concluded that public ownership of Channel 4 was “holding it back in the face of a rapidly changing and competitive media landscape”.

Dorries, then the culture secretary, said the privatisation of Channel 4 would give the broadcaster “the tools and freedom to flourish and thrive as a public service broadcaster long into the future”.

However, the proposal proved deeply controversial, in particular among the public and the television industry. In addition, a sale would require fresh legislation as Channel 4’s position as a publicly owned, commercially funded broadcaster is enshrined in law.