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.
Article continues belowThe Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.