Ex-Culture Secretary Karen Bradley urges Nadine Dorries not to privatise Channel 4

Former Culture Secretary Karen Bradley has called for Channel 4 to remain in public ownership as the Government considers whether to privatise the broadcaster.

The Tory MP, who served as Culture Secretary between 2016 and 2018, told the Conservative Home website that the station would not have set up a national headquarters in Leeds under a privatised model.

She said: “The media industry has always had a London-centric bias, and Channel 4 has been no exception. That’s why, along with deciding against privatisation, I encouraged Channel 4 to build a major presence outside London – and I’m delighted that its new Leeds HQ opened in September 2021.

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“Leeds represents not just a symbolic move, but a real shift in Channel 4’s focus, creating jobs and opportunities outside the capital and helping to make sure that a national broadcaster has a national mission that benefits the whole of the UK. Its new regional sales and creative hubs in Manchester, Glasgow and Bristol are making a major contribution to that too.

Former Culture Secretary Karen BradleyFormer Culture Secretary Karen Bradley
Former Culture Secretary Karen Bradley

“Channel 4 has committed to commission at least 50 per cent of its content outside the M25 by 2023 – far more than the 35 per cent it is required to commission, and far further than any other public service broadcaster. That is levelling up in action.

“I don’t believe that the move to Leeds – which Channel 4 initially resisted – could, or would, have happened under a private ownership model.

“I don’t believe that a private owner would freely choose to commission from as diverse a range of independents as Channel 4 does.

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"The incentives for a new owner to move production – including out-of-London production that meets Channel 4’s Nations and Regions quota – to in-house studios, for the sake of economies of scale and rights retention, will be very strong, and I worry about the knock-on effect in terms of lost commissions for independents, especially small and regional ones.”

She added that she hoped current Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries would ultimately decide to follow what Margaret Thatcher decided when the channel was first established and make the broadcaster a public sector organisation.

Ms Bradley said: “Any conditions placed on a sale – such as a requirement to keep the HQ in Leeds, or imposing a higher regional quota on Channel 4 than on anyone else – would reduce the attractiveness and price to a potential buyer. A far simpler solution is to keep Channel 4 where it is.

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“As a Conservative, I have no instinctive preference for public ownership.

“However, when it comes to thinking about broadcasting and our world-leading creative industries as a whole, the Channel 4 ownership question has to be about the best way of supporting private enterprise and promoting Global Britain.

"It is also especially important to consider what is best for start-up companies in the TV and film production sector all around the UK.

"That was Margaret Thatcher’s vision, and I hope it will be Nadine Dorries’ vision too.”

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The Government has been consulting on plans to privatise Channel 4, which could be sold off to a private buyer, following concerns for its survival in the streaming era.

Nadine Dorries replaced Oliver Dowden as Culture Secretary during the September reshuffle, inheriting major projects such as the Government consultation on the privatisation of Channel 4.

She has been working through 60,000 responses to a public consultation on whether the broadcaster, which is publicly-owned and receives its funding from advertising, should be sold off.

It has been suggested the sale could raise around £1.2bn.

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