The Stage

Channel 4 should be allowed to make its own programmes, argues Hunt

Published Wednesday 7 January 2009 at 17:30 by Matthew Hemley

Channel 4 should be able to produce its own programming as one way of easing the £100 million a year funding gap it is facing, shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has argued.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show today about the future of public service broadcasting and Channel 4’s claims that it will face a shortfall of £100 million by 2012 due to increased competition from digital media, the politician said Channel 4’s current terms of trade meant the broadcaster has been unable to benefit from the success of its hit shows.

Presently, terms of trade give the companies that produce the shows for Channel 4 control of, and most of the revenues from, the secondary exploitation of their programmes, meaning Channel 4 is unable to cash in on any successes it has.

Addressing this, Hunt said: “Channel 4 have a model whereby when they have a success, like Secret Millionaire, they get no benefit even if that programme is sold throughout the whole world and makes millions of pounds. Channel 4 needs to find a model whereby they can benefit financially when they have a success.”

He added: “I think we need to look at the terms of trade in as far as they affect Channel 4.”

Hunt added that another option to help address Channel 4’s funding problems could be to allow it to make its own programmes, instead of commissioning them from independent producers.

Speaking about the future shape of the UK’s public service broadcasting system, which regulator Ofcom has been consulting on, Hunt said: “I think Ofcom is right to say the model that has supported British broadcasting so successfully for many years is now broken and is not sustainable. If we do nothing, what we will end up doing is having only the BBC that can produce non-commercially viable programmes and much less choice for consumers.”