New minister not ruling out C4 sell-off

The UK’s newly appointed culture minister has said Channel 4 (C4) could still be privatised despite widespread reports that the government had decided not to go ahead with the move.

Matthew Hancock MP

In his first week of the job, Matthew Hancock MP refused to give assurances that the commercially funded, state-owned broadcaster would not be sold to a private company.

Proposals to sell C4 were being considered by former culture secretary John Whittingdale, who was sacked by new UK prime minster Theresa May and replaced by Karen Bradley MP last week.

It comes amid reports that government is rowing back on plans to privatise the pubcaster, with critics claiming the move would result in less diversity and huge cuts to programming, although nothing has been confirmed.

But Hancock, who works under Bradley and replaced Ed Vaizey, admitted he shared Whittingdale’s concerns about the channel’s remit and reliance on advertising revenue when he was brought in front of fellow MPs this week.

“The broadcasting market is changing and changing rapidly and that’s why the decision was taken by the previous secretary of state to look at all of the options,” he said.

He added that it would be premature “on day two of the job, not to consider where that work has reached, in the goal of us having a sustainable future for Channel 4.”

Last week, the House of Lords communications committee launched a bid to save C4 from privatisation.

The committee’s report, titled A privatised future for Channel 4?, said C4’s business model was sustainable until at least its current licence ends in 2024.

C4 is opposed to privatisation and CEO David Abraham has repeatedly warned that privatising the channel would undermine the UK’s independent production sector and lead to widespread job losses.