Conservative lawmakers lined up to criticize plans to privatize Channel 4, raising doubts about whether the government has the parliamentary support needed to sell the channel.
Sir Peter Bottomley, the father of the house, told the House of Commons on Wednesday: “Channel 4 is in the best condition it has been in creatively and financially for decades.
The Tory MP suggested that ministers may have been offended by some of his news – such as the replacement of Boris Johnson with a melting ice sculpture in a climate change debate – and added that “the government could do best, leaving him alone. “
Damian Green, another former Tory minister, expressed “deep skepticism” about the government’s privatization plans and said the media industry was united in saying that “Channel 4 is not broken and does not need to be adjusted in this way.”
The House of Commons has heard suggestions that the channel’s sale could lead to regional job losses, undermine the government’s equalization program in cities like Leeds and leave the UK with another foreign broadcaster.
Channel 4 has an unusual business model developed by the government of Margaret Thatcher, which requires it to order all its broadcasts from independent companies. It operates as a public property that carries out advertising, but is obliged to reinvest its profits in new programs instead of handing over the money to shareholders.
Culture Minister Julia Lopez said the government had concluded that Channel 4 needed private property to survive, although almost the entire British media industry was publicly opposed to the plan.
Dr Neill Hudson, a Conservative MP from Penrith, said: “Please, please, can I call on the government to rethink this idea of privatizing Channel 4. Now is the time to support, support our public service broadcasters – not to challenge them or leave them to a competitive subscription-based service, which is the last thing our rural communities need. ”
Full details of the government’s proposals to sell the canal will be announced on Thursday, along with the results of a public consultation with 60,000 people on the issue – believed to oppose privatization. Potential buyers include ITV or an American media company such as Discovery.
Many lawmakers said the government was mistaken in believing that Channel 4 should compete with similar ones on Netflix, especially given that the streaming service recently saw a drop in subscribers and was heavily indebted.
The main concern for politicians is the fate of small independent television production companies in their constituencies, which fear they will lose if Channel 4 is sold to a private sector owner. Ian Paisley Jr., DUP’s Northern Ireland spokesman, highlighted the success of the Derry Girls sitcom and the millions of pounds spent by the broadcaster with companies in the region.
Labor’s Lucy Powell said Channel 4 could be “swallowed up” by US media companies if sold, and warned that the battle for privatization would “clog parliament for months to come”.
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