Jon Snow bulletin would have to be scrapped and Dispatches cut back if Channel 4 was privatised, chief exec warns
David Abraham says hit dramas and comedies would also become uneconomic if Government proposals go ahead
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Your support makes all the difference.Channel 4 would have to slash the number of Dispatches investigations it airs and end the prime-time news bulletin presented by Jon Snow if the Government sells off the channel to a private equity “asset-stripper”, the broadcaster’s chief executive has warned.
David Abraham said that hit dramas such as Humans and the comedy Catastrophe would also become uneconomic should ministers follow through with proposals, currently being considered, to privatise the state-owned broadcaster.
David Cameron has confirmed that ministers are looking at “all the options”, including an estimated £1bn sale of the not-for-profit broadcaster which does not receive taxpayers’ money and is funded by commercial advertising.
Mr Abraham told the Broadcasting Press Guild that a privatised Channel 4 would not be able to fulfil its current public service remit if it potentially fell into the hands of foreign owners or a private equity firm looking to sell on the broadcaster.
He said: “You would have to minimise the number of Dispatches drastically. You see what you could do to cut the Channel 4 News hour down or shunt it out of that slot. We’d have to find ways of shaving news and current affairs in prime-time.”
“You would definitely not have Catastrophe and (E4 comedy) Chewing Gum or Toast of London or Fresh Meat. You would not be swinging the bat at those genres. The rate of return on comedy and drama is much more challenging than in other areas.
Channel 4 had made a record investment in dramas including Humans and No Offence this year. “How many opportunities would you get to do that amount of experimentation? I think it would reduce dramatically,” said Mr Abraham, who ruled out leading a management buy-out of a privatised Channel 4.
“We know the Government is being courted very heavily by international buyers and domestic asset-strippers. I would encourage the Government to spend as much time listening to viewers. We are delivering our remit in spades,” said Mr Abraham, who has discussed the privatisation threat with John Whittingdale, the Culture Secretary.
Mr Abraham said ministers have promised that Channel 4’s distinctive remit - to reach younger audiences, ethnic minorities and experiment with innovative new formats – would survive any sell-off. But he said a private sector buyer would soon try to loosen the channel’s public service obligations.
A former senior executive at the US Discovery network, Mr Abraham said: “There are private equity investors who might put a proposal together whose objective is to sell Channel 4 on to foreign buyers. Promises can be made by a buyer in the short-term when the intention is to flip the asset further down the line. Public companies like ITV can be subject to hostile takeovers.”
Mr Abraham, 51, cited the commercial pressures ITV has faced and the consequent relaxation of its public service obligations. “What happened to World In Action and all of the more serious drama which was part of ITV when I was growing up?”
However the executive said he welcomed the debate over Channel 4’s future and said the “entrepreneurial” broadcaster could benefit from changes allowing it to borrow more freely. Yet with £900m of revenues generated last year, “no one can tell me that Channel 4 is not in a commercially sustainable place in 2015.”
Mr Abraham has had a phone conversation with Mr Whittingdale about the review of Channel 4’s future. The minister told him that he had “not made up his mind and wanted to review all the options and all the ideas, including the ideas coming from Channel 4”.
The executive warned that the impact on the independent companies which produce programmes like Dispatches for Channel 4 would be “utterly devastating” if the broadcaster was forced to slash its commitment to current affairs.
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