but what if the company that buys it still puts out programming that the government doesn’t like?
Well that’s a massive blow to public broadcasting, hopefully the current leader ship can remain in power and keep channel 4 the same no matter the new owners
This is some *utter* bullshit.
A culturally illiterate culture minister now just pulling paintings off the wall, selling them on the cheap, like a shit Nazi.
I watched the Boeing documentary on Netflix the other day, essentially it was based around management types looking to gain shareholder value by cutting corners and reducing quality but then eventually causing trouble within the company itself where quality is no longer a concern only the bottom line.
Realising the parallels between this and the Tory government wanting to “run things like a business” they are like these business management types essentially stripping assets from the country to increase shareholder (donor) value.
About time we got rid of them.
Murdoch wants this .. that’s the ONLY reason…. She’s a dangerous idiot who will blindly follow orders….
You have to wonder why they bother with consultations if they’re just going to plough on ahead with the wrongheaded bullshit that those consulted vehemently opposed, and which those consultations are supposed to nip in the bud?
I know the right will support this because they see channel 4 as lefty….. But when has the tories privatising things ever been successful. They come back to public ownership when they arnt making money… And privatised again when profits are made.
Any time anything has ever been privatised…. Its always been at the expense of your average Joe.
Just when I think I’ve reached the peak of my anger and frustration these cunts go and outdo themselves. Fucking shitshow of a government. Fucking shitshow of a country.
Is there anything we can do to stop this?!
The only decent channel with a world class news at 7pm.
That the Tories fucking hate for repeatedly putting then on the spot.
This is a totally political decision to punish.
Cunts
Privatization is just a way for your elected fellows to bank all sorts of cash and then use it to further screw you over. Just say’in.
Never vote Tory, never trust Tory.
What they’re doing here is just following the tory plan and they will endup being some of the first shareholders once purchased to ensure they have a hand in the narative.
It will become warped and irrelevant. Be interesting to see where the news team end up.
I completely oppose this. Disgraceful. If it does go ahead, then there should be a outright block of any MP (from any party), anyone even remotely associated with an MP (either a relation, or business), any donors to any parties, no lobbyists, no existing media moguls etc from ever owning any part of Channel 4.
I am so fucking exhausted. My country chopped and diced with vitriol and Disinfo-bucks. Why should I bother? 🙁
The wrong choice, by the wrong people, for the wrong reasons.
Would you expect anything less?
As a public assets, everyone legally resident in the UK is due a share. Anything less is the forfeiture of a public good by the elite for private profit.
Channel 4 has got a lot better since the 00s, in my opinion at least. It’s not the BBC but it is far better than ITV could hope to be right now. Privatising it risks ruining all that change overnight.
The Tories really don’t like media that tell the truth do they.
I wonder if it will be a Tory donor buying it? Totally above board of course. Nothing to see here.
She thought channel 4 was in receipt of public money. She said as much during a select committee. She had to be corrected.
Her response, verbatim was: “and… so… although it’s… yeah and… but”.
> The government hopes to raise around £1bn from the sell-off, making it one of the biggest privatisations since Royal Mail went public a decade ago. Ministers have suggested they could spend the proceeds to boost creative training and independent production companies, essentially funding their levelling-up agenda.
You know, people actually fall for this stuff. Still. In 2022.
This is the same Nadine Dorries who, in an interview last year, revealed that she didn’t know that Channel 4 receives no funding from the licence fee.
Edit: missed a word
Just like everything else they privatise they’ll sell it for cheap to friends.
Cunts.
God I’d almost forgotten that daft bitch was culture secretary.
The Tories are a bunch of thieves, vandals and liars whose only reason for existing is to sell off everything to enrich themselves and trash the country. This is just the latest step.
As much cultural vandalism as they can before they lose the next election. Bastards.
Ideological nutters. The Tories have sold this country down the road for decades.
Fuck. C4 has been producing some of the best fiction and documentaries on TV for decades, has pushed the envelope and broadened the British public’s perspective for years (eg showing foreign cinema, funding grassroots British cinema, shows and movies not scared to examine disability, class or racial issues or humanise groups usually ignored by the media. Would the BBC or ITV have shows like The Last Leg? This Is England?).
Tories are demolishing the country with a multi-pronged attack.
I sorta feel sorry for Chanel 4 and the BBC. They picked a side in the BEXIT debate and went hard against those that ended up in power and are now reaping the whirlwind. I know alot of people will say I’m wrong but come on….this is vengeance time for the Tories against the BBC and Chanel 4.
I’d protest about this not going ahead. I am fuming at how openly they are just trying to get rid of organisations that hold them to account. They are greedy, narcissistic liars.
Labour should just make it a key manifesto pledge to nationalise it and seize it back putting off any prospective buyers. Easy.
OMG will this bloody farce of a political party just die already?! That confounded woman should never have been given this much power, but because she seems largely clueless, she was more than qualified it seems.
I really, really, really despise the Tories and despair the direction this country is heading/has headed. They’re utterly trashing the country. I loathe to bring up Brexit, but it was just the start of a long road of them being utter fucking cunts. I don’t know how anyone can continue to support these complete crooks.
I wonder which tory donors are going to be making bank off this?
Can someone help me fight the feeling of not giving a shit any more?
This is what people vote for directly, by voting Tory, or indirectly by not voting at all or by not playing the FPTP game and wasting their vote on 3rd or 4th party candidates.
Meanwhile I’ve voted at every single election and referendum since I turned 18 – local, national, even dumb police and crime commissioner elections. And the whole time, there are people dead against the Tories not bothering to turn up for whatever reason.
I’m an elderly millennial and I’ll keep voting but increasingly with a shrug that it’s not going to make any difference until turnout increases and people learn to play FPTP against the Tories.
RIP Channel 4 – your news was great and your original programming was great too. I’m going to miss you.
Dogshit policy that no-one wants other than Tory MPs
Zero push from the public to privatise CH4.
Murdoch when will you retire god damnit. Netflix take the wheel
Right wingers going on about the ‘Long march through the institutions’. What caused it? The right not giving a shit about arts, teaching, universities, etc.. Then they turn around and say ‘why the fuck is everything cultural overrun by the left wing?’ Not from some sinister plan …
It almost never makes sense to sell off government owned companies. Unlike people, who get old and die, the country lives forever – so large short term profit rarely outweighs small long term profit. (Or other benefits)
Though short term profit is great for whoever buys it on the cheap…
This is incredibly depressing. We need MORE orgranistions the way C4 is run, not less. There’s not enough investment in local programming as is! This will really hurt the UK media and film making industry.
I don’t understand why people vote for this. It’s honeslty disgusting.
>Dorries’ decision comes days after the government, in consultation with Ofcom, appointed the businessman Sir Ian Cheshire as the chair of Channel 4 with an eye on privatisation. Michael Grade, the newly installed chair of Ofcom and a former chief executive of Channel 4, is also a supporter of privatisation – potentially making it easier to clear any regulatory concerns.
How is this even allowed…
Absolute fuckinf bullshit. No need, no public desire, no fucking way. They are not leading by consent anymore.
Utter sh*t. Ch4 produces some brilliant shows. Why mess around with it??
Another chance for the Tories to own another propaganda machine.
Johnson’s Britain is Orban’s Hungary.
The knock on effect this will have on the UK’s small production companies, especially outside of London, will be huge.
The sale itself doesn’t make any economic sense but one of the main reasons Britain is a world leader in TV production is because Channel 4 is able to take risks on content that might not be the most commercially viable, so you have the knock on effect of hurting a lot of private businesses and causing economic damage through that.
This is completely insane. £1bn is fucking pennies – the government collects £873 billion *every year*, and it’s not like they can sell it twice.
I honest to god do not understand why the British people do not tear this government apart. Not just over Channel 4, but this is just one more indignity against our democracy, one more act of vandalism against our cultural institutions. I hope Channel 4 use this time to tear the Tories another one on air. And I hope the British people follow up violently.
Channel 4 is literally the only traditional TV channel that I occasionally watch. Good job. Fuck this country ffs
Tories over the decades privatised the Rail networks, Post office, Gas companies. And have they improved our lives? Nope got much worse.
Imagine if they got away with the NHS..
Why? What possible excuse can she make for this other than suppression and profiteering.
Channel 4 is publicly owned but not publicly funded – its revenue comes from adverts, and its programmes are commissioned from third parties.
When the Gov sold off its stake in Sky/BSB it ensured that the news part became editorially independent. This is why Sky News is actually, surprisingly good – and hasn’t become Murdoch’s UK clone of US Fox news.
Will the Gov do the same should it sell off C4?
Also remember that C4 was set up by Thatcher for all the right reasons – which makes it possibly the only success of the Tory 80s.
Whilst a tiny percentage of the channel’s output, this shameless move is aimed squarely at closing down a left leaning journalistic outlet. Dorries is ignorant, culturally illiterate, and politically to the right of Oswald Moseley. We voted for this.
48 comments
but what if the company that buys it still puts out programming that the government doesn’t like?
Well that’s a massive blow to public broadcasting, hopefully the current leader ship can remain in power and keep channel 4 the same no matter the new owners
This is some *utter* bullshit.
A culturally illiterate culture minister now just pulling paintings off the wall, selling them on the cheap, like a shit Nazi.
I watched the Boeing documentary on Netflix the other day, essentially it was based around management types looking to gain shareholder value by cutting corners and reducing quality but then eventually causing trouble within the company itself where quality is no longer a concern only the bottom line.
Realising the parallels between this and the Tory government wanting to “run things like a business” they are like these business management types essentially stripping assets from the country to increase shareholder (donor) value.
About time we got rid of them.
Murdoch wants this .. that’s the ONLY reason…. She’s a dangerous idiot who will blindly follow orders….
You have to wonder why they bother with consultations if they’re just going to plough on ahead with the wrongheaded bullshit that those consulted vehemently opposed, and which those consultations are supposed to nip in the bud?
I know the right will support this because they see channel 4 as lefty….. But when has the tories privatising things ever been successful. They come back to public ownership when they arnt making money… And privatised again when profits are made.
Any time anything has ever been privatised…. Its always been at the expense of your average Joe.
Just when I think I’ve reached the peak of my anger and frustration these cunts go and outdo themselves. Fucking shitshow of a government. Fucking shitshow of a country.
Is there anything we can do to stop this?!
The only decent channel with a world class news at 7pm.
That the Tories fucking hate for repeatedly putting then on the spot.
This is a totally political decision to punish.
Cunts
Privatization is just a way for your elected fellows to bank all sorts of cash and then use it to further screw you over. Just say’in.
Never vote Tory, never trust Tory.
What they’re doing here is just following the tory plan and they will endup being some of the first shareholders once purchased to ensure they have a hand in the narative.
It will become warped and irrelevant. Be interesting to see where the news team end up.
I completely oppose this. Disgraceful. If it does go ahead, then there should be a outright block of any MP (from any party), anyone even remotely associated with an MP (either a relation, or business), any donors to any parties, no lobbyists, no existing media moguls etc from ever owning any part of Channel 4.
I am so fucking exhausted. My country chopped and diced with vitriol and Disinfo-bucks. Why should I bother? 🙁
The wrong choice, by the wrong people, for the wrong reasons.
Would you expect anything less?
As a public assets, everyone legally resident in the UK is due a share. Anything less is the forfeiture of a public good by the elite for private profit.
Channel 4 has got a lot better since the 00s, in my opinion at least. It’s not the BBC but it is far better than ITV could hope to be right now. Privatising it risks ruining all that change overnight.
The Tories really don’t like media that tell the truth do they.
I wonder if it will be a Tory donor buying it? Totally above board of course. Nothing to see here.
She thought channel 4 was in receipt of public money. She said as much during a select committee. She had to be corrected.
Her response, verbatim was: “and… so… although it’s… yeah and… but”.
> The government hopes to raise around £1bn from the sell-off, making it one of the biggest privatisations since Royal Mail went public a decade ago. Ministers have suggested they could spend the proceeds to boost creative training and independent production companies, essentially funding their levelling-up agenda.
You know, people actually fall for this stuff. Still. In 2022.
This is the same Nadine Dorries who, in an interview last year, revealed that she didn’t know that Channel 4 receives no funding from the licence fee.
Edit: missed a word
Just like everything else they privatise they’ll sell it for cheap to friends.
Cunts.
God I’d almost forgotten that daft bitch was culture secretary.
The Tories are a bunch of thieves, vandals and liars whose only reason for existing is to sell off everything to enrich themselves and trash the country. This is just the latest step.
As much cultural vandalism as they can before they lose the next election. Bastards.
Ideological nutters. The Tories have sold this country down the road for decades.
Fuck. C4 has been producing some of the best fiction and documentaries on TV for decades, has pushed the envelope and broadened the British public’s perspective for years (eg showing foreign cinema, funding grassroots British cinema, shows and movies not scared to examine disability, class or racial issues or humanise groups usually ignored by the media. Would the BBC or ITV have shows like The Last Leg? This Is England?).
Tories are demolishing the country with a multi-pronged attack.
I sorta feel sorry for Chanel 4 and the BBC. They picked a side in the BEXIT debate and went hard against those that ended up in power and are now reaping the whirlwind. I know alot of people will say I’m wrong but come on….this is vengeance time for the Tories against the BBC and Chanel 4.
I’d protest about this not going ahead. I am fuming at how openly they are just trying to get rid of organisations that hold them to account. They are greedy, narcissistic liars.
Labour should just make it a key manifesto pledge to nationalise it and seize it back putting off any prospective buyers. Easy.
OMG will this bloody farce of a political party just die already?! That confounded woman should never have been given this much power, but because she seems largely clueless, she was more than qualified it seems.
I really, really, really despise the Tories and despair the direction this country is heading/has headed. They’re utterly trashing the country. I loathe to bring up Brexit, but it was just the start of a long road of them being utter fucking cunts. I don’t know how anyone can continue to support these complete crooks.
I wonder which tory donors are going to be making bank off this?
Can someone help me fight the feeling of not giving a shit any more?
This is what people vote for directly, by voting Tory, or indirectly by not voting at all or by not playing the FPTP game and wasting their vote on 3rd or 4th party candidates.
Meanwhile I’ve voted at every single election and referendum since I turned 18 – local, national, even dumb police and crime commissioner elections. And the whole time, there are people dead against the Tories not bothering to turn up for whatever reason.
I’m an elderly millennial and I’ll keep voting but increasingly with a shrug that it’s not going to make any difference until turnout increases and people learn to play FPTP against the Tories.
RIP Channel 4 – your news was great and your original programming was great too. I’m going to miss you.
Dogshit policy that no-one wants other than Tory MPs
Zero push from the public to privatise CH4.
Murdoch when will you retire god damnit. Netflix take the wheel
Right wingers going on about the ‘Long march through the institutions’. What caused it? The right not giving a shit about arts, teaching, universities, etc.. Then they turn around and say ‘why the fuck is everything cultural overrun by the left wing?’ Not from some sinister plan …
It almost never makes sense to sell off government owned companies. Unlike people, who get old and die, the country lives forever – so large short term profit rarely outweighs small long term profit. (Or other benefits)
Though short term profit is great for whoever buys it on the cheap…
This is incredibly depressing. We need MORE orgranistions the way C4 is run, not less. There’s not enough investment in local programming as is! This will really hurt the UK media and film making industry.
I don’t understand why people vote for this. It’s honeslty disgusting.
>Dorries’ decision comes days after the government, in consultation with Ofcom, appointed the businessman Sir Ian Cheshire as the chair of Channel 4 with an eye on privatisation. Michael Grade, the newly installed chair of Ofcom and a former chief executive of Channel 4, is also a supporter of privatisation – potentially making it easier to clear any regulatory concerns.
How is this even allowed…
Absolute fuckinf bullshit. No need, no public desire, no fucking way. They are not leading by consent anymore.
Utter sh*t. Ch4 produces some brilliant shows. Why mess around with it??
Another chance for the Tories to own another propaganda machine.
Johnson’s Britain is Orban’s Hungary.
The knock on effect this will have on the UK’s small production companies, especially outside of London, will be huge.
The sale itself doesn’t make any economic sense but one of the main reasons Britain is a world leader in TV production is because Channel 4 is able to take risks on content that might not be the most commercially viable, so you have the knock on effect of hurting a lot of private businesses and causing economic damage through that.
This is completely insane. £1bn is fucking pennies – the government collects £873 billion *every year*, and it’s not like they can sell it twice.
I honest to god do not understand why the British people do not tear this government apart. Not just over Channel 4, but this is just one more indignity against our democracy, one more act of vandalism against our cultural institutions. I hope Channel 4 use this time to tear the Tories another one on air. And I hope the British people follow up violently.
Channel 4 is literally the only traditional TV channel that I occasionally watch. Good job. Fuck this country ffs
Tories over the decades privatised the Rail networks, Post office, Gas companies. And have they improved our lives? Nope got much worse.
Imagine if they got away with the NHS..
Why? What possible excuse can she make for this other than suppression and profiteering.
Channel 4 is publicly owned but not publicly funded – its revenue comes from adverts, and its programmes are commissioned from third parties.
When the Gov sold off its stake in Sky/BSB it ensured that the news part became editorially independent. This is why Sky News is actually, surprisingly good – and hasn’t become Murdoch’s UK clone of US Fox news.
Will the Gov do the same should it sell off C4?
Also remember that C4 was set up by Thatcher for all the right reasons – which makes it possibly the only success of the Tory 80s.
Whilst a tiny percentage of the channel’s output, this shameless move is aimed squarely at closing down a left leaning journalistic outlet. Dorries is ignorant, culturally illiterate, and politically to the right of Oswald Moseley. We voted for this.