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Last week, the culture secretary, nadine dorries, announced that government ownership is holding channel 4 back and put forward plans to sell the broadcaster. cue an outcry from some public figures and even some of the governments own backbenchers. with me is chris curtis, editor in chief of broadcast, whos been following the story. and chris, what is the latest? well, were moving now. the governments made its mind up, it seems. this is a decision coming from numberten, coming from dcms. they wa...

And hes not alone in saying this. all across europe, politicians are playing with this idea because the licence fee is seen as an unfair tax by a lot of people. and actually, nowadays its unenforceable. the republic of ireland at the moment is having huge problems enforcing its licence fee and as a result, its public broadcaster is really strapped for cash. you know, this is also a policy that was taken from the national rally as well. so, this was a this was something that was put out there, an...

Has been really getting into free to air television. theyre going to team up with bt sport in the not too distant future as well, so theres quite a powerful potential player emerging there. im sure lots of american studios will will take a look. probably not the streamers, though. it doesnt quite chime with a with a streamer strategy, a linear broadcaster like channel 4. i mean, i saw that had been valued anything between 500 million and 1 billion, depending on, you know, what the constraints ar...

Is ultimately replaced. and i think whats happening now is potentially a shift, where these organisations need to start grappling with a more progressive method of payment, one that isnt going to necessarily leave them seriously short changed, but one which keeps them at arms length from government. because the moment you get a close relationship between government and national broadcaster, that could start to feel like a very uneasy relationship pretty quickly. im afraid thats all weve got time...

Through the schedule and probably find some channel 4 shows which are pretty similar. but ultimately, you know, it is a broadcaster, that over the decades for a0 years now, has ordered different types of shows. theres no certainty that a privatised channel 4 would continue in that way because, ultimately, if profit is driving your decision—making process, youre going to view ideas through a different prism. and what happens next? just briefly, you know, is there a chance that this privatizatio...

And understandably so, about the licence fee and independence from government is absolutely crucial to its future. but if it becomes so wedded to the licence fee that it isnt prepared to engage in conversations about alternative funding measures, then theres a danger that it becomes a binary argument and it could get seriously walloped as and when the licence fee is ultimately replaced. and i think whats happening now is potentially a shift, where these organisations need to start grappling with...

Now, you can debate the extent to which that ethos is is carried out. and, you know, you can look through the schedule and probably find some channel 4 shows which are pretty similar. but ultimately, you know, it is a broadcaster, that over the decades for a0 years now, has ordered different types of shows. theres no certainty that a privatised channel 4 would continue in that way because, ultimately, if profit is driving your decision—making process, youre going to view ideas through a differ...

Which has been increasingly... discovery for the last or five or ten years, has been really getting into free to air television. theyre going to team up with bt sport in the not too distant future as well, so theres quite a powerful potential player emerging there. im sure lots of american studios will will take a look. probably not the streamers, though. it doesnt quite chime with a with a streamer strategy, a linear broadcaster like channel 4. i mean, i saw that had been valued anything betwee...

But first, lets start the show with the story of channel 4. last week, the culture secretary, nadine dorries, announced that government ownership is holding channel 4 back and put forward plans to sell the broadcaster. cue an outcry from some public figures and even some of the governments own backbenchers. with me is chris curtis, editor in chief of broadcast, whos been following the story. and chris, what is the latest? well, were moving now. the governments made its mind up, it seems. this is...

And theres an equivalent issue in the french elections, actually, because president macron has said he would do away with their equivalent of the licence fee. just tell us a bit more about that, because thats obviously very interesting and topicalfor us here, too. well, this is something that macron has said, and hes not alone in saying this. all across europe, politicians are playing with this idea because the licence fee is seen as an unfairtax by a lot of people. and actually, nowadays its un...