WECA Mayor "cautiously optimistic" Channel 4 sale plans will be ditched
West of England Mayor Dan Norris says the idea has been "an utter waste of everyone's time"
The Mayor of the West of England is calling plans to sell Channel 4 an "utter waste of everyone's time" amid reports the government is going to ditch the idea.
The proposal has been discussed by Downing Street for years, most recently by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries in 2022, who claimed it would help secure the channel's long term future.
However, critics said it would lead to a loss of jobs including here in the West Country and was only being pursued for political reasons, because of Channel 4's perceived left leaning news coverage.
Now, in a letter written by the current Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan (who's also the MP for Chippenham) to new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, it appears the government could well scrap the plan for a second time.
"After reviewing the business case, I have concluded that pursuing a sale at this point is not the right decision and there are better ways to secure C4's sustainability and that of the independent production sector," the letter reportedly reads.
Donelan first announced she was looking again at the idea for selling Channel 4, in September.
In response, the leader of the West of England Combined Authority Dan Norris, tells us he is "cautiously optimistic" about the reports.
“The plan to sell off Channel 4 - an obsession for some ideological zealots - was always wrong for the West of England, and a complete and utter waste of everyone's time," he says.
"Privatising this highly successful and much-loved public institution never made commercial sense, directly threatening thousands of jobs in my region’s amazing creative sector, and I'm pleased ministers finally seem to get this.
"I opposed this sell-off from the start, standing shoulder to shoulder with Channel 4 in the fight to keep the broadcaster public and keep it in the West of England, and it appears our efforts have paid off.
"I hope this letter signals the beginning of the end of these petty and damaging privatisation plans.”
Currently Channel 4 is publicly owned, but receives no taxpayer cash.
Instead it is funded by advertising and last year recorded revenues of £1 billion, it's strongest ever performance.
The channel owns a "creative hub" in Bristol, which opened in January 2020.