charter renewal

Lord Burns: Privatising Channel 4 would be very damaging

David Abraham and Lord Burns

Burns, who stands down from Channel 4 later this month, told an audience of senior broadcasters, MPs and producers that its not-for-profit structure continues to be successful. 

Since his appointment in 2009, when the UK economy was on its knees, Channel 4 had delivered consistent yearly growth in advertising revenue, he pointed out.  

Burns reiterated his opposition to privatising Channel 4, an option back on the Government’s agenda.

However, he said it was worth considering if the broadcaster should make a fixed financial return to the state.

John Whittingdale: BBC licence fee not settled yet

John Whittingdale

The level of threat the BBC is under in the run-up to Charter Renewal is in danger of being exaggerated, former BBC Director-General Greg Dyke told Radio 4’s The Media Show.

Dyke was part of a panel discussing the future of the broadcaster, and added that it would be a “terrible mistake” for the BBC to stop making popular shows such as Strictly Come Dancing.

Kim Shillinglaw: It’s bloody hard to make great television

Kim Shillinglaw

When Kim Shillinglaw became Controller of BBC Two last year, one of her predecessors took her for a drink. Roly Keating had launched BBC Four, moved on to BBC Two and filled in as temporary boss of BBC One. In a meeting room in New Broadcasting House, Shillinglaw recalls with terrible clarity what he told her.

“He said, ‘You will find BBC Two is the toughest. Let me tell you that now. BBC Four has a lot of individual commissions but not very much money, so there’s a limit to how many things it can commission.

Tony Hall: On a Rescue Mission

Tony Hall

For an insight into the day job of the BBC Director-General two years into his role, I pop into Tony Hall's plate-glass eyrie at New Broadcasting House. I arrive in the aftermath of one of the regular encyclicals that DGs dispense.

He's sung the praises of the BBC's place in a "thriving, free and competitive market", an alternative to what a colleague terms the "Joni Mitchell" school of heartstring-tugging about the Beeb's innate brilliance.