Gillian Joseph

Channel 4's Alex Mahon talks privatisation, regional production & growing digital

Alex Mahon (Credit: Richard Kendal)

The decision on whether to privatise Channel 4 should be based on “data and evidence” and not, by implication, on ideology, Alex Mahon told the audience gathered in Cambridge. The broadcaster’s CEO was speaking shortly before Government minister John Whittingdale – a last-minute stand-in for his reshuffled colleague Oliver Dowden – was due to address the RTS Convention.

BBC Nations' serious bid to reach past the M25

Rhodri Talfan Davies (credit: BBC)

It is regarded as the BBC’s biggest transformation in decades, as the corporation prepares to further shift its centre of gravity away from London in favour of the likes of Birmingham and Newcastle.

In March, Director-General Tim Davie pledged to better reflect the UK’s nations and regions by moving expenditure amounting to £700m by March 2028 and hundreds of jobs outside the capital as part of a new “Across the UK” strategy.