United Kingdom government examines Channel 4 privatisation

The government has inadvertently provided further evidence that it is looking at privatising Channel 4, after an official was photographed entering Downing Street with a document setting out options for a sell-off.

The government is putting the privatisation of Channel 4 firmly on the table, according to a document an official accidentally made visible to a photographer waiting outside Downing Street.

The document was addressed to two government ministers.

It suggests the ministers had “agreed that work should proceed” to examine opportunities to privatise the state-owned public service broadcaster.

In response to the photo, a Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) spokeswoman said: ” The Government has made no decisions regarding reform of Channel 4.

At the time, the government said it didn’t have any “current” plans to privatise Channel 4.

Channel 4 executives have been strongly opposed to privatisation options and the broadcaster’s chairman, Lord Burns, is has put forth his own options centred on Channel 4 continuing as a not-for-profit operation.

Jon Snow has spoken out against the news of a possible privatisation of Channel 4, warning that a sell-off could threaten the trust viewers have in it and argued “if it ain’t broke, then why fix it?”

The paper suggests Channel 4 will now be ordered to “open their books” to Ministers ahead of the likely sell-off.

But the Tory frontbencher did not rule out future privatisation of the broadcaster.

“The ownership of Channel 4 is not now under debate”.

In August, Whittingdale told the Guardian Edinburgh worldwide television festival that a sale of Channel 4 was not now being discussed. Do I say there are no circumstances in which I would ever consider it? Public service broadcasting is a long-cherished part of British culture, but the volume, and how it’s produced could change dramatically over the next few years.

The documents were shown on the Twitter feed of freelance photographer Steve Back who later tweeted: “For the last six years I have been telling these public servants to cover up”.