C4 funding dilemma splits TV industry

Some 80% of the 230 respondents to an exclusive Broadcast survey said C4 should continue to have responsibility for providing PSB content. A slim majority (55%) said ITV should also retain its PSB responsibility, while just over a third (34%) said the same should apply to Five.

“Every terrestrial broadcaster has been handed a precious resource,” one respondent said. “They should all be forced, by law preferably, to return to the old system of compulsory hours of PSB programming.”

But despite the emphasis on C4 as a PSB broadcaster, respondents were split exactly 50/50 on whether the government should favour the broadcaster over its commercial rivals when it comes to PSB funding.

A number of respondents felt the broadcaster should be rewarded for its PSB track record. One said: “C4 has historically been more sympathetic to PSB, so it should be recognised.”

But other respondents suggested that C4 is overstating its PSB credentials in a cynical bid for funding and should have to compete with other commercial broadcasters on an equal basis. “Until recently C4 had degenerated into a lukewarm version of FHM, with the likes of Big Brother and Hollyoaks. Why should the public pay for that?” one said.

“It's an out-and-out commercial broadcaster that pleads public service credentials to qualify for a£150m handout,” said another.

Nearly two-thirds (62%) of respondents to the survey also said that C4 should ditch its plans to go into radio.

Although the majority of the broadcast industry (57%) argued that it is important for the BBC to have competition in PSB to help “keep it honest”, respondents were divided over the best funding model.

A significant majority (69%) said Ofcom's proposal for a BBC-only model could not work but more than half (59%) of respondents said they thought top-slicing the BBC licence fee was a bad idea.

Some 58% of respondents rejected Ofcom's proposals for a funding agency which would award long-term PSB contracts, saying it would distort the market.

“It would be the same scenario - jobs for the boys,” said one respondent. “Anyone wanting to make PSB programmes would then have to ingratiate themselves with the new contractor dishing out the contracts.”

But earlier this week, former Endemol chief creative officer Peter Bazalgette publicly backed an independent funding agency. However, his vision is for a public service web platform and search engine, which he dubbed “Boggle”, and “seedcorn monies” for cultural organisations such as the National Theatre and V&A museum to help produce programming of public merit.

Bazalgette was speaking at an RTS dinner on 22 April, and also reiterated his belief that C4 should be privatised.

For more on the survey see next week's Broadcast.

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