C4 in talks over regional news service
- Published: 03 July 2008 09:18
- Author: Katherine Rushton
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- Last Updated: 03 July 2008 11:59
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Channel 4 is considering a move into regional news in a fresh bid to assert its public service credentials.
The broadcaster is discussing the idea internally and has held provisional talks with ITV on the subject, but has yet to firm up its plans. If it goes ahead, the regional content would launch online through its 4IP PSB project and could eventually air on More 4 and possibly the broadcaster's flagship channel.
A C4 spokesman said: "We are in general dialogue with Ofcom, the government and other interested parties about maintaining competition with the BBC across a number of key public service genres."
It is understood that C4 would not offer to take on all the local news coverage that ITV currently provides, which insiders estimate would add an additional £120m to its £150m funding gap. Instead any provision would be designed to supplement ITV's regional output.
The move by C4 would bolster its case to Ofcom that it deserves public funding and would also safeguard the quality of its national news content.
C4 news is supplied by ITN, which is part-owned by ITV and draws on the broadcaster's regional resources for a lot of its output. Much of C4's regional and national news coverage is reliant on ITV footage.
In its submission to Ofcom for the PSB review, Channel 4 flagged up concerns about ITV's intention to cut funding to local news.
"ITV's presence in the nations and regions provides C4 with access to newsgathering resources around the UK, which in turn enhances the quality and range of the C4 news service as a whole," it said.
"A retreat in terms of the amount of newsgathering in the nations and regions by ITV would potentially have a knock-on impact on the quality and range of newsgathering resource available to ITN's other customers including Channel 4 News.
"There is an urgency to agree a model for delivery of regional and national news. Failure to do so will mean a collapse in the production infrastructure currently provided by ITN for both ITV and C4. Both broadcasters benefit from the shared efficiencies of sourcing news from a single supplier."
