Goodbye Channel 4?

[Bob The Skutter]

From Digital Spy


Channel 4 may be merged into a new public service broadcasting "entity", according to a draft version of the upcoming Digital Britain report seen by the Financial Times.
According to the newspaper, the report - led by former Ofcom chairman Lord Carter - says that Channel 4 is no longer viable and would not be even with extra funding from top-slicing the licence fee or other sources, and can therefore no longer provide competition for the BBC in the provision of public service broadcasting.
The report, which will be published on January 26, suggests that Channel 4 be merged into a larger public service broadcasting institution with assets - public, private and from the existing channel - sufficient to provide plurality in the provision of public service television in areas such as news and social significance.
The suggestion is similar to a solution proposed by BBC director general Mark Thompson, who said earlier this week that Channel 4 and Five should merge. The idea was subsequently dismissed by Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan, who suggested it would be akin to "mixing oil and water".

Channel 4 used to be one of my favourite channels, they took risks, showed controversial things and had interesting documentaries. But lately they seem to have devolved in to "Freak show" documentaries, cooking and renovation shows. They still have the occasional interesting documentary and one or two interesting shows but looking at this idea, I don't think it bodes well for any real improvement to Channel 4, adding a profit motive to a not for profit corperation seems like it will add more commercial pressure to C4, not less. What do other Brits thing to the idea?

 

[Hermiod]

Basically, my opinion on losing Channel 4 would be "Good fucking riddance". With the sole exception of The Simpsons, everything they show is pure garbage.

At least Five try occasionally to be innovative and everyone knows ITV is dumbed down crap. Ironically, More4 is an excellent channel. Give that Channel 4's slot.

 

[Deckerd]

I agree some of their digital only output is far superior to the main broadcast channel. If they merged with C5 it doesn't necessarily mean one channel would disappear, surely?

I think the beginning of the end was when some boardroom twats decided that Big Brother could carry the whole channel.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

That's not true, IT Crowd, Skins and plenty of documentaries are worth it, Dead Set was good. Simpsons is shit nowadays and has been repeated beyond the point of it being funny any more anyway. Sure Big Brother and the amount of make over type shows are pure pap but there are worthwhile shows on C4. But I know you have a bad opinion of TV in general so no point trying to debate it, I suppose.

 

[Deckerd]

I saw Dead Set was going be repeated but yet again I misssed it.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I agree some of their digital only output is far superior to the main broadcast channel. If they merged with C5 it doesn't necessarily mean one channel would disappear, surely?

I think the beginning of the end was when some boardroom twats decided that Big Brother could carry the whole channel.

I don't think this is merging with Five like Mark Thompson suggested, more like starting a new broadcaster with a PSB remit which would take over C4.

I have to wonder about Big Brother, honestly I thought reality TV was supposed to be cheap, but apparently last year BB cost them £124m. And you're right, the main channel seems to get sloppy seconds from their digital channels.

 

[Hermiod]

From my perspective, all I see of Channel 4 is Alexa Chung being sarcastic and encouraging people to generally not take an interest in anything in the breaks between programmes during the day and Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr acting like idiots in the evenings, punctuated by oh so important updates from the Celebrity Big Brother house.

 

[Starkers]

I used to be a big fan of C4, but lately they haven't been as good, and they do seem to rely on BB a lot. Probably the only thing I watch on C4 these days is Peep Show, then again all I watch on 5 is CSI.

If 4 and 5 merged would they retain the C4 name, or call themselves channel 45 (or 54)

 

[Hermiod]

I think merging Channels 4 and 5 would be an unfair punishment for Five. Given their limited budget, Five do the best they can.

 

[captcalhoun]

channel 4 are shit and i've never been a big fan. i suspect the only thing the 'rents would miss is Countdown and they're not even keen on that any more...

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I used to be a big fan of C4, but lately they haven't been as good, and they do seem to rely on BB a lot. Probably the only thing I watch on C4 these days is Peep Show, then again all I watch on 5 is CSI.

If 4 and 5 merged would they retain the C4 name, or call themselves channel 45 (or 54)

Channel 9 essessesss, Chriss Waddle, scorchio

 

[HappyDayRiot]

Anything good on C4 is usually on E4 or More4 first anyway. Merge those and put them in C4's slot instead.

Anything to get rid of The Simpsons and Deal or No Deal and BB.

 

[wamdue]

well that is some interesting news, I hpoe they keep the C4 brands, I watch a fair amount of E4 & More4, which seems likely given that it mentions C4 merging rather than C4 closing.

 

[Servo]

I've not really watched much of C4 in years. I remember the glory days from the early 90's to the early 00's - back when they used to air The Word, and obscure short films and Anime late at night,. Even 4Later was awesome, with shows like Bits and Vidz slotted in around interesting shorts like Inferno, and a wide variety of films. Not to mention the great seasons and "event weeks" they had.

Now, C4 is a pitiful shadow of its former self, churning out crappy 'reality' shows like BB and the endless home improvement shows, with only the occassional decent documentary or film. All the good stuff gets put on it's digital channels - Dead Set was on E4, Curb is on More4, all the good films are on Film4.

If they could return to something akin to what it used to be like, then I'd probably become interested again. As it stands, it's just another example of why I don't really bother with scheduled TV anymore.

 

[Deckerd]

As Bob pointed out though, I'm pretty sure everyone tunes in to the IT Crowd.

 

[Hermiod]

I've not really watched much of C4 in years. I remember the glory days from the early 90's to the early 00's - back when they used to air The Word, and obscure short films and Anime late at night,. Even 4Later was awesome, with shows like Bits and Vidz slotted in around interesting shorts like Inferno, and a wide variety of films. Not to mention the great seasons and "event weeks" they had.

Indeed, when they used to have that strand with Babylon 5 and Oz as well it was pretty much all of their decent programming in one night.

 

[Servo]

Aye. I miss the days when you could watch C4 for hours straight, and enjoy everything they showed - shorts, anime, sci-fi, films... good times.

As Bob pointed out though, I'm pretty sure everyone tunes in to the IT Crowd.

I have honestly never seen one episode.

 

[Hermiod]

^Me neither. It looks like it's heavily stereotyped and written by people who have never actually worked in IT.

 

[That Weirdo In The Corner]

Ah channel 4 I remember rushing home from work on a Tuesday to see the latest episode of Babylon 5.

£150 million a year shortfall how about closing down either e4 or more4 and film4 and also the +1 versions.

 

[Hermiod]

^Or just do as I suggested, shut down Channel 4, put the vastly more intelligent More4 on in its place.