C4 pledges 40% of commissions to indies if in-house production begins, as UK gov imposes “safeguards”

Alex Mahon (credit: RTS/Richard Kendal)

The UK government has put in place “safeguards” to protect local indies from losing investment as part of the Media Bill introduced to Parliament today that will grant commercially funded public service broadcaster Channel 4 the right to make and own content in-house.

Ministers have said that should Channel 4 decide to “take advantage of these new freedoms,” which were put forward following the government’s u-turn over privatising the PSB earlier this year, then the proportion of programmes the broadcaster will be required to commission from these companies will increase from the current 25 per cent to 35 per cent.

Regulatory body Ofcom will also be given new duties to review how Channel 4 uses new freedoms to make and own its content, should it choose to do so, to ensure the wider sector is not “unduly impacted.”

Channel 4 chief exec Alex Mahon, meanwhile, pledged to go above the government requirement and said that if the broadcaster does begin producing in-house content then it would commit to commissioning 40% of its content from the indie sector.

“We are only too aware how hard times are across the sector with the impact of the advertising downturn and will always have that at the forefront of our minds in our commissioning strategy,” promised Mahon.

Minister for media, tourism and creative industries, John Whittingdale, said that the package “strikes a fair balance between empowering Channel 4 for a more sustainable future while preserving the fantastic work of TV companies all over the UK.”

Producers trade association Pact welcomed the government’s statement but shared its disappoint that its proposed cap on how much in-house production Channel 4’s potential subsidiary could win had not been adopted.

Pact chief John McVay said: “Pact welcomes the fact that Government has listened to many of our proposals to ensure the regulation of Channel 4’s commercial production arm. However, we would call on Channel 4 to carefully consider any move into in-house production given the current difficult market conditions.”

Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival in August, Channel 4 CCO Ian Katz said that the broadcaster “never asked for” in-house production powers, which indies fear will put their commissions at risk.

“I can guarantee you; we are not going to be doing anything anytime soon that puts a significant dent in the spend that we make with the sector,” said Katz at the time.