Channel 4 chief looks north in bid to resist privatisation

theguardian.com:

“There are plenty of stages to go in the ownership discussion,” said Alex Mahon, the ever-optimistic chief executive of Channel 4, days before the government’s plans to privatise the broadcaster are to be announced in this week’s Queen’s speech.

On Thursday, Mahon publicly shared what she termed an “attractive, realistic and sustainable alternative” to the government’s dogged pursuit of a sale of Channel 4 that ministers hope could net £2bn.

Her package of proposals, which has been dismissed by the government in private meetings, marks a last-ditch effort to head off what has become the most serious push of about half a dozen attempts at privatisation since Channel 4 was launched almost four decades ago.

The government’s privatisation plans form part of a draft media bill, which includes a number of welcome legislative measures, including forcing on-demand TV services to prominently feature British public broadcasters’ content. The bill will need to get through a near two-year process in the House of Commons and the Lords before the largest privatisation since Royal Mail in 2013 is complete.

Ministers have been buoyed by more than two dozen expressions of interest from potential buyers to its banking advisers JP Morgan, fuelling hopes of a £2bn bidding war, although many of these will be rivals just keen for a look at Channel 4’s books. Industry estimates put its value at a maximum of £1.5bn.

Potential bidders range from Sky and ITV to Channel 5 owner Paramount, Warner Bros Discovery and Vivendi, the French owner of pay-TV operator Canal+.

In 2017, Channel 4 escaped privatisation in a deal with culture secretary Karen Bradley, who deemed the broadcaster a “precious public asset”, by agreeing to move large parts of its