Newly appointed UK culture secretary Michelle Donelan is to re-examine the privatisation of Channel 4 as she re-iterated her position as a BBC licence fee sceptic.
Appearing on morning programmes including Radio 4’s Today programme and Sky News’ Kay Burley, Donelan described herself as “somebody that listens” and decides policy “based on evidence”.
She told the Today programme that she would re-examine the business case for selling C4, following a suggestion from prime minister Liz Truss, to “make sure we still agree with that decision”.
“I’m the type of politician that bases their decisions on evidence and on listening,” she said. “I will take that approach when it comes to Channel 4. I will be looking at the business case and announcing in due course.”
Previous culture secretary Nadine Dorries opted to press ahead with a sale in April despite the government’s consultation revealing that 96% of the 56,000 responders considered C4 sustainable and should not be sold.
A C4 spokesman said: “C4 looks forward to working with the new secretary of state as she examines options for C4.”
Licence fee
Donelan, who has previously dubbed the licence fee an “unfair tax” that should be abolished, said that it is “no secret” that she is a long-term sceptic of the model but pledged to take a similar evidence-based approach to future funding of the BBC rather than making decisions “on the hoof”.
“We need to make sure the BBC is sustainable in the longer term,” she told Sky News. “In an age when you have Netflix, Amazon Prime and all these other subscription-based channels, it does throw into question whether the current model that the BBC uses is actually sustainable in the long term and is providing that choice element to the general public.”
She told Today that this choice is “fundamental in a modern society”.
She added that the BBC’s “tremendous” and “unique” coverage of the Queen’s state funeral this weekend highlighted its “true value” and reaffirmed her belief in the need to ensure the corporation is sustainable “in a modern age when media landscape is changing so remarkably”.
She also cited the importance that the prime minister places on decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee, particularly with regards to its disproportionate impact on women.
“These are big issues we should be questioning and looking at again,” she said.
During her leadership campaign last month, Truss pledged to review the decriminalisation of non-payment of the licence fee and said that as prime minister she would “look at all the options” to overhaul the licence fee.
Under Dorries, DCMS was planning a review of the licence fee which was initially due to begin before the summer recess but was put on hold during the leadership contest. An independent chair to oversee the process is yet to be announced.
This story first appeared on Screen’s sister site Broadcast.
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