The news that the Government will drop plans to privatise Channel 4 is cause for celebration across the British media industry and beyond. But what did it take to get arguments against privatisation to land with decision makers?

Among the numerous voices opposing privatisation, WPI Strategy worked with Pact (Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television) in the run-up to the Government’s decision on whether to privatise Channel 4. 

Over the past year we showed how Channel 4’s unique commissioning model has created a thriving independent TV sector across the UK. We ensured that Parliamentarians and (successive) governments were aware of the impact that a privately owned Channel 4 could have on fledgling indies who rely on these commissions to start up. And we pointed back to Margaret Thatcher’s vision for Channel 4 when she created it in the 1980s. 

In 2022 three Yorkshire Conservative MPs warned of the risk privatisation posed to Channel 4’s Leeds HQ and Yorkshire jobs. Meanwhile in a letter sent to Boris Johnson supportive senior Tory MPs wrote about how Margaret Thatcher created Channel 4 as a publicly owned, non-profit public sector broadcaster that would act as an incubator for independent, risk-taking, innovative private sector companies. "She had a vision to level up the broadcasting landscape and she succeeded spectacularly well. We should maintain her legacy, not put it at risk.”

We also ensured that ministers also got to hear from independent producers for whom Channel 4 has served as a vital catalyst. In The Times, three leading figures wrote about how, thanks to early support from Channel 4, British businesses are among the largest and most admired independent TV producers on the planet. “Without Channel 4 taking a risk many years ago, it could have been a very different story — for us and for many other successful UK businesses”.

Crucially, over a decade the shift to in-house production would have led to a loss of £3.7 billion to the sector, it was estimated. That’s why Pact described the plans as “a levelling down agenda, not levelling up, with big businesses being the ultimate winners to the cost of small, regional indies”.

As the news landed last week, our client’s quote was picked by the BBC and others. “The government has made the right decision to hit the stop button on Channel 4 privatisation,” said John McVay, chief executive of Pact. “It was always a solution in search of a problem that didn’t exist.”