Friday, January 16, 2009

Don’t touch that knob (BBC boss pimping for Channel 4?)


The stories of BBC’s current DG Mark Thompson in attempts to broker a deal between Channels Five and Four must be worrying for those who believe in plurality for the UK TV market.
It is likely to raise concerns for Stephen Carter and the DCMS who probably think it’s the sort of thing that is better left to politicians. I’ll be fascinated to see how it pans out and if the BBC can make sure that 100% of the licence fee remains with them.
Nice article covering the story from The Independent here.
I agree somewhat with C4’s Andy Duncan (he's covered here) who doesn’t think the answer at this time is a shotgun wedding between two such different animals. Unlike Duncan though I don’t think that answer is necessarily global deals seems to me that to ensure UK media remains dynamic less consolidation would seem preferable rather than a solution which gives short term succour to the current dinosaurs.

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