[Community Television] Duncan: Ofcom PSP plan would future-proof C4

[Michelle McGuire]

Duncan: Ofcom PSP plan would future-proof C4
Leigh Holmwood
  22 November 2004 11:08


  Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan has said his channel should run 
Ofcom’s proposed Public Service Publisher (PSP) as a way of "future 
proofing" itself.

Duncan said the channel would bid to run the £300m service as part of 
C4’s submission to Ofcom’s public service television review this week.

"We see the PSP mechanism as a mechanism that could future-proof C4," 
Duncan told today’s Independent. "But it does seem to us that you want 
as much money as possible to go on content. Building on an existing 
infrastructure and an existing brand is the most efficient way to 
connect this content with the audience."

However, Duncan added that Ofcom should also be addressing C4’s future 
funding issues now. Despite posting a profit of £70m this year, Duncan 
says he foresees a deficit of £60m to £70m by 2008 and £100m by 2010.

"We see the first priority as future-proofing Channel 4," he said. "I 
am convinced there is a problem."

  Duncan also gave his first comments on the failed merger between C4 
and Five, which was declared dead last week, saying it wouldn’t have 
protected the "DNA" of the channel.

"I was open-minded to the idea," he said. "There were potentially some 
interesting cost-savings. If you were to run the [two channels] as a 
joint organisation there would be an opportunity to cross-schedule and 
cross-promote, so that the whole would be greater than the sum of its 
parts.

But he added: "I couldn’t see how this was going to protect the DNA of 
what C4 is all about and there was inherent tension between the 
not-for-profit public corporation and the C4 remit and a shareholder 
looking to maximise profit."

He added that primary legislation would not have been necessary for the 
merger to have gone ahead, with separate bodies holding the two 
licences.

Source: broadcastnow.co.uk