London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Channel 4 offers to sell London HQ under alternative plan to privatisation

Channel 4 offers to sell London HQ under alternative plan to privatisation

Broadcaster proposes almost doubling staff outside capital and becoming ‘northern-based’
Channel 4 has said it could sell its £100m London headquarters and almost double the number of staff working outside the capital under plans to become “northern-based” that it hopes offer an attractive alternative to the government’s privatisation push.

Describing itself in the proposals as the “levelling up broadcaster”, it said it intended to increase spending on TV shows commissioned by production companies outside of London by hundreds of millions of pounds annually by 2030, in a move it estimated would create at least 3,000 jobs.

The broadcaster, which is state-owned but commercially funded, said the changes would mean the majority of its 900 staff would be based in locations including its “national headquarters” in Leeds, and hubs such as Glasgow, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham, with the number of staff working outside London nearly doubling to 600 by 2025.

“Alongside this, we would streamline our presence in London by creating a new London base that reflects our new ways of working,” the broadcaster said in its plan, called 4: The Next Episode, which had been rejected by the government.

“As we embrace hybrid working, and reorient our focus away from London to the nations and regions – a reorientation intrinsic to our existence in public ownership – Channel 4 may require a different scale London base.”

The government eyed the £100m windfall of a potential sale of Channel 4’s headquarters in Victoria, central London, the last time it attempted to privatise the broadcaster but ultimately backed down.

Channel 4’s plan also includes the creation of a joint venture, with an external investor as a majority shareholder, to spend £200m annually on new content and ultimately boost its total programming budget from £700m to £1bn a year by 2030.

Other plans include launching its All4 streaming service globally, targeting younger demographics, which it believes could make a further £100m annually.

Last week, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) started the formal process to privatise Channel 4 in a wide-ranging white paper shaking up the British media industry, despite widespread opposition across the sector and from Labour and Conservative MPs, arguing it needs to be in private hands to be able to compete financially with global streaming giants such as Netflix.

The government’s consultation received 56,000 responses, with 96% against privatisation.

“Channel 4 is in the most robust health it has ever been,” said Alex Mahon, the broadcaster’s chief executive. “This is an attractive, realistic and sustainable solution while remaining in the hands of the British public.

“There is plenty of evidence [that privatisation] is not what the public want and not what industry want. I’m sure the DCMS do not want to damage the creative industries. But this white paper as it is currently laid out, we need to be very careful we do not create unintended negative consequences for the industry. There are plenty of stages to go in the ownership discussion.”

Channel 4 research estimates that government plans to scrap its unique publisher/broadcaster model, in which programme rights revert to makers allowing them to commercially exploit them after they air, could cost 4,000 jobs and hundreds of millions annually for production companies.

A DCMS spokesperson said: “The government, as the ultimate owner of Channel 4, has made the decision to sell. We are crystal clear that a change of ownership is necessary to give Channel 4 the best possible tools to innovate and grow at pace without asking the taxpayer to effectively underwrite the business.”

It has been speculated in City circles that Mahon – who has extensive private sector experience including spending almost a decade running Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine, maker of shows including MasterChef, which was sold to her father Rupert’s News Corporation in 2011 – may become involved in a form of management buyout of the broadcaster.

However, on Thursday Mahon ruled herself out of any potential involvement, stating that the future of Channel 4 would lie with the government and UK Government Investments (UKGI), which oversees the state’s ownership of the broadcaster.

“I’ve got to be very clear on delivering the best thing for Channel 4,” she said. “And for that I have got to run the business, be independent of such things, optimise the remit, do that for the next few years. What does or doesn’t get decided through a sales process will not be up to me. That will be up to UKGI and how the government do this. Therefore I am remaining completely independent of that.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
Jellyfish Swarm Triggers Shutdown at Gravelines Nuclear Power Station in Northern France
×