Channel 4: the 40-year countdown to privatisation

theguardian.com:

The government is expected to announce that, after months of wrangling, it will privatise Channel 4, four decades after it aired its first programme; a staple for the broadcaster – Countdown.

Here’s the station’s journey from launch by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government to Monday’s announcement about its privatisation.

Channel 4 airs for the first time in November, two years after an act of parliament paved the way for its launch. The channel was to be publicly owned but commercially funded through advertising. Richard Whiteley, who hosted Countdown until 2005, was the first presenter to appear on screen. The long-running soap Brookside was also broadcast on its launch date.

Margaret Thatcher rejects the idea of privatising the channel, fearing it would reduce quality.

Cabinet members in John Major’s government pass an indicative vote to look at its privatisation, but its then chairman, Sir Michael Bishop, persuades Major to drop the idea.

A revised “public service” duty for Channel 4 is emphasised in the Communications Act. It says that it should provide a “broad range of high quality and diverse programming”, including appealing “to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society”.

Months after winning a parliamentary majority in the general election, David Cameron tells the Commons that he is open to the idea of “private investment” in the broadcaster.

In response to speculation about the government potentially privatising the channel, a House of Lords committee finds that the drawbacks of privatisation outweigh any potential benefits.

Its report says that news, current affairs and film would be at risk. “We are concerned that … a private owner may seek to dilute C4C’s public service remit in future, in