Channel Four Television Corporation
 |
|
| Statutory corporation | |
| Industry | Mass media |
| Predecessor | Channel Four Television Company (Subsidiary of the IBA: 2 November 1982 – 31 December 1992) |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
|
Key people
|
Charles Gurassa (Chairman) David Abraham (CEO) |
| Revenue | £935.2 million (2010) |
| £49.3 million (2010) | |
| £38.6 million (2010) | |
| Total assets | £458.3 million (2010) |
|
Number of employees
|
727 (2010) |
| Parent | Department for Culture, Media and Sport |
| Website | www |
Channel Four Television Corporation (informally Channel Four) is a publicly owned media company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its original and principal activity is the British national television network Channel 4.
The company was founded in 1982 as Channel Four Television Company Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the IBA, and became an independent statutory corporation in 1993. November 1998 saw Channel Four expand beyond its remit of providing the 'fourth service' in a significant way, with the launch of FilmFour. Since then the corporation has been involved in a range of other activities, all in some way associated with the main channel, and mainly using the '4' brand.
Towards the end of the 1980s, the government began a radical process of re-organisation of the commercial broadcasting industry, which was written onto the statute books by means of the Broadcasting Act 1990. Significantly, this meant the abolition of the IBA, and hence the Channel Four Television Company. The result led to the creation of a corporation to own and operate the channel, which would have greater autonomy and would eventually go on to establish its other operations. The new corporation, which became operational in 1993, was the Channel Four Television Corporation, and was created to replace the former broadcasting operations of the Channel Four Television Company. It remained publicly owned and was regulated by the new Independent Television Commission (ITC), created under the same act. The ITC and its duties were later replaced by Ofcom, which like its predecessor is responsible for appointing the Corporation's board, in agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
In terms of the station's remit and other duties, the creation of the corporation meant little change; the new corporation would have to manage its own advertising, rather than this being carried out on its behalf by the local ITV contractors (see Funding).
In March 2010, Channel Four Television Corporation and its Chief Executive were criticised by the Culture, Media and Sport select committee for breaking service commitments, a lack of transparency in accounting for digital channels, poor governance and failed investments.
In 2014, the Government drew up proposals to privatise the Channel Four Television Corporation. However, the proposal was rejected by the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable.
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Wikipedia