Channel 4 Privatisation

My Lords, will the Government publish immediately the consultation, which was completed over six ...

On the noble Lord’s first point, the responses to the consultation will be published alongside th...

My Lords, last Friday the energy price cap increased by £700; inflation continues to climb and ma...

I must say that I find that a weak argument from the noble Lord. The Government are capable of do...

Perhaps my noble friend could help me. If a former constituent came up to me in the street and sa...

I am not sure that all my noble friend’s constituents might phrase it like that. As I said to the...

My Lords, in his initial Answer the Minister said that the current structure of Channel 4 was hol...

My Lords, the Government recognise the huge success that Channel 4 has been over the last 40 year...

My Lords, the Minister mentioned a long-awaited and much-needed White Paper. This is a very compl...

The noble Lord is absolutely right; there are many issues of detail which of course we cannot cov...

My Lords, does my noble friend not think it extraordinary that people who constantly complain abo...

I heartily agree with my noble friend. Of course, the production companies in the independent sec...

My Lords, the Minister has made much of the competitive challenges facing Channel 4 and has refer...

Of course they can coexist. What we want to make sure of is that Channel 4 is existing, competing...

My Lords, is it not the case that the Government do not like criticism? They have cowed the BBC o...

At the moment, Channel 4 is uniquely constrained; it can neither borrow nor benefit from private ...

My Lords, does the Minister realise that it was the Labour Party in the 1950s which bitterly oppo...

I am grateful to my noble friend for that reminder; he is absolutely right. It is important that ...

My Lords, if the Government insist on pursuing this policy, what safeguard will there be against ...

Like the sale of any Government asset, the sale of Channel 4 will need to meet a careful assessme...

My Lords, but is not Netflix a complete red herring? How many journalists and camera crews has Ne...

Netflix is not a news producer in the way that Channel 4 is a public service broadcaster, but it ...

My Lords, I understand the need for Channel 4 to have extra resources, but could my noble friend ...

Absolutely. The independent production sector has exploded since Channel 4 was created 40 years a...

My Lords, ever since the announcement was made, we have been hearing about all these rare cultura...

I will not join my noble friend in singling out particular programmes —de gustibus non est disput...

My Lords, following on from the last question, would the Minister give us his thoughts on which o...

Channel 4 did a fantastic job in broadcasting the Paralympics, and indeed in bringing the entire ...

I have been trying to follow the Minister’s logic over the last 14 minutes. Basically, he is sayi...

It is a wonderful company doing a fantastic job, but the last 40 years look very different from t...