Channel 4 Sale

Thatcher's introduction of the commercially financed but government owned Channel 4 group was designed to show that the model could work, and to encourage more independent programme producers. Channel 4 do not get a penny from the license fee, or more accurately the BBC Tax. The BBC rarely produce their own programmes now, much of their output is sourced from the Shine Group, owned in part by the Murdoch family, hardly a small independent producer.  

This idea she stole from Tony Benn who in 1967 proposed the exact business model for Radio 247 to replace the Offshore Stations, he never wanted the BBC to run the replacement service. He was overruled and we ended up with the dire Radio One 


Tony Benn 1925-2014


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