Asset disposal

Much has been speculated about Channel 4's future - commercial or otherwise - since the channel now relies almost totally on advertising revenue for its funding in what's now a very competitive market. Not so long ago there were suggestions of a possible deal between Channel 4 and Channel Five but such a deal would be fraught with problems due to Channel 4's public ownership status.

Enter the BBC as a possible solution to Channel 4's dilemma. Currently the BBC is under a great deal of scrutiny and has been pressurised to 'offload' some of its commercial divisions in order to focus more on its core activities, so if the BBC can't have all of its money making "spin-offs" some will either have to be shut down or sold off.

Whether or not the BBC should retain some or all of its commercial activities in order to raise much-needed revenue is a separate issue, but the BBC still needs to figure out the best way forward even if it has identified assets that can be easily disposed of without significant problems. And the manner of their disposal will be equally important.

Permitting Channel 4 to have some of the BBC's commercial assets would be mutually beneficial to both parties as well as ensuring that some of the BBC's offloaded commercial activities remain publically-owned, at least in the short term. Therefore it isn't surprising that Channel 4 and the BBC are now communicating with each other on this issue, especially under the guidance of Mark Thompson.

Such a deal might also help to preserve Channel 4's public service status for the time being and would be far less problematic than a merger with Channel Five, though what would eventually happen to any proposed deal with Five as a consequence remains to be seen.