C4 sits on the fence over PSB funding

Channel 4 remains undecided over where the government should find additional money to fund its operations.

Along with the BBC and ITV, Channel 4 today made public its position on the future of UK broadcasting. It has already said it believes it needs around £150m a year in additional funding.

However, the BBC's statement to the Ofcom public service broadcasting review argues against "top slicing" from its budget and rejects the proposal of giving Channel 4 a stake in BBC Worldwide.

Channel 4's submission repeats its ambition to become the major PSB next to the BBC, with ITV and Five taking reduced roles.

On the key question of where its new money should come from, though, the broadcaster said it is "currently internally reviewing the effectiveness and feasibility of various potential models of future funding".

Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan said: "If Ofcom and the government agree, as indicated, that they want Channel 4 to be the main source of public competition to the BBC, then they must consider new forms of public support to underpin our public service contribution and to replace the analogue spectrum subsidy we currently receive. This support is needed urgently. Deep structural changes in media are affecting TV advertising; the market is forecast to be down 2% this year and there is significant cost inflation. We are already cutting programme spend for this year and next."

Duncan also responded to the BBC's offer of sharing its resources with other PSBs on an informal basis. "We welcome the BBC’s comments today about partnership and will study their proposals in more detail," he said. "To be meaningful, these proposals need to be more than warm words and make a material difference to our funding model."