Channel 4 outsources production services

Channel 4 is to outsource its transmission, broadcast engineering and production services to Red Bee Media.

According to a memo sent to Channel 4 employees by director of finance Anne Bulford, most staff in the affected units - which include 124 Facilities and Media Planning Graphics - will be TUPEd over to Red Bee before March 2008. Some staff, such as continuity announcers, programme management, the viewer enquiries manager and three members of channel ops' senior management team, will remain employees of Channel 4.

Bulford cited space constraints at the channel's Horseferry Road headquarters as well as competition from broadband broadcasters such as Google, Joost and Apple as the reasons behind the decision to outsource. A note was also made of Channel 4's "weaker" medium term financial position.

The memo said: "We have excellent and efficient operations at present but given rapid changes in technology, in the industry and in the range of services provided by Channel 4 we have looked again at how we work. We believe working with a specialist third party provider will help to ensure that Channel 4 is in the best possible position to meet the technological, business and programming challenges which lie ahead. This building was designed when the current range of services was never envisaged. Other broadcasters such as the BBC and, soon, ITV have contracted with external companies to provide purpose built facilities which allow services to be updated and extend more easily. In the future Channel 4 will place more and more demands on broadcast and production services and the restrictions and constraints of this building will inevitably slow us down. Increasingly we face competition not only from traditional broadcasters but also from the likes of Google, Joost and Apple. We must stay competitive and we believe it makes sense to use a specialist provider with more space and purpose built facilities, giving us access to the scale and expertise of our major competitors."

Bulford added: "Channel Operations, Media Planning Graphics and 124 Facilities have made a very important contribution to Channel 4’s success and in particular to the launch of new services over recent years. This isn't a decision we have made lightly and we recognise it represents major change for many people. Nevertheless we believe it is the right decision as it will help to build a stronger and more focused Channel 4 at what is a crucial time for us and for the industry in general."

Meetings with affected staff began yesterday afternoon.