C4 'needs up to £150m public cash'

Channel 4 bosses unveiled their vision of the broadcaster's future today, saying its role would be stronger than ever in an increasingly digital age.

The plan is aimed at convincing policymakers it is a valuable public service and plugging a funding gap of up to £150m a year.

The Next on 4 proposals include several targets, commitments and specific plans. They include airing more new programmes in peaktime than any other broadcaster, spending more on output for children and putting 260 hours of new documentaries in peaktime through the year.

More new British programmes will be ordered with spending on acquisitions reduced by 20%, including £35m less annually on American shows.

Channel 4's chief executive Andy Duncan and chairman Luke Johnson said their vision needed to convince the Government and Ofcom to give it a new "legislative framework" and new funding. They declined to say exactly how much they wanted, or how it should be provided, but said these would be up for discussion in coming months.

Duncan made the case that the broadcaster has always effectively been subsidised through the value of its free analogue spectrum, which he said was worth £150m a year. It would be valueless after switchover, he said, and asked for it to be replaced with public funding.

The chief executive said Channel 4 was already struggling to fund itself and by 2012 the gap would be at least £100m.

Johnson said it wanted to be "a publicly owned network with even greater impact in the future than it its 25 year existence". He said: "Our subsidy will underwrite the direct social benefits that derive from what we have outlined today... The big question is how much do we all care about Channel 4."

Duncan said online content would play a big part in fulfilling the broadcaster's public service role in the future. As part of this, he revealed, it is leading a new £50m fund to commission publicly-beneficial digital media. "We must reinvent public service broadcasting for a generation that does not watch television in the same way previous generations did," he said.

Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards, speaking from the floor at Channel 4's presentation this morning, welcomed its plans, which come as the regulator considers the future of public service broadcasting as a whole. Richards said: "I think the fundamental question is what kind of role we want Channel 4 to play."

In coming weeks the regulator will set out a range of options for PSB for consultation before deciding firm plans later in the year.