Alex Mahon: Last News

Channel 4 executive pay soared to record highs last year amid industry fury over salaries for senior leaders at the UK commercial broadcaster.

EXCLUSIVE: Channel 4 has axed documentary series Rescue: Extreme Medics after two seasons.

Popular TV dating show Naked Attraction is set to be axed from Channel 4, according to reports.The Mail On Sunday has revealed that a slew of popular programmes – including the risqué Naked Attraction, hosted by Anna Richardson – are due to be cut from schedules following funding cuts. Other series that could disappear include Four Weddings, Scared Of The Dark and medical documentary Rescue: Extreme Medics, with staff allegedly calling it a "bloodbath".

EXCLUSIVE: Channel 4’s top executives have indefinitely deferred their six-figure loyalty bonuses amid a revolt from producers, who have voiced dismay at the British broadcaster pleading poverty as senior leaders pocket record pay packets.

K.J. Yossman The heads of Britain’s four main public service broadcasters gave their verdicts on the current industry climate and the future of PSBs at the Deloitte and Enders Media and Telecoms conference in London on Thursday afternoon. The BBC’s director general Tim Davie, ITV CEO Carolyn McCall, Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon and Maria Kyriacou, Paramount Global’s president of international broadcast and studios (which oversees Channel 5), spoke on a variety of topics including the Media Bill, digital supremacy and even slug sex. Read on for some more highlights from the panel:

UK broadcasters have a responsibility to combat the worst effects of pornography and AI, according to the boss of Channel 4.

K.J. Yossman The U.K.’s National Film and Television School (NFTS) has launched a scholarship in memory of Channel 4 publicist Lesley Land. Land, a highly regarded publicist who worked for Channel 4, died unexpectedly last December at the age of 41. She was honored during the in memoriam segment at Sunday night’s BAFTA TV awards. Her parents Anita and Brook Land have now joined together with Channel 4 and NFTS to create the Lesley Land Scholarship, which will enable participants to study for two years on the school’s MA course in marketing, distribution and sales. The Lands will fund the scholarship, which will support the course tuition fees.

There was a moment last November when Channel 4’s senior executives breathed a sigh of relief.

Welcome back Insiders. Hope you’re feeling sufficiently rested and re-energized as the world of TV and film kicks back into gear. Jesse Whittock with you for the first edition of 2023, and we have plenty for you.

Channel 4 has provided yet more concrete evidence to remain in public ownership, posting a record set of financial results including revenues topping £1B ($1.18B) for the first time, digital advertising shooting upwards and more spend than ever in the nations and regions.

Naman Ramachandran The heads of the U.K. public service broadcasters (PSBs) are in agreement that the market is undergoing seismic changes and evolution is the way forward.“There’ll be huge changes going on in this market and we underestimate it at our peril,” said Tim Davie, director general of the BBC. “We’ve got to innovate, innovate, keep innovating.

ITV boss Carolyn McCall has raised concerns that the British cost of living crisis could start hampering broadcaster revenues at a time when they are emerging from the pandemic, while BBC Director General Tim Davie warned against “complacency” over changing audience habits.

Naman Ramachandran U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 has extended its strategic partnership with YouTube to make 1000 hours of full Channel 4 and E4 episodes from new and popular series available to watch across Channel 4’s YouTube network in the U.K. and Ireland by the end of 2022.

Film4 has promoted Director Daniel Battsek to Chairman and his place will be taken by Ollie Madden.

Naman Ramachandran Daniel Battsek, director, Film4, has been elevated to chair, while deputy director and creative director Ollie Madden will succeed Battsek as director.Film4 is the filmmaking arm of U.K. broadcaster Channel 4, which invests £25 million ($31 million) annually to develop and co-fund British films with British talent.

RTS London Unveils Lineup & Warner Bros Discovery’s Priya Dogra As Chair

Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon has issued her most combative response yet to the government’s decision to privatize the broadcaster, calling the move “disappointing and a shame” and implying it will have damaging consequences for the UK TV industry.

A privatized Channel 4 could lose the UK economy up to £3BN ($3.8BN) over the next decade and support 4,000 fewer jobs, according to the It’s a Sin network’s alternative privatization proposal, unveiled to journalists today.

Interested parties have already started lining up to enquire about buying UK broadcaster Channel 4, following this week’s pull on the first lever of the process of sale by the British Government.

A war of words has broken out in the British media over the forthcoming plan to privatize Channel 4 – with the Secretary of State for Culture Nadine Dorries in one corner, and the broadcaster’s chief executive Alex Mahon in the other.

Channel 4, which would result in the broadcaster being sold off after 40 years in public ownership.As reported by The Guardian, the government is hoping to raise close to £1billion, with the money potentially being used for creative training and for independent production companies.Last year, former Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said that the privatisation of Channel 4 was “needed” in order for it to “compete with the streaming giants”.“Without [more money], Channel 4 won’t have the money to invest in technology and programming, and it won’t be able to compete with the streaming giants,” he said, according to Sky News.Earlier in the year Ricky Gervais spoke out against the potential sale of Channel 4, calling it “a real shame”.“For almost 40 years, Channel 4 has been a launch pad for new ideas and new talent,” he wrote on Twitter. “It’s been able to do that because of its remit and not-for-profit structure and it would be a real shame if that was destroyed by selling off the channel.”Channel 4’s chief executive, Alex Mahon, revealed the news to staff on Monday (April 4): “We have been informed in the last hour that the government will shortly announce that the secretary of state has decided to proceed with the proposal to privatise Channel 4,” she wrote in an email.“In our engagement with the government during its extended period of reflection, we have proposed a vision for the next 40 years which we are confident would allow us to build on the successes of the first 40.