To quote one of this player’s fellow countrymen, can you see who it is yet? The Guardian has reiterated the Beeb’s list of potential suitors, telling “Sky, ITV, Discovery and Paramount may be interested if the terms are right - and none of them would want it in the hands of any other”. But its article signs off with an admission that there may be others.
“Sky, ITV, Discovery and Paramount all declined to comment on whether they would be interested in a purchase - although there is little doubt that a large number of potential purchasers are running the numbers on whether they could make a profit from Channel 4”. And then came the giveaway moment from one voice close to the Tories.
That voice, to no surprise at all, was that of the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog, also known as the Provisional Wing of CCHQ, who have told readers not yet asleep “Cash from the sale will be reinvested on a ‘creative dividend’, putting money into independent production and ‘levelling up wider creative skills’”.
Rupert Murdoch. Who may be turned 90, but is as malign a media presence as ever. He lost control of Sky, a business whose birth could have cost him his shirt, and that will have stung. The implicit deal with the devil made by Bozo and his pals means someone like Rupe with the odd billion in loose change would be on pole to win control of Channel 4.
And that would mean what, exactly? Back to that Guardian report: “Analysts believe that a profit-hunting new owner would still be able to make hefty cuts to Channel 4’s programming budget, which would ultimately affect the quality of on-screen content, while fulfilling the letter of the law on public service broadcasting requirements”. Do go on.
“Analysts at Ampere argue Channel 4’s programme budget could be cut by 40% or even 50% under a new profit-seeking ownership, with a knock-on effect of putting as many as 60 small production companies across the UK out of business”. Rupe won’t care. Like he doesn’t care about the damage his media outlets do to their host countries.
The Tories won’t care either, providing he’s on their side. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
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So in the end the move to Leeds will be socially and culturally valued at the square root of fuck all.
ReplyDeleteExpect the Starmer Quiff Quisling and his apologists to make small squeaking noises before again cuddling up to fellow tories. You know, like windbag Jess Phillips did with Rees Mogg.
Britain, a nation owned and run by tenth rate barrow boys and thieves, propped up by spineless media propaganda clerks and Parliamentary guttersnipes.
Long forgotten now (and of course ignored by bought-and-paid-for media clerks) is just how corrupt and inept the oligarch gangsterist OzYank Murdoch actually is.
ReplyDeleteBusiness-wise, he was virtually done for at one point. Only the arrival of trashed-up televised sports saved him - particularly the artificial hysteria of corrupt Premier League football. His corporate ripoffs were up to his neck in bank debts that could never have been repaid without that revenue, plus the Page Three seediness of the Murdoch Scum.
The full gory details can be found in Murdoch: the great escape by Richard Belfield, Christopher Bird and Sharon Kelly (Warner Books, 1994).
The Murdoch and Rothermere scumbags and their gutless employees are media-responsible for the urfascist shithole this country has become. The employees are easily identified by the white feather taped to their foreheads and the broad yellow stripe on their backs.
No surprise, then, when the compliant far right moron Dorries does as instructed.....and the "born again Christian" OzYank might get another opportunity to dip his decaying snout into the rancid British media trough.