{"id":787381,"date":"2026-07-08T17:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/787381\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T17:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:06:09","slug":"bbc-discussing-streaming-partnership-with-channel-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/787381\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Discussing Streaming Partnership With Channel 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn wake of Sky\u2019s landmark acquisition<\/a> of rival public broadcaster ITV<\/a>, the new BBC<\/a> boss has revealed that the company is in conversation with Channel 4<\/a> about potentially combining their streaming services.<\/p>\n

\n\tMatt Brittin, who took over from former BBC director-general Tim Davie in May this year, faced politicians at a U.K. parliament culture committee on Wednesday, where he detailed the necessity of a British \u201csovereign platform\u201d that can rival U.S. tech giants like YouTube and Netflix.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt comes just two days after the news that Sky<\/a> would be buying ITV for \u00a31.6 billion. And a combined Comcast-owned Sky and ITV would create a formidable British media group<\/a> in the face of a mass audience shift to digital platforms and streamers, but it\u2019ll also certainly put fellow cash-strapped PSBs on their toes.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have had an approach and have had a discussion with Channel 4,\u201d said ex-Google exec Brittin to MPs. \u201cIn the world of the\u00a0ITV-Sky merger, Channel 4 looks very sub-scale. All of these mergers are driven by the need to have scale. One opportunity for them would be in partnership with the BBC, having content on iPlayer, but continuing to be ad-funded.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued, \u201cThere are an array of commercial, audience, public service, and technical issues, but what we\u2019ll do is explore that as quickly as we are able, because I think that\u2019s something that\u2019s going to be important for public service media\u2026 This is a moment of real jeopardy,\u201d Brittin added, \u201cbecause of the scale and because of the influence of a handful of U.S. and Chinese tech players [which] will dominate the creation and distribution of content.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJust last month, the BBC \u2014\u00a0the U.K.\u2019s largest PSB \u2014 announced it would be slashing its content <\/a>spend by $107 million and cutting 550 jobs. Brittin, seemingly eager to confront the company\u2019s financial uncertainty head-on, broke the news in a memo to BBC staff. He has spoken plainly since getting the top job about the need for \u201creal risk, yet also real opportunity,\u201d so that the BBC may \u201cthrive as a public service fit for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tChannel 4 is a smaller operation than the Beeb, and news of the Sky-ITV deal will only prompt more speculation over its future and capability to compete in an already-oversaturated market. While a streamer team-up with the BBC might be on the table, Channel 4 CEO Priya Dogra shut down the possibility as recently as May while talking at the Creative Cities Convention. \u201cI was in mergers and acquisitions for a long time,\u201d she said. And the thing you learn is that there are no mergers. There are only acquisitions. Someone is always buying someone else and from my seat, that\u2019s the wrong answer for Channel 4, because it would just mean Channel 4 gets subsumed into another organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe PSBs have long complained about streaming services such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ dominating the industry. A streaming levy had been put to the government in a bid to salvage local British production on high-end television and film, allowing public service broadcasters such as the BBC and ITV to claw back some of the finance hogged by streamers, but it was rejected in July last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In wake of Sky\u2019s landmark acquisition of rival public broadcaster ITV, the new BBC boss has revealed that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,1576,30112,134,3389,6207,12773,427],"class_list":["post-787381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bbc","tag-channel-4","tag-entertainment","tag-international","tag-itv","tag-sky","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}