{"id":750536,"date":"2026-07-08T13:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T13:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/750536\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T13:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T13:09:08","slug":"bbc-in-talks-with-subscale-channel-4-to-host-its-content-on-iplayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/750536\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC In Talks With “Subscale” Channel 4 To Host Its Content On iPlayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tCould The Great British Bake Off once again rise at the BBC<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s a possibility after BBC director general Matt Brittin<\/a> revealed that the UK broadcaster is in talks with Channel 4<\/a> to host its content on iPlayer.<\/p>\n

\n\tGiving evidence to UK Parliament\u2019s Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Wednesday, Brittin said that the BBC has had an approach from Channel 4 about a streaming partnership.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe former Google executive said striking a deal would be in Channel 4\u2019s interests because the commercial broadcaster \u201clooks very subscale\u201d in a world in which Sky and ITV are merging.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAll of these mergers are driven by the need to have scale. Channel 4 looks very subscale. One opportunity for them would be, in partnership with the BBC, having content on iPlayer that continues to be ad-funded,\u201d Brittin explained.<\/p>\n

\n\t\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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSky\u2019s proposed takeover of ITV earlier this week has sparked a fresh wave of speculation about Channel 4\u2019s future and its ability to cut through in an ecology dominated by bigger players. Channel 4 executives will privately acknowledge that it has to work harder to land a hit show, simply because it does not have the content megaphone of some rivals.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn some of her first remarks as Channel 4 CEO in May<\/a>, Priya Dogra said she would welcome a closer relationship with the BBC, but bristled at the idea of the two broadcasters combining.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was in mergers and acquisitions for a long time. 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 Dogra told the Creative Cities Convention.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think the loss of Channel 4\u2019s editorial voice, the impact that we have on content [and] on indies, that would be a loss to society, [and] a real loss for the creative economy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe mooted merger has been a source of industry speculation for years. The British government has fanned the flames of this conversation,\u00a0tasking the UK\u2019s Competition & Markets Authority and regulator Ofcom to review<\/a>\u00a0how consolidation could change the industry.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso speaking at the Creative Cities Convention, Sony Pictures Television president Wayne Garvie<\/a> made an impassioned plea to the BBC and Channel 4 to form an alliance that would reshape the UK\u2019s television industry.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere is a world in which they can come together and retain a different, independent Channel 4, with Channel 4, the de facto commercial arm of the BBC, running the [commercial] channels and BBC Studios. That way we can realign our public service broadcasting and protect it for the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Great British Bake Off launched on the BBC in 2010 before being poached by Channel 4 in 2017. It remains one of Channel 4\u2019s biggest series. Bake Off producer Love Productions will be sold by Sky to ITV Studios as part of the company\u2019s deal to acquire ITV\u2019s network and streaming unit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Could The Great British Bake Off once again rise at the BBC? That\u2019s a possibility after BBC director…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[8827,27978,88,243753,92],"class_list":["post-750536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-bbc","tag-channel-4","tag-entertainment","tag-matt-brittin","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}