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Channel 4 turns off, drops out

Posted in Media, Branwell Johnson, Latest reporters' blogs October 10th, 2008 by Branwell Johnson

The commercial radio dream is over for Channel 4. The broadcaster has abandoned plans of becoming a major player and its decision to abandon the market also knocks the feet from under those championing the struggling digital radio format.

It’s a shame as C4 originally announced its plans to provide a needed counterbalance to the BBC and speech radio with best intentions. It also recruited top talent but over the course of this year there has essentially been radio silence from C4 over the development of plans. 
 
Queries about proposed launch dates were stonewalled and occasionally chairman for 4Digital group Nathalie Schwartz was brought out to utter reassurance messages.

But speculation built up momentum following GCap’s decision to scale back investment and the real nail in the coffin came recently when Channel 4 said it was looking to make savings of £100 million to make up for declining ad revenues..

Where does this leave morale among those who have invested in digital radio and the DAB format? Not very high one would think. Ofcom has said that it still believes DAB offers listeners real benefits and points out that there are now 7.7 million DAB devices in the UK. It “continues to support the work of the Digital Radio Working Group” but that is a cold crumb of comfort.

Doubtless the Radiocentre and other stakeholders are now figuring out a way to put a positive gloss on the state of play, given we are in the final quarter which is key for retail sales of DAB radio sets. In fact, today Guardian’s G2 section has a solar-powered DAB radio from M&S as its “Buy of the week”. But to use a cruel but possibly apt analogy recently deployed elsewhere, whatever the cheerleaders for the format do, it could seem like putting lipstick on a pig.

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