Channel Four Television Corporation
Channel Four Television Corporation is a British state-owned media company which runs 12 television channels and a streaming service.[3] Unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is instead funded entirely by its own commercial activities.[4] Its original and principal activity is the British national television network Channel 4.
This article is about the publicly owned media company. For the television station operated by the company, see Channel 4.Formerly
Channel Four Television Company Limited (1982–1993)
2 November 1982
Ian Cheshire
(Chairman)
Alex Mahon
(Chief Executive)
£934 million (2020)- £985 million (2019)
£74 million (2020)- −£26 million (2019)
- £69 million (2020)
- −£25 million (2019)
- £943 million (2020)
- £805 million (2019)
- £452 million (2020)
- £385 million (2019)
992 (2020)
The company was founded in 1982 as the Channel Four Television Company Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the IBA, and became an independent statutory corporation in 1993.[5][6][7] November 1998 saw Channel Four expand beyond its remit of providing the 'fourth service' in a significant way, with the launch of Film4. Since then the corporation has been involved in a range of other activities, all in some way associated with the main channel, and mainly using the '4' brand. The company also owned The Box Plus Network, a music-focused company with a network of six music television channels. One of them, 4Music was folded into the corporation in 2019.
Corporate affairs[edit]
Senior management[edit]
Channel Four is overseen by a chairman and run on an operational basis by a chief executive, whose role can be compared to that of the Director-General of the BBC. The chief executive is appointed by the chairman, which is a part-time position appointed by Ofcom.