CHANNEL FOUR TELEVISION CORPORATION TELEVISION FOUR CHANNEL CHANNEL FOUR TELEVISION CORPORATION 124 HORSEFERRY ROAD LONDON SW1P 2TX TELEPHONE 020 7396 4444 FAX 020 7306 8697 CHANNEL4.COM/ANNUALREPORT2007 REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2007 STATEMENTS FINANCIAL CHANNEL FOUR TELEVISION CORPORATION REPORT FINANCIAL STATEMENTS& 2007 BROADCASTING ACT 1990 Presented to Parliament pursuant to Paragraph 13(1) of Schedule 3 to the Broadcasting Act 1990 04 Chairman 08 SOWING 20 28 AWARDS Luke GLOBAL THE SEEDS 30 CORPORATE Johnson OF CHANGE REALITIES RESPONSIBILITY 06 Chief Executive 10 REAL 22 32 SUPPORTING TALENT& Andy LIFE CREATIVITY Duncan DRAMA 33 FINANCIAL 12 24 REPORT Moving STATEMENTS& performances 14 CONNECTING 26 ARTS TV AUDIENCES& on 16 25 YEARS OF GREAT tap BRITISH FILMS 18 BEING HUMAN Luke Johnson Chairman \ \ WE ARE DETERMINED TO REAFFIRM CHANNEL 4’S VALUES: DISTINCTIVE TELEVISION FROM A RANGE OF DIVERSE VOICES, OFFERING FRESH PERSPECTIVES ON THE WORLD / / A famous man once said that boredom was Meanwhile, we continue every week to In 2007, the organisation continued to the greatest enemy. Channel 4’s role in life commission television that matters, that is broaden its offerings across not just Channel is to fight that never-ending battle against different, that stirs public debate, and is of 4, E4, More4 and Film4, but with a new boredom, and make life in Britain intrinsically a remarkable range and quality. Across the catch-up channel in Channel 4+1. We led more interesting. I believe it has succeeded 4 network we transmit 260 documentaries a consortium which won the new DAB in that task for every one of its 25 years a year, including the award-winning multiplex, and increased our investment in of existence. Dispatches, Unreported World and Cutting online services. Edge strands. That alone is a remarkable Unquestionably 2007 was an eventful achievement. We make ground-breaking The Board believes the stakeholders of year for us – and not just because we new youth drama like Skins. We show Channel 4 – the Government, Ofcom, celebrated our quarter century anniversary. compelling reality TV like Ramsay’s Kitchen the viewers, the independent producers, We showed many outstanding programmes, Nightmares. We back stunning films at the staff – need to agree a new formula for but like all major broadcasters we suffered Film4 like This is England. We commission the future. We need a revised remit, which much criticism – some of it deserved. extraordinary one-off programmes like reflects today’s media universe. We need We have learned from the mistakes made Deep Water and Longford. We schedule a funding mechanism to replace the over Celebrity Big Brother and the use of bold seasons like our Lost for Words season diminishing value of our gifted spectrum. premium-rate phone contests, and I believe on child literacy. We pioneer new comedy And we need the continued freedom to these problems will not recur. And we like Modern Toss and The IT Crowd. champion television that questions, that started to experience real financial pressure No one else will do all this. provokes, that entertains, and that sparkles. on our business model, as our accounts show. Above all, Channel 4 must be allowed to Television is at heart a mass medium, transmit shows that are opinionated and Despite these issues, we are determined and it works in society and for advertisers irreverent, and occasionally a little dangerous. to reaffirm Channel 4’s values: distinctive because it has impact. But audiences are That is what a modern democracy is about – television from a range of diverse voices, fragmenting. In the digital age, public free speech. We help keep the BBC honest, offering fresh perspectives on the world. service broadcasters have a greater and maintain a vigorous plurality of public To that end, in March 2008 we launched challenge than ever before: they need to service provision, which I believe is so a new vision for the future, to remind constantly balance the desire to show important in the complicated world of the stakeholders what we are for and what important but difficult programmes with 21st century. we can do. more popular fare. The online revolution means the competition for eyeballs and advertisers is more intense than ever. We have to work harder and harder to attract audiences and find original ideas that will make compelling viewing. 04 05 Andy Duncan Chief Executive We identified a set of four core “purposes designed to allow Channel 4 to play an even more exciting role in a digital world Channel 4’s 25th anniversary year was industry: we appointed Channel 4’s first Against that backdrop, we made substantial more than just a significant milestone. Viewers’ Editor, established an online” progress in developing our thinking about It marked a watershed. We celebrated discussion forum for viewers, returned our future role and purpose, with extensive with some outstanding programmes; a regular right-to-reply programme to the consultation during the year with viewers we continued our journey to becoming schedule, and announced our complete and stakeholders. We set out this thinking a multi-media company with continued withdrawal from the use of premium-rate in Next on 4, our strategic blueprint published digital channel growth, a strikingly telephony for profit. In other programme in March 2008. We identified a set of four successful first year for video-on-demand challenges Channel 4 was on firmer core purposes designed to allow Channel 4 service 4oD, the award of the second ground: complaints about the documentary to play an even more exciting role in national commercial digital radio multiplex Diana: the Witnesses in the Tunnel, and a digital world. These purposes are focused licence, and our biggest ever acquisition about Dispatches: Undercover Mosque, on nurturing new talent, championing through our music joint venture with Emap. were rejected by the regulator, and both alternative voices, challenging people to Most important, we started a process of programmes fully vindicated. see the world differently and inspiring creative renewal that will shape Channel 4’s change in people’s lives. We will continue output and aspirations for years to come. The conditions in which we delivered our to offer something for everyone some of on-screen success remained challenging. the time, but will place particular emphasis During the year, Channel 4 showed engaging After a run of growth in audience share on serving younger and minority audiences. and thought-provoking programmes that that has more than held up against the We will focus on delivering publicly valuable were recognised with a host of awards, competition in recent years, we did content across a range of digital platforms, including our fifth Oscar in four years, for experience a drop in all-time share on the and building on our strengths in bringing Peter and the Wolf. In factual, no documentary core channel, although within this the creative innovation from the margins into matched the emotional power of China’s peak-time schedule performed better. the mainstream. In everything we do, our Stolen Children and Once Upon a Time in Across the digital channel portfolio we aim will be to take creative risks and offer Iran, or shone such discomforting light on enjoyed an all-time high in peak time and our audiences the best programmes and society as Meet the Natives, My New our second strongest portfolio performance content, whatever the platform. Home and The Seven Sins of England. ever. Nevertheless, the revenue trend is No multi-media campaign moved so many clear and our surplus was only just above In what was in many respects a challenging to action as our Lost for Words literacy break-even. The financial pressures that year, we also had many successes and season. Drama tackled difficult subjects we will face in the transition to digital were made considerable progress in moving with intelligence and sensitivity in The Mark confirmed by the independent financial Channel 4 forwards. I’d like to thank all our of Cain, Britz, Boy A and Secret Life. And review commissioned by Ofcom from staff and external partners, especially in the Skins, the witty E4 teen drama, drew in the strategy consultants LEK. The need to independent production sector, for their hard-to-catch YouTube generation. agree an updated form of public support continuing contribution. to replace the historic subsidy of analogue 2007 was of course a notable year in a less spectrum is growing in urgency. In the following pages we highlight welcome respect. A number of important some of the programmes from 2007 measures were put in place following that demonstrate the qualities that the Celebrity Big Brother race incident and make Channel 4 so distinctive – and so the fakery and premium-rate telephony valuable a part of Britain’s cultural and controversies that affected the wider democratic life. 06 07 SOWING THE SEEDS OF CHANGE Programmes that make things happen In a crowded world of multimedia choice, individual programmes on important subjects …ASTOUNDING can struggle to get the attention they deserve. To put little-aired public issues centre-stage, …UPLIFTING Channel 4 has over the years mounted high-profi le peak-time ‘seasons’ that aim to …ACUTELY MOVING inform, entertain and effect change. In 2000 for example, Adoption on Trial showed how thousands of children in care were waiting to …INSPIRING be found permanent families because of From press reviews of Last Chance Kids failures in the adoption system. At a low point for UK adoption rates, this three-week season boosted public awareness of the many The results were hard-won but inspirational: children waiting for families and hastened the school doubled the number of children the introduction of a much-needed national meeting required reading standards, turning register of available adopters.