BBC and Channel 4 reportedly considering streaming platform merger

It has been revealed in the last few days that the BBC and Channel 4 have reportedly held talks to combine the two broadcaster’s streaming services.

This comes following the news of Sky’s takeover of ITV and its promise to create a bold new player in the UK’s media industry.

The BBC and Channel 4 are the UK’s two publicly owned broadcasters; the BBC is funded by the licence fee while Channel 4 is funded by advertising revenues. They are both government owned but are editorially independent.

Public media is facing an existential crisis as privately owned streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ continue to gain popularity, as well as YouTube and other social media platforms.

Recent changes to legislation allowed Channel 4 to create and sell its own IP for the first time, and this could have a big part in any deal between it and the BBC. Channel 4 content on BBC iPlayer (or whatever the new service would be) would include advertising, in the same way the S4C stream now has advertising.

This isn’t the first time Channel 4 has been talking merger deals other broadcasters. In 2004, Channel 4 backed out of a merger deal with Channel 5 (then known as Five). The deal was brought about partly in response to Carlton and Granada’s merger to form ITV Plc earlier that year. There were also rumours of a 4-5 merger in 2009.