Frankie Boyle To Possibly Replace Fern Britton

[number 6]

I gave up on channel 4 years ago,they are tv for dumbed down thicko Britain.

[Phil Phee]

Those "edgy" media / commissioning types eh!?

[muswell]

Ch4 was set up as a public service TV station and didn't have to pander to viewers taste as it was paid for by the commercial channels . It developed an audience based on its quality and "edgy" programming but it's advertising revenue didn't really justify its existence. The quality of it's output was supported by revenue from the rest of the commercial network.
When that arrangement ended and it had to become self supporting it's budgets dropped and the channel headed down market in search of an audience which it has never found. Which is why they have gone begging, unsuccessfully, for a slice of the BBC's license fee.
Since it was launched there is much more competition from cable, satellite and free to view channels. As it stands all those other channels are either cheaper to run or better funded from advertising revenue or both. My guess is that if it survives at all Ch4 will dumb down even further and is probably even now in search of something cheaper and stupider than Big Brother.

[max_tranmere]

My god, what an interesting thread. lol.