Sony Pictures Television’s international production chief Wayne Garvie has argued that a merger between the British Broadcasting Corporation and Channel 4 could help ease some of the difficulties confronting the U.K.’s public service broadcasters.
Garvie raised the idea while speaking at the RTS London Convention, proposing a significant combination involving two of the country’s four main public service broadcasting players.
His comments focused particularly on Channel 4, the publicly owned and commercially funded network that is currently struggling. Garvie suggested that bringing Channel 4 together with the British Broadcasting Corporation could provide at least a partial answer to the pressures facing the sector.
The proposal would represent a dramatic change for both broadcasters. However, Garvie presented the merger as an argument rather than a confirmed plan, and no formal agreement or next steps were established.