Reportedly, Idris Elba could soon become the new owner of Channel 4 in the UK.
By The Sunday Times (Opens in a new tab)Elba is in talks with billionaire entrepreneur Mark Boyan, who is designing to lead the bid to buy a UK channel currently for sale.
Boyan is the owner of the Miroma Group, a television production and marketing company, and has a number of digital marketing and promotional brands on its roster. According to The Sunday Times report, the pair is preparing a £ 1 billion bid for Channel 4.
Channel 4, a self-funded public enterprise (in the sense that it is publicly owned by the British government but is commercially operated), will be officially launched in April of this year after the announcement by British Cultural Secretary Nadine Dorries. It is for sale in. The British government was considering selling the channel. Bank giant JP Morgan is processing the sale, and the government is reportedly seeking to raise up to £ 2 billion ($ 2.44 billion) in the process.
If the report is believable, Elba and Boyan will face a great deal of competition. Warner Bros Discovery, ITV, Paramount, Universal’s parent company, Comcast, Vivendi, French media giant Netflix, and Amazon are all running, and Dorries at this point supports new bids from Paramount from the launch of Paramount. doing. Plus UK.
If Dolly gives way, the sale process will officially begin next month and a new bill will be submitted to Congress. However, there is considerable opposition to this move, and many Conservative lawmakers are expected to vote against the sale.
Analysis: Why did the UK Government decide to sell Channel 4?
It is no exaggeration to say that the decisions driven by the highly determined Dollies are ideological and not financial. Unlike the BBC, Channel 4 is not funded by the UK Government and does not burden public wallets.
In her statement about the process, Dolly’s talked about “releasing” Channel 4 from state control with the aim of competing with things like Netflix and Prime Video, but she also said. , Attractively Called the opposition to movement (Opens in a new tab) “… Laziness, abuse, and information-poor rhetoric from Leftieluvvie lynch mob.”
Channel 4 itself did not want to be sold, and at the time of Dolly’s announcement, He issued a statement calling the government’s actions “disappointment.” (Opens in a new tab)
With Netflix spending about $ 20 billion on content in a year, the $ 2 billion that the UK government wants to receive on Channel 4 is a decline in sea proverbs.
That’s why there are so many suitors. Buyers inherit all of Channel 4’s infrastructure and broadcaster back catalogs. If Netflix or Paramount snaps, you can drop shows like The Inbetweeners, Derry Girls, Great British Bake-Off directly onto their respective platforms. You’ll also get a Film4 back catalog that includes movies such as Trainspotting, 12 Years A Slave, and Slumdog Millionaire.
Even if the price reaches 2 billion, it’s a bargain. It would be interesting if Elba and Boyan could collect such money, and if they bought it, what would they do on Channel 4? If a colleague in Dolly’s Congress can’t stop her, you’ll know which bid was successful.
Watch the video here: Is Idris Elba trying to buy Channel 4?