UK commercial broadcaster Channel 4 is preparing to tighten its belt. At the Edinburgh TV Festival last month Channel 4 had already warned producers to expect budget cutbacks.
Reports suggest that the main areas to suffer will be sport, long-running factual series and youth strand T4. However the plan is to protect iconic factual strands such as Cutting Edge and Dispatches. Also safe are late afternoon strong performer shows like Deal or No Deal.
In order to protect its flagship shows and keep innovating, C4 says it expects to shave off-peak budgets and run more repeats. However its exact plans will not be known until November, when budgets for 2009 are revealed.
