4 at the crossroads

James Robinson takes a hard look at Channel 4 in this morning's Observer.

There is no doubt that the Channel stands at a crossroads.As Robinon points out

C4 suffered a year-on-year adult audience decline of 3.8 per cent in 2008 - down 7.0 per cent for ABC1 adults and down 7.4 per cent for 16-to-34s. The channel has also seen its own audience's age profile change - the 16-to-34 group has dropped to 26.9 per cent of viewers, a 4.0 per cent decrease year on year.
Channel 4 has also seen a drop in its daily average reach, to 15.4 million, a decrease of 5.8 per cent. Its most high-profile and commercially lucrative programme, Big Brother, this summer suffered its worst ever figures, averaging three million viewers and recording a 14.9 per cent audience share, down 0.6 million and 2.3 per cent on last year's show

So to the solution or solutions and

Channel 4 is under no illusions about the scale of its decline, appealing to the government for an annual £150m subsidy to ensure its survival

So is privatisation the answer?

A sale would mark the end of an era for one of Britain's most controversial organisations; if the government auctioned it off, it would almost certainly be snapped up by a rival, and its remit to make provocative programming - and keep the BBC on its toes - could be lost.

But if not what is the answer.Whichever way it goes extra cash is going to be needed and with advertising unlikely to fill the gap and the top slicing argument off the agenda,the only alternative is government money