WOW. It’s just been confirmed that the government will SCRAP the privatisation of Channel 4! You couldn’t ask for a better start to a year of campaigning! Against a backdrop of crisis across our public services, We Own It supporters have helped to win a massive victory for public ownership.

Since the Government announced a review into Channel 4’s ownership in 2021 (or three Culture Secretaries ago…) you've made this victory happen:

• Hundreds of you responded to their consultation helping to show that 96% of people want Channel 4 to stay in public hands.
• 38,000 of you signed our petition to stop the sell-off, heaping the pressure on Westminster.
• In January 2022, you protested outside the Culture Secretary’s office and in November you got Conservative MPs to help hand C4 a giant 40th birthday card calling for the plans to be scrapped.
• We also ran an open letter attracting signatures from over 20 political, cultural and trade union leaders.
• Your donations and support launched the Channel 4 Ain’t Broke campaign covered in over 170 papers with over 45 production companies and public figures like Armando Iannucci and an Archbishop.
• And together, you sent 15,000 emails to MPs demanding Channel 4 stays in public hands.

When the NHS is on its knees and rail companies are cancelling services like never before, it can be hard to find things to feel hopeful about. Stopping Channel 4 privatisation isn’t just a win to celebrate right now. It’s helping us protect the NHS and bring rail back in-house too. That’s because every time a sell off is stopped, it discredits the failed ideology that “markets are everything.” But if public ownership is best for Channel 4, maybe it’s time to make rail, mail, water and the NHS fully public again too.

This win will send ripples through Westminster. THANK YOU to everyone who stopped this privatisation! Let’s build on the momentum to make 2023 a year of victories for public ownership.

Our lead campaigner Matthew Topham explains to Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV why it matters who owns Channel 4: