Channel 4 Dedicates £4m to Digital Media Commissioning of Regional Startups
Broadcaster Channel 4 is allocating £4m or 35% of its total digital media commissioning budget to fund independent startups outside of London. In addition to its existing £2m Converged Formats Investment Fund, it is also launching the Alpha Fund, a £2m investment pot for the purpose of "stimulating next-generation creativity".
By setting up the two funds, Channel 4 will aim to "match or exceed" its regional targets on digital interactive platforms.
In a speech at today at the Nations & Regions Media Conference in Salford, David Abraham, Channel 4 CEO, said, "In the next two years we'll endeavour to ensure that at least 35% of our annual spend in digital media commissioning will be from emergent companies outside London. This equates to over £4m of new spend... It's a self-imposed target but one we believe to be in the spirit of our role as a catalyst for creativity, and is further evidence of Channel 4 Online's ongoing integration into a single cross-platform content division."
He added, "The Convergent Formats fund will invest in ideas, apps and creative concepts for the next generation of web-connected TV, such as YouView. It'll pioneer ideas for a new generation of broadcast TV, with the objective to become the partner of choice for the most imaginative digital media companies in the UK."