CHANNEL 4 OUTLINE PROGRAMME PRIORITIES

CHANNEL 4 have outlined their programme priorities for 2001/2002, pledging to “engage a younger generation in the values of public service broadcasting” and be the “benchmark’ for quality and innovation in British television”.
Tim Gardam, Channel 4's Director of Programmes, said: "This is a better way to explain to our viewers the values and ambitions that underpin our programmes. Too often regulation has become an arid calculation of the number of different programme categories. Self-regulation ought to set out the standards by which we are judged. In a world awash with television, we will be able to give a clear sense of how Channel 4 can offer imagination and intelligence through our commitment to the programme makers independence of mind."
Channel 4's Statement of Promises is characterised by a commitment to landmark programming and increasingly Channel 4 will concentrate on a number of ambitious high cost projects.
Education is at the core of Channel 4's purpose and schedule. Increasingly 4Learning is developing a multi platform approach and will continue to build upon the success of sites such as ‘Homework High’.
Channel 4 are committed to their in depth news bulletin seven days a week in peak time and in the next two years will concentrate on improving business coverage, reporting on events and stories under represented on other channels and strengthening the news bureaux in Leeds and Glasgow. They will also create a ‘Key City’ strategy, initially concentrating upon: Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and the Bristol-Cardiff corridor. (CD)