C4 Promises Programming From Outside London

A top broadcaster is to 'buck the trend' and make provision for returning series from Scotland, Wales and the English regions.
The broadcaster has promised to hold "a number" of slots for the UK nations within strands such as Dispatches, Cutting Edge, Comedy Lab, Comedy Showcase and a new religion strand.
In April, C4 will also advertise for a new Commissioning Editor post, to be based in its Glasgow office.
Announcing the details at the Television from the Nations and Regions conference in Salford in mid January, C4 Director of Television and Content, Kevin Lygo, repeated pledges to invest up to £1.5bn in content from 'outside the M25' over the next decade.
Channel 4 is introducing a £1m fund and said that it will ringfence slots within key strands for shows from the nations from next year.
This would see C4 maintaining the current £100m a year it spends with regional indies and also includes the £50m a year it has pledged to commit to its 4iP online PSB fund, which has commissioning hubs in Glasgow, Yorkshire and Birmingham.
Overall, C4 plans to invest up to £5bn in the next decade in UK content if it secures the funds it has calculated it will needed to continue to support its public service activities.
The move appears to counter the industry trend, which has seen a reduction in Ofcom's requirements for regional input to national broadcasting.
Back in September, the union, BECTU, slammed ITV plans to cut its regional news services from 17 flagship programmes to a nine region structure warning the move could cost hundreds of jobs.
However, Ofcom's final statement on the second phase of its PSB review, also to be published in January, will outline some of the options the regulator favours to fund not only C4's future, but also the wider £145m to £235m PSB 'black hole' forecast to open up by 2012.
(BMcC/JM)