Channel 4 To Keep Chairman Amid Charter Review

Channel 4 is in talks with the media regulator and Government ministers about extending the tenure of its chairman amid heightened speculation about the state-owned broadcaster's future.

Sky News can reveal that Ofcom, the industry watchdog, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) are in discussions about retaining Lord Burns - a prominent figure in Whitehall - beyond the expiry of his second term next January.

The talks come amid suggestions that the Government is looking again at proposals to privatise Channel 4 more than three decades after it was established as a not-for-profit state-owned public service broadcaster.

Reports have suggested that a sale of the channel, whose best-known shows include Made in Chelsea and Hollyoaks, could raise in the region of £1bn and contribute to the largest privatisation programme in British history.

Sources close to Ofcom indicated on Monday that it was keen for Lord Burns to remain as Channel 4's chairman for another 12 months because of the implications of the BBC Charter Review process.

The review of the BBC's future funding is the subject of heated debate, with questions arising about the future of the BBC Trust amid accusations that it had failed to lobby sufficiently robustly against a deal that will oblige the Corporation to fund TV licences for over-75s.

Charter Review will occupy a significant chunk of the DCMS's attention during the course of 2016, and Ofcom is said to want to ensure some degree of continuity as Channel 4 digests its implications.

The decision to extend Lord Burns' tenure for an unprecedented seventh year remains subject, however, to formal clearance from the DCMS, with one insider suggesting that doing so had caused "some debate".

The move to extend his tenure could nevertheless be confirmed in the coming days, they added.

Another observer said that the fact that Channel 4 had not yet publicly advertised the chairman's role little more than four months before Lord Burns' term ran out provided tacit confirmation that he was likely to remain in place.

Lord Burns, a former Treasury mandarin, has impeccable connections in Whitehall.

He is a member of the Office for Budget Responsibility's oversight board, and is assisting with a review of freedom of information laws.

Appointed in January 2010 to serve a three-year term, Lord Burns was given a further three-year extension less than two years later.

Under his stewardship, and that of David Abraham, Channel 4's chief executive, the broadcaster's financial performance has stabilised, with a return to financial surplus last year as revenues rose by £30m to £938m.

During the last parliament, plans to sell Channel 4 were raised by Conservative ministers but were abandoned after Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat business secretary, blocked the move.

Lord Burns was recently reported to have been drawing up proposals that would involve a sale or flotation of Channel 4, but people close to him said that was inaccurate, and suggested that he was keener to examine how the organisation could remain free from private sector ownership.

Speaking recently, John Whittingdale, the Culture Secretary, said: "The ownership of Channel 4 is not currently under debate.

"Do I say there are no circumstances in which I would ever consider it? No, I don’t,” he said.

Ofcom and Channel 4 declined to comment on Monday.