Alan Davies

Channel 4 stars Matt Lucas and Kirstie Allsopp are among the figures who have raised concerns about the government's plan to privatise the broadcaster.

on Monday That " government ownership is holding Channel 4 back".

She Said selling it to a private owner would give it " the tools and freedom to flourish and thrive as a public service broadcaster long into the future".

But Allsopp described her argument as " a load of utter twaddle".

: " C4 was Set Up to foster The British film & TV industry and it has done That job admirably. "

Great British Bake Off co-host Lucas tweeted a link to a petition That claims privatisation would " seriously undermine programming aimed at all the communities, across generations, That Make Up this country".

However, Channel 4 News' new main anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy pointed out That " editorial independence and funding of news can be ring-fenced" if the government wishes.

Channel 4 is currently publicly-owned but funded by adverts. It commissions all its programmes from independent Production Companies rather than making them itself. Privatisation would see it sold to a private company.

Ms Dorries said " government ownership is holding Channel 4 back from competing against streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon".

She Said the proceeds would be Put " into independent production and creative skills in priority parts of the country".

In response, Channel 4 said the decision to move forward with the sell-off was " disappointing" and ignored " significant public interest concerns".

The channel's former head of news and Current Affairs , Dorothy Byrne, told BBC Radio 4 : " The Argument doesn't stack up because Channel 4 is not there to compete with Netflix and Amazon.

" It is there to provide a public service to The People of Britain with really important programmes like Channel 4 News or Unreported World , which Netflix or Amazon would never make. "

She told the Today programme That " if you wanted to support independent Production Companies , you would invent Channel 4 , which is exactly what Margaret Thatcher did".

One of Ms Dorries' predecessors as culture secretary, fellow Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt , said he was not in favour of the privatisation.

" As it stands, Channel Four provides competition to The Bbc on what's called public service Broadcasting - the kinds of programmes That are not commercially viable - and I think it'd be a shame to lose That , " he told Sky News .

Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell told the Today programme That privatisation " doesn't make sense" and will do " a great deal of damage to jobs and opportunities in the creative industries".

Some programme and film-makers flagged up times when Channel 4 had supported them.

But Conservative MP Damian Collins , former chair of The House of Commons digital, culture, media and sport select committee, said he supported privatisation because the channel's spending on programme-making had declined in recent years.

" If we do nothing in a landscape where traditional broadcasters have got declining incomes, declining amounts of money they can spend making new programmes, will Channel 4 be sustainable? For me, That 's The Test .

" Actually, private ownership and the injection of money That could come from That could be good for making Channel 4 sustainable long term And Then , as a consequence, excellent news for the UK production sector. "

Former Sun editor and talkSPORT founder Kelvin McKenzie welcomed The Plan .

That the sale of Channel 4 was " not before time".

Plans for the sale, on which there has been a public consultation, will be included in May's Queen's Speech .

Source of news: bbc.com