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+--- Thread: Channel 4 to be privatised (/showthread.php?tid=1064)
Channel 4 to be privatised - Inspector Sands - 08-04-2022
Yes I did the same with a uni friend of mine who lived. In Cumbria, I was sure he'd missed a digit.
My parents still give out the last 4 digits of their phone number when answering it, being in London it's the local bit that was once after the 3 letter exchange name
Channel 4 to be privatised - Markymark - 08-04-2022
Inspector Sands post_id=77953 time= user_id=1003 Wrote:Yes I did the same with a uni friend of mine who lived. In Cumbria, I was sure he'd missed a digit.
My parents still give out the last 4 digits of their phone number when answering it, being in London it's the local bit that was once after the 3 letter exchange name
My parents phone number started life in 1968 with just three digits, and has grown over the years to now have 11.
Channel 4 to be privatised - i.h - 08-04-2022
bbctvtechop post_id=77949 time=1649427907 user_id=1746 Wrote:JAS84 post_id=77900 time= user_id=881 Wrote:At least 10 years ago, there were some rural telephone numbers which were 5 digits long (after the area code). I was working at BBC Three Counties Radio as a phone answerer and the first time I worked on a regional show which went to Norfolk and other places, a listener called and gave a 10 digit number for me to call them back on. I argued for about 5 minutes that they were missing a digit, but they were very insistent. When I eventually called them back to be in the show, sceptical in the extreme that it would work, to my eternal surprise it went straight through!nwtv2003 post_id=77870 time= user_id=1028 Wrote:Indeed, that did happen as was promoted in the below clip:Why does that For Sale sign have a four digit telephone number? I thought all telephone numbers were five or six digits, and at the time would've been 10 including the area code (nowadays it's 11, but this would be before they added the 1 after the 0 in the 90s) - a four digit phone number would mean a six digit area code, which isn't a thing even now.
https://youtu.be/CZe11g0MDJw
No idea if it's still the case.
St. Austell and Bodmin both have 5 digit area codes and 5 and 6 digit numbers. St. Austell in particular uses both 5 and 6 digits for numbers in town itself, while the outlying villages are all 6 digits. Anywhere that had it 10 years ago probably still does now, there haven't been any big changes since the early 2000s
(Bodmin is also the place that "020 8" comes from before London took it, becoming 01208 when the 1 was added to area codes)
Nothing about the UK numbering plan is particularly consistent, just bodge after bodge really, but that's a discussion probably left for another forum
Channel 4 to be privatised - Neil Jones - 08-04-2022
Brekkie post_id=77906 time= user_id=976 Wrote:Not really - a four digit number in the days when people answered their phone with their phone number (how odd when you think about it) was pretty much the norm. The first two digits of that six digit number you talk about is the local area code.
What's odd about it? That's how it used to be. In the days before caller ID and pretty LCD displays on cordless telephones.
Pretty sure it was Kids React or some other YouTube series where they waved a retro dial phone at a bunch of single digit aged children and they all stared at it like it had just dropped out of somebody's backside, didn't have a clue what it was, how to work it or even that such a thing had even been a thing.
Channel 4 to be privatised - James2001 - 08-04-2022
bbctvtechop post_id=77949 time= user_id=1746 Wrote:At least 10 years ago, there were some rural telephone numbers which were 5 digits long (after the area code). I was working at BBC Three Counties Radio as a phone answerer and the first time I worked on a regional show which went to Norfolk and other places, a listener called and gave a 10 digit number for me to call them back on. I argued for about 5 minutes that they were missing a digit, but they were very insistent. When I eventually called them back to be in the show, sceptical in the extreme that it would work, to my eternal surprise it went straight through!
No idea if it's still the case.
There used to be some 5 digit numbers here too until 1997, until they put a 6 on the front of them (my grandparents' number was one of them). For years there were signs and vans in the area where they'd awkwardly crammed a 6 on the start of the phone number!
Channel 4 to be privatised - madmusician - 09-04-2022
i.h post_id=77965 time= user_id=1247 Wrote:Nothing about the UK numbering plan is particularly consistent, just bodge after bodge really, but that's a discussion probably left for another forum
Obligatory Tom Scott video link here:
Channel 4 to be privatised - Si-Co - 09-04-2022
![[Image: FEADDAEA-5BC3-4D95-8DD2-FFD8AFC33D29.jpeg]](https://up.metropol247.co.uk/Si-Co/FEADDAEA-5BC3-4D95-8DD2-FFD8AFC33D29.jpeg)
Not that I’m complaining. ?
Channel 4 to be privatised - Brekkie - 11-04-2022
Chief Exec Alex Mahon has written a good piece for The Times.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/alex-mahon-channel-4-is-thriving-why-sell-off-a-national-treasure-fx6rqpnlz?fbclid=IwAR2nA9KVWxMBl4tL3nKteoEs_uZPygxm62X_IPEyGsv7ab2YxS1sSrvHROM
(no paywall on this article)
Channel 4 to be privatised - Richard - 11-04-2022
Inspector Sands post_id=77953 time= user_id=1003 Wrote:Yes I did the same with a uni friend of mine who lived. In Cumbria, I was sure he'd missed a digit.
My parents still give out the last 4 digits of their phone number when answering it, being in London it's the local bit that was once after the 3 letter exchange name
Yes, they still have 4 digit phone numbers in Brampton, near Carlisle. 6 digit code, though.
Channel 4 to be privatised - Humphrey Hacker - 13-04-2022
I feel an ITV/Channel 4 “superstation” as the Daily Mirror called it would be a disaster for the latter. C4’s individuality would be razed to the ground and the station would become an imitation of ITV 2.
Channel 4 needs to maintain its remit of alternative programming and to my mind the only way to do that would be if an American company such as Discovery or CBS would take it over.
Channel 4 to be privatised - JAS84 - 13-04-2022
CBS's owner Paramount already owns Channel 5.
Channel 4 to be privatised - Jexedback - 13-04-2022
I’d like to see BBC Studios own it.
They could protect most of its public service obligations and could help support wider BBC.
Channel 4 to be privatised - Stanley Matravers - 13-04-2022
Prior to when all this stuff about Channel 4 being threatened with privatisation first hit the headlines a wee while back, I had no idea that it was anything other than "private" already!
With its obvious difference of being Licence Fee-funded, I thought that the BBC was the only major UK broadcaster that was anything other than "private".
I have zero understanding of business/corporations etc, and what exactly is meant by various expressions such as "public limited company" and the like.
I thought that all broadcasters who show commercial breaks (including Channel 4) were the same. Clearly not.
Please can anyone explain in extremely simple terms the difference between how Channel 4 is (currently) structured compared to e.g. ITV plc or whatever?
Cheers in anticipation.
Channel 4 to be privatised - WillPS - 13-04-2022
Stanley Matravers post_id=78611 time= user_id=1435 Wrote:Prior to when all this stuff about Channel 4 being threatened with privatisation first hit the headlines a wee while back, I had no idea that it was anything other than "private" already!Channel 4 is a publicly owned company which has no shareholders and cannot return a profit or dividends of any sort - as such every penny they earn is reinvested back in to their services.
With its obvious difference of being Licence Fee-funded, I thought that the BBC was the only major UK broadcaster that was anything other than "private".
I have zero understanding of business/corporations etc, and what exactly is meant by various expressions such as "public limited company" and the like.
I thought that all broadcasters who show commercial breaks (including Channel 4) were the same. Clearly not.
Please can anyone explain in extremely simple terms the difference between how Channel 4 is (currently) structured compared to e.g. ITV plc or whatever?
Cheers in anticipation.
ITV is a public limited company which anybody can buy or sell shares in on the London Stock Exchange. As such their primary function as a business is to return value through dividends and appreciation in value of shares. ITV have to ensure their profits are split such that their business continues to grow (or at least be viable) while returning enough value to shareholders one way or another that they are seen as a worthy investment.
Channel 4 to be privatised - Roger Darthwell - 13-04-2022
Jexedback post_id=78606 time= user_id=1018 Wrote:I’d like to see BBC Studios own it.This would be an awesome idea, but since BBC Studios already owns UKTV, that could become an issue with the regulators
They could protect most of its public service obligations and could help support wider BBC.