British TV industry at risk from US tech and media giants, says Channel 4 chief
Story Highlights
The UK’s TheGuardina.com reports that the chief executive of Channel 4 has warned that large parts of the British television industry are being bought up almost wholesale by US media companies, while the medium faces a longer term existential threat from the increasing involvement of technology giants including Apple and Google.
David Abraham said public service broadcasters (PSBs) including Channel 4 and the BBC were the only bulwark against a broadcasting industry dominated by US media moguls such as Rupert Murdoch and Virgin Media owner John Malone and even larger technology firms.
“TV is clearly now a combat vehicle for tech and mobile companies and platforms to compete with each other rather than a sovereign industry in its own right,” said Abraham, delivering the prestigious James MacTaggart memorial lecture at the Guardian Edinburgh international television festival on Thursday evening.
Read more at http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/aug/21/british-tv-industry-risk-us-tech-media-channel-4-david-abraham