Channel 4 will have an “increased focus” on commissioning in the English regions next year as the broadcaster looks to ensure production companies outside London are better positioned to win “higher tariff commissions”.
As part of Channel 4’s nations and regions strategy, Sinead Rocks said the broadcaster had been “very focused on the nations” this year, increasing spend in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. But she confirmed that in 2026, the dial will move towards England’s regions.
“It’s always just about pushing further,” Sinead Rocks, Managing Director – Nations & Regions at Channel 4, told Stephen Chapman on the latest episode of the This Is MediaCity podcast.
After moving its HQ to Leeds around six years ago, Channel 4 made a voluntary commitment to spend 50% of its main channel content budget on productions outside London by 2023. Having exceeded that target early and “consistently” hitting it each year, the broadcaster is now turning its attention to the type of content making up that 50%.
“It’s very clear that we are working an awful lot more with production companies outside of London. We are working really hard to invest in the talent and the skills and the development side of things, always looking to see what barriers might be there for further growth.”
A key priority for 2026 will be supporting regional indies across England to win “higher tariff commissions.”
READ MORE: Northern shows help Channel 4 “smash” its streaming record
Rocks explained: “What do we need to do for indies outside of London to be winning higher tariff commissions? How do we get them to win commissions that are more likely to be returners? You don’t want to just hit your 50% through lower budget programmes or one-offs. It’s about if you want to grow your indie, you need that return business. You need that higher tariff output. So what can we do to help make that happen?”
Rocks also spoke about Channel 4’s Fast Forward strategy and the broadcaster’s ambition to become a digital-first public service streamer by 2030, and whether that would alter its relationship with indies.
“I don’t think it fundamentally changes the relationship our commissioning team has with Indies,” she said. “There’s probably a bit of a different content mix today than there would have been if you were to look at what Channel 4 was commissioning 10 years ago.”
In the wide-ranging conversation, where she also addressed the “freelancer crisis” and the importance of Channel 4’s skills and training programmes, Rocks also talked about Channel 4’s evolving business model following legislative changes enabling the broadcaster to own IP and produce content in-house.
“Indies will continue to be the lifeblood of Channel Four. We will still always commission a vast bulk of our content from Indies. The market’s changing. The world is changing, and as a public service broadcaster that is commercially funded, we have to look at revenue diversification, and IP is a part of that. When the legislation changed to allow us to explore this area, we decided to take a twin-track approach.”
The first step is an “evolution” of the Indie Growth Fund, with the launch of a new Creative Investment Fund, taking investment in indies to the “next level” through majority stakes.
This has already started with the acquisition of Glasgow-based production company Firecrest and could eventually lead to Channel 4 “potentially owning our own indies.” The second step involves Channel 4 “slowly” moving into in-house production.
READ MORE: Channel 4 bags Glasgow indie
“Anyone who has ever run an indie or worked in production will know that trying to find a hit that will make you money from IP is like panning for gold, and it won’t happen overnight. It really shouldn’t be seen as a threat to the independent production community, because our heart and our intent is very much now what it was in 1982, which is that we exist to work with independent companies the length and breadth of the UK.”
Reflecting on her own impressive career, which spans the BBC and Channel 4, she also described the broadcaster’s move to Leeds as the “biggest structural change” in its history, calling it a “compelling offer” from the region.
On how the media landscape has evolved, particularly as major public service broadcasters have moved up north, she said “massive progress” has been made.
“From a nations and regions point of view, it is unrecognisable from what it was 10 years ago,” she told Chapman. “But there will always be more to do, always. The vast majority of creative decision makers for the UK’s media are still based in London. Let’s just keep pushing that boulder up the hill to really make that a bit more of a mixed ecology.”
On the future of Channel 4, Rocks was full of optimism: “We’re going through a period of change in terms of leadership. We’ve just had a new chairman join, and a new CEO will be appointed in due course. It’s exciting whenever change is forced on you, because you’re going to get a shake-up, you’re going to get a different perspective, you’re undeniably going to get an injection of fresh energy and new ideas. So I think Channel 4 is in a great place.”
Watch the interview in full over on the This is MediaCity podcast, which is produced by 39 Pictures, on behalf of MediaCity.
