Channel 4 Invests in Youth

The Stage reports that Channel 4 will invest £10 million into creating new programmes for children aged between 10 and 15 years old.

Channel 4 said the strategy underlines its commitment to "maintaining its public status and preserving its unrivalled ability to connect new talent, voices and ideas to mainstream audiences".

The overall strategy will be used to help the broadcaster negotiate for funding to replace the gifted analogue spectrum it currently receives, which it says will become valueless when digital switchover is complete by 2012.

As part of Next on 4, Channel 4 said it will increase the number of dedicated slots it has for new talent across all of its platforms and will launch a New Talent Month later this year, which Channel 4 director of television and content Kevin Lygo said would see "someone getting their first break on television every day". He said this might include "a script by a new writer or a first performance by a new comedian".

The broadcaster is also planning to invest £10 million a year into supporting a range of schemes through 4Talent.

Lygo added there would be an increase in the talent Channel 4 works with off screen too and said: "We want to ensure we're working with the best talent from across the UK by increasing spend in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by 50% in the next five years."

The company also unveiled plans for a new strategy called Four Innovation for the Public fund, which will involve a £50m fund that will create public service content for new platforms, enabling "UK audiences to access high-quality content at the time and on the platform of their choosing".

Now would be a good time for writers to consider new projects for Channel 4.