Channel 4 ‘to be sold for £1bn’: Taxpayer-owned broadcaster could be sold as government looks for new ways to raise money

‘Channel 4 could be sold off for £1billion as the Government looks for new ways to raise money, it emerged last night.

The broadcaster, which launched in 1982 and is still owned by the taxpayer, has escaped repeated calls for privatisation in the past.

But a source said that proposals to sell it are back on the agenda now that the Coalition has been replaced by a Tory government.

Chancellor George Osborne has already demonstrated his appetite for selling off public assets in order to reduce the deficit.’