[Rex]

I was about to ask - if the Box channels lose money, why have they been held on to for so long - but thinking about it, it's probably a case of them just recently (perhaps not yet but imminently) dipping below the line of profitability.

Interested - what makes Film4 more worthy from your perspective? Of all their channels, Film4 is perhaps the one which any so-minded channel operator could potentially do.

I appreciate that Film4 Productions is a different beast but there's no reason Channel 4 need a 7 day full-time FTA film station to support that; Film4 Productions account for an absolutely tiny amount of the channel's output.

It's one of the stronger-performing Channel 4 offshoots and has decent brand recognition to go alongside it, though you raise a strong point regarding its long term viability.

If they're serious about growing their on-demand service with twice the number of current paid subscribers and a large film library, they might not even need a linear film service after all.