Channel 4 to stand by RDF Media

by Charlie McCathie, Brand Republic 20-Jul-07, 12:00

LONDON - Channel 4 has decided to support RDF Media, after it was dropped by two national broadcasters in the wake of the misleading trailer scandal, when the production firm upset the Queen with deceptive editing.

It will come as a small respite for the board of directors at RDF Media, who have woken up today to find that shares in the company have nosedived by 18%.

The financial plummet follows the BBC and ITV's independent decisions to halt all business with the production company until the end of the investigation into the incident, which is scheduled for September.

A Channel 4 spokesman said: "Channel 4 treats the issue of viewer trust with the utmost seriousness. At our request, RDF Media has written to us outlining the new practices they plan to put in place in response to the concerns raised about 'A Year with the Queen'.

"We will meet them shortly and will seek further reassurance about programmes they currently have in production for Channel 4. In the mean time, RDF Media is a long standing and valued supplier of Channel 4 and we see no reason currently to suspend our relationship.

"We are in the process of contacting all our suppliers about the issues raised by the current debate about standards within television and will be monitoring all our output very carefully. We will take further action as appropriate."

The broadcaster is one of RDF's biggest customers producing shows such as 'Location, Location, Location', 'Shipwrecked' and 'Celebrity Wife Swap'.