LONDON — Channel 4 is freezing its program budget as it prepares to report a profit slide apparently caused by ad coin moving online.
Preliminary figures leaked to the press suggest the broadcaster's profit has fallen by more than two thirds in the past year — from £48.5 million ($92 million) to $38 million.
The state-owned broadcaster, campaigning for a government subsidy it claims is necessary in the runup to U.K. digital switchover in 2012, forecasts that its share of ad coin fell by up to 7% in 2006, to about $1.26 billion from $1.34 billion.
The slump came despite an increase in ratings as C4 was the only U.K. terrestrial web to improve its audience figures last year.
Its share of viewing increased from 9.7% to 9.8%.
However, C4's digital spinoff channels, including E4 and More4, helped soften the blow, as their combined revenue surged ahead by 80%.
Overall C4's revenue was flat.
Channel 4 is an important customer for Hollywood fare and warned last year that record prices shelled out last year for "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" could prevent it from buying U.S. shows in future.
The company is convinced a structural changing is occurring in the British advertising market and expects a further dip in ad sales as more money is shifted online.
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