The broadcaster, which last year spent £423m on programming, has denied the cuts. It says it is not increasing its budget at the same historic rate of 6%-8% and, because of this, next year's programming budget will be £20m down on this year's.
Channel 4 is believed to have suffered less than other commercial networks in the current downturn. It is reported that its ad volumes have fallen by 4% over the year, compared with ITV's average of 15%.
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