A couple of questions about Channel 4

Two quick questions which I hope somebody is able to answer...

1) Going back to the early-mid 80s, I know Channel 4 used to use holding slides in light of a lack of adverts to show. As far as I know, this was because ITV funded Channel 4 if it could use it's adverts... or something. I don't know if I have got that right. But surely ITV doesn't gain anything from that as the money they'd earn from adverts would go to Channel 4 anyway. I'd appreciate it if somebody tidied this information-mess for me.

2) As we all remember, Channel 4 Schools used countdowns. I know other networks did and this was, if I recall correctly from a pres website, to give time for classes in schools to enter whatever TV room they had and settle down before the next programme. Now that's all well and good back in the day, but when BBC dropped countdowns in the 90s and used regular idents, Channel 4 still used them. I remember them being played to us on video in school and never watched any schools programmes being transmitted live. Why did Channel 4 still use schools countdowns so long after the BBC dropped such a practice?

Many thanks

As far as I know, the original funding formula involved ITV regions paying an annual levy to the Exchequer in order to finance Channel 4. The amount was determined by the regulator (the IBA at the time) based on Channel 4’s projected operating costs but it also took into account the size of each ITV franchise (with the Big 5 contributing more than the likes of Border or Channel TV). In return, ITV companies were given responsibility for selling advertising space on Channel 4 within their own region, and were entitled to retain the revenue from this.

Can't help you with the schools countdown though ...

I thought C4 had some sort of dispute with Equity initially?

I remember TVAM having a similar dispute initially, as their first ad was a Walls Sausages one with the MD or someone senior of said company, instead of actor!

Not aware of any dispute with Equity, but the holding slides were generally used for when an ITV region had been unable to sell the required amount of ad space to fill a commercial break - cutting to the slide in the absence of paid-for advertising. They appeared quite frequently in the Yorkshire region ... at least in the early days of C4.