Channel 4 'may be forced to choose between ratings and public duty'

The new chief executive of Channel 4 warned last night that the channel might have to choose between financial survival and honouring its remit for experiment and minority programming.

Mark Thompson, giving his first public speech as head of the channel, also tried to redefine public service broadcasting, saying he wanted to move from the BBC definition which stressed education. Channel 4's definition should be "an improvised rhythm of experimentation and alternative ideas against the steady drum-beat of information, education and entertainment," Mr Thompson said.

Delivering the MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh television festival, he will have alarmed those wanting Channel 4 to honour its original remit for minority programming and radical content. Mr Thompson said, opaquely, that his definition of public service broadcasting was "a cultural catalyst that doesn't just accelerate and strengthen originality within television but which challenges and inspires anyone who comes into contact with it".

On the choice between public service broadcasting and minority programming, he said the draft communications Bill allowed financial consolidation for ITV and Channel 5, but had no specific measures to underpin Channel 4's position.

His vision for Channel 4 included going back to the station's "strong seam of comedy", and he added: "We are going to reinvent entertainment. In the arts we want to make more dangerous commissions like this Sunday's opera about Princess Diana, When She Died."

Mr Thompson dismissed much of British TV as largely "dull, mechanical and samey" pledging to return to the channel's risk-taking roots. He said UK shows were inferior to the US "bold and original" productions such as The Sopranos, Sex And The City and Six Feet Under. The station he took over in March needed to be "the creative space in the centre of British TV where edgy programmes can again flourish".

The channel ran up its first loss for a decade this year and is cutting costs. It aims to trim by a third, about £30m.