Media: Talk of the Trade: Navel-gazing at Channel 4

Executives at Channel 4 seem surprisingly cheerful, despite the snotty critical reaction to their 'Valentine's Love Weekend'. The channel, now selling its own advertising, is comfortably ahead of its targets and expects to make a surplus for the year. The minority channel won its highest audience share, 12 per cent, during the last week of January. Commissioning editors are being called away to a three-day conference next month to 'redefine their objectives', their first such talkathon since 1991. The question now is whether programme budgets will be given a mid-year cash boost.