Priya Dogra has used her first public address as Channel 4 ‘s new CEO to pour cold water on the idea that the UK network should merge with the BBC to compete with YouTube and Netflix.

In a fireside chat at the Creative Cities Convention in Liverpool, the former Warner Bros. Discovery and Sky executive said combining the BBC and Channel 4 would leave the UK’s creative community and audience short-changed.

The mooted merger has been a source of industry speculation for years. The British government has fanned the flames of this conversation, tasking the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority and regulator Ofcom to review how consolidation could change the industry.

Dogra’s position was clear. “I was in mergers and acquisitions for a long time. And the thing you learn is that there are no mergers. There are only acquisitions.…