Media Panel Divided About The Future Shape Of British TV

Increased fragmentation, one ITV, and a privatised Channel 4 will be part of the future shape of British television, according to the panel at MediaTel’s Media Question Time event.

The members of the panel all believed that the future role of the BBC will take on increasing importance but they disagreed over what this role should be. Mandy Pooler, chief executive of MindShare, and Richard Eyre, still have hope for the corporation but fellow panel member Hugo Drayton is “inflamed” by its current activities.

Conor Dignam, editor of Marketing, predicts that its role will impact on the rest of broadcasting. “Ultimately the case for the BBC’s licence fee funding is being eroded by both its audience and its commercial activities and this needs to be resolved. That will be the catalyst for changes in the market,” he said. He reiterated the need for its activities to be looked at and its position as a public service broadcaster assessed.

All, however, were in agreement that a single ITV is inevitable with Richard Eyre challenging the questioner, Bob Wootton, who, as director of media and advertising affairs at ISBA, has an interest in the outcome of the network. He replied by stating that the 25% limit on advertising revenue for each ITV company, which currently exists, will remain unless regulations change.

Wootton agreed with Richard Eyre’s future vision of Channel 4 however. The former chief executive of the ITV network said that its sell-off was inevitable.