Staying with the telly, and a House Of Lords select committee that has been reviewing proposals for changes in the BBC's Royal Charter has said the Corporation will remain vulnerable to political pressure despite the government's planned changes, adding that commercial media regulator OfCom should be given a role monitoring the Beeb's services and output.
Committee chairman Lord Fowler described the government's plans to scrap the BBC's board of governors and replace it with a BBC Trust and executive board as "ill-conceived", adding: "The BBC cannot be truly independent of government if government alone has the power to decide its charter. The Green Paper - A Strong BBC, Independent of Government - fails to live up to its title. Crucial decisions affecting the BBC are taken by the government alone. [The proposed] model fails to separate governance and regulation of the BBC, allowing the corporation to remain judge and jury in its own case. Ofcom should provide independent regulation of the BBC's activities".
A spokesman for the government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: "We thank the Lords Select Committee for their contribution. We will consider it in detail before we ignore it". Well, something like that anyway.