A Lords parliamentary committee has said the BBC and ITV should work together to set up a broadcasting hub in Manchester. As you'll remember, the Beeb are planning on building a big new facility in Manchester in a bid to stop its operations from being so London-centric. However, the Corporation says it needs an increase in the licence fee to fund the building of such a facility.
But Lord Fowler, who is chairing that Lords committee on the future of the BBC, says he doesn't think a licence increase is justified for that enterprise - rather the Beeb should make economies by working with ITV. He writes: "The BBC and its commercial competitors should not be obsessed with competing with each other and instead should work together to maximise public value. The new Manchester hub would facilitate this. We recommend that the BBC, ITV and independent production companies should work together to create shared centres of regional excellence."
ITV boss Charles Allen says that he and the Beeb have been discussing such a joint venture, but added that nothing has been agreed as yet.