The commercial radio industry are likely to use new OfCom research to put further pressure on the government to ensure the BBC don't tread on their territory.
The new research reveals that the BBC's radio stations received an estimated £17 million worth of advertising on the BBC's TV networks, more than double the amount of advertising staged by the entire commercial radio sector.
The survey, which measured and then costed the BBC TV airtime dedicated to promoting the Beeb's radio output between Apr and Jul this year, revealed that Radio 5 Live alone received in excess of £9.3 million of free advertising. While researchers admitted that figure may have been so high because Wimbledon and Euro 2004 fell into the test period, they said there was plenty of generic promotion of the BBC's news and sport station too.
The BBC are yet to comment on the survey.