Five + 4 = Nein

So writes Jamie Doward in today’s Observer, concerning the possible merger of publicly-owned C4 with commercially-oriented Five. There’s an interesting quote about Ofcom’s role in evaluating any proposed merger:

‘This is new territory,’ said Edward Pitt, competition partner at Addleshaw Goddard. ‘Ofcom [the communications watchdog] has to look at a range of additional criteria when considering the merits of a deal. In addition to the economic arguments, it has to be confident a media merger would still allow people enough platforms to express their views and enjoy sufficient choice,’ Pitt said.

Yes, I suppose…but let’s not go overboard here: Five hardly creates a ripple in terms of innovative programming or news/current affairs.

Funny, back in mid-2003, all the experts were concerned about American (or newly-minted American) cowboys riding-in and radically changing the special ‘ecology’ of British broadcasting. That’s not happened (yet), but the change is happening nevertheless.