Ofcom PSB review – what will happen?

I thought Neil Midgley got it almost perfect* in the Telegraph:

It is time, then, to stop tinkering. ITV should be entirely deregulated, to give it a fighting chance of making a sustainable profit – and continuing to spend heavily on UK programmes. Under current economic conditions, there is probably little to be gained by privatising Channel 4. But telling it to (1) stop bleating and (2) start finding a bigger audience, would be more productive than throwing taxpayers’ money at programmes few people want to watch. A publicly owned C4, free from shareholder pressure, ought to be able to maintain an innovative and distinctive feel at the same time as breaking even.

And if there is spare money in the BBC licence fee, then maybe it should be reduced. Perhaps the BBC should even be shrunk, allowing the licence fee to be cut even more.

In Brown’s Britain, the idea of letting people keep their money and spend it on what they want is unfashionable. But we now live in a fully digital world where it is no longer possible to dictate to people what they watch. Sooner or later, the money must follow the eyeballs. Unless this Government comes to understand that, our once-great television industry may well be the casualty.

*Almost perfect:  The author should also have mentioned that Ofcom and the UK government should let more money flow to the broadcasting industry (and comply with the ECHR’s precedent on freedom of expression) by allowing political and issue advertising on television.

Ofcom and the government are choking television from three sides:  (i) state ownership and its accompanying inefficiencies, patronage and regulatory capture; (ii) outdated mandates that specify quotas and certain content that must be provided; and (iii) numerous illegal and financially harmful advertising restrictions.

Let’s not (entirely) blame the economic downturn — Google and Viacom will each make profits in 2008 …