Thompson issues public service challenge

Whilst it is good that ITV should be forced to account for the reason(s) why it should throw away the remainder of its 'public service obligations' for the privilege of showing even greater quantities of trash, it's the ulterior motive why Channel 4 wants such a review in the first place that's truly alarming. To quote Media Guardian, "Channel 4 insiders are concerned that if Ofcom allows ITV to dump its commitments to arts and religion, they will be expected to pick them up".

That statement is precisely the reason why so-called "light touch regulation" simply just doesn't work if you want anything more than just populist trash from the UK's commercial television sector with the odd arts programme thrown in opposite EastEnders just because it looks good in the annual report. And Channel 4 is meant to be a "public service broadcaster" as well (shakes head in disbelief).