A television channel has reached a sorry state when the structure of its ownership is more exciting than what it broadcasts. Yet this is precisely what has happened to ITV, whose appalling programming schedule has become a low-rent joke, making real the parodies of the BBC’s Little Britain.
The problem is not that ITV strives for popularity and entertainment: so it should. But at present it is achieving neither. The best ITV offering in the pre-Christmas schedule is not one of its own creations, but the sensational battle for control of the network between the two tycoons, Sir Richard Branson and Rupert Murdoch.
Michael Grade’s return to commercial terrestrial broadcasting as chairman and chief executive is precisely what ITV needs. There is, of course, a dynastic symmetry to the outgoing chairman of the BBC taking over the network which his uncle effectively founded. But Mr Grade’s principal claim to the job is his obsession with programming rather than with administration.
In his email to BBC staff this week he said that he had found it hard ‘not to look at the overnight ratings every day, not to engage in idle programming chit-chat with the brilliant creatives who are currently taking BBC television, radio and online to new heights of quality’.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in