BBC boss blasts media ownership law

Greg Dyke is concerned about US culture in UK TV

BBC director general Greg Dyke has attacked a change in the law which allows foreign firms to bid for UK television franchises.

"I was passionately opposed to the change in the law that allowed American media companies to buy ITV and Channel 5," he said.

"I thought it was nonsense to have done it, I don't think it came from anybody or anywhere other than a small coterie in Downing Street."

Mr Dyke was speaking at the Royal Television Society's annual convention in Cambridge.

He was partly responding to claims by two US media moguls, Haim Saban and Mel Karmazin, at the convention on Saturday, that they would be interested in acquiring ITV.

'Cultural difference'

Mr Dyke said that was an example of how the new rules, laid down in the Communications Act which was passed this summer, could lead to an excessive US influence on British culture.

"Everything I saw yesterday convinced me that I had been right to oppose it, that actually you saw the cultural difference," he said.

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Mr Dyke said it was wrong to think such a takeover would bring new investment into British television.

But Mr Blair's former media advisor Ed Richards, who now works for new regulator Ofcom, said Mr Dyke was incorrect.

There had been full consultation with Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt and Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and their departments before the rules were relaxed, he said.

He also defended the new legislation itself.

Tough rules on content would protect the quality of programming, while US companies could bring some much-needed competition into the UK television industry, he said.

Public interest tests

The law would in theory allow media magnate Rupert Murdoch to buy broadcasters such as Five, formerly Channel 5.

This has led some to fear that allowing the biggest media companies to own TV and radio stations as well as newspapers gives them too much market power and political leverage.

After protests about this from peers led by film director Lord Puttnam, the government promised media owners would have to pass "plurality tests".

These could mean that a takeover could be blocked if it was not considered to be in the public interest.