From blogworld: Pity poor Tessa Jowell. As if the BBC's impending charter renewal doesn't create enough work, she'll now have to trawl that class of people "who own big, white Georgian houses with 20-foot high ceilings" to find a replacement for Michael Grade - according to Paul Mason, BBC Newsnight correspondent, on his blog.
He points out that ITV's fundamental problem is its business model, based on advertising to a mass-market audience that is rapidly diminishing: "Advertisers are less interested in reaching the Corrie-watching masses, and the under-35s are increasingly not watching Corrie or anything else: they are on the internet, or texting, or getting smashed on recreational drugs at a time when by rights they should be sitting down with a mass-advertised frozen Pizza and watching Prime Suspect."
Mason accuses Grade's predecessor Charles Allen of attempting to address ITV's problems by balancing the books at the expense of innovative programming.
He also predicts farewell to Mark Thompson's plans for technology innovation and the Salford Quays development idea, now that Grade has bailed out before the BBC secured the funding it would need for that: "Maybe there is no final figure settled on, but Grade's departure must surely signal there is no chance of the Beeb getting its above-inflation rise."
It will be crucial for Grade's replacement to reinvent Reithian principles for the digital age, says Mason: "Paradoxically the job of Director General is more easily defined; it's to make the BBC a pace-setter in culturally diverse programming, fight for the under-25 audience and set the gold-standard for new broadcasting technology. The job of Grade's successor is to make sure the Beeb does this without destroying the principles that justify its existence."
Paul Linford said the BBC's own coverage has been a disgrace. "Okay, so no-one thinks the BBC is going to be doing cartwheels over the news. But Sheila Fogarty's two-way with Jeff Randall on Five Live - "I suppose the question to Michael Grade today is why he has accepted this million-pound job offer from ITV" - was fairly typical of the tone of the coverage."
Linford said it's no crime for someone in big media circles to defect to a rival for a higher salary, and that Grade's place in BBC history was earned by the launch of Eastenders and by his clearance of 17-hours of TV programming to make way for Live Aid.
"Whatever else he has done in his career, these two decisions alone make Michael Grade an all-time television great in my view, and as such he has every right to fill his boots in what will certainly be his last TV job without carping from his former employers."
A liberal goes a long way: "The main commercial channel desperately needs a big hitter, a guy who understands budget lines - but, just as importantly, understands programming. Good television is not determined by having one public service broadcaster funded by a licence fee, but by having a plurality of channels competing to drive up standards."
Norfolk blogger: I am sad to see Michael Grade go. I hope he can turn round ITV, but I fear that that is the last thing that Rupert Murdoch actually wants.
Alan in Belfast says that media stories are given disproportionate media coverage: "So other than making sure that the UK mediaocracy all tune into Sky and remember that the story broke there first (rather than on the BBC, or in the Telegraph tomorrow morning), is it justified?
"The only time I saw Michael Grade face-to-face was at the Quiz the Governors accountability meeting in Belfast in April. He did come across as being more of a programme maker than a bureaucrat. He was much more comfortable explaining to the audience about camera and teleprompters--the mechanics of the night and being in a live studio--and justifying the broadcaster's output to the NI audience."
The last word from the First Post: Prestige, say these guys, doesn't pay the cigar bill.
