Just because the BBC is busy promising to love German-style household levies rather than licence fees – and to store all its mass entertainment hits in some temptingly commercial studio cupboard – doesn’t mean that the government has backed off. It’s fair enough for ITV to complain when the corporation schedules Strictly against The X Factor. Many viewers agree. But it’s no part of John Whittingdale’s ministerial brief to suggest the BBC does its main evening news at 9pm so ITV can keep 10pm unchallenged. Why the current clash? Because audiences, for their sins, like Casualty, Doctor Foster and Wolf Hall in prime time. They like a little uninterrupted entertainment after supper – and audience sizes matter hugely. They mean money for ITV, but they also mean appreciation for BBC programmes. If politicians, feeling the corporation’s collar, would promise never to say that shrinking viewing figures meant the BBC was failing (and so must suffer more cuts and loss of independence), that would be one thing. But they don’t; and never will.
