I’m a week behind (blame recent sleep deprivation) but there were some really good articles in last Monday’s Media Guardian. David Liddiment, who used to be in charge of programming at ITV, has got public service religion and provides a useful insider’s view of the pros and cons of arts programming for mainstream channels. He doesn’t have to worry about picking winners any more so he can afford to say things like this:
“For as long as mainstream broadcasting survives, it should not be possible again for the BBC to abandon its cultural responsibilities on its main channel. Charter renewal lobbyists please note. As for ITV, Channel 4 and Five, I believe they will find it increasingly difficult to keep arts programmes worthy of the name as part of a commercially viable schedule. Sooner or later someone will have to look again at the trade-off between a rich and varied TV diet and the bounty that broadcasters pay the treasury for their privileged access to spectrum.”
In the same issue, terrifically brainy Tim Gardam looks back over his five years doing the same job at Channel 4. He is most proud of Big Brother:
“He recalls his happiest moment: the last night of the first Big Brother in August 2000. “I thought, ‘Whatever happens now, I have done something.’”
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