In his Mediatel article, Raymond Snoddy asks the question..

"How is it that almost all published consultancy reports somehow manage to come up with conclusions that chime with the instincts of their paymasters?

You have got to admire forecasting skills that can distinguish between £80 million and £81 million a decade hence.
The report, whose main beneficiary would obviously be ITV, can actually be summed up in very few words: make the BBC broadcast more minority programmes in prime time and the BBC's ratings and share of audience will decline to the financial benefit of the Corporation's commercial rivals."


Raymond even goes as far as observing..
"Flayed to within an inch of its life by distressingly popular BBC programmes ITV only managed an under-lying 18 per cent rise in profits to £865 million last year. Revenues were limited to a 15 per cent increase to £2.97 billion and shareholders are to get an unexpected £400 million dividend boost on top of the final dividend of 4.1p, itself ahead of market forecasts. Tough times indeed.
ITV is so obviously flush with cash that it, and other commercial broadcasters, should perhaps be required to contribute to the £700 million a year government-imposed burden on the BBC by making it responsible for free licence fees for the over 75s."

Mr. Snoddy's article, in full with these, and other comments, may be found here.