The strength of the Independent Television system lies in its regional structure and its diversity. No reforms are justified which would impair that.

The Communications Bill now before Parliament (letters, December 11) threatens to do just that. It is a Bill biased towards the economics of broadcasting rather than its content and will lead inexorably to the further concentration in London of network ownership, programme commissioning and employment. The devolution of broadcasting power that characterised the regional structure of ITV will be sacrificed in the pursuit of cost savings and ratings.

There are now ten British terrestrial television networks all based in London, an area with eight million television consumers, and none in any of the English regions, which account for 41 million consumers. The licence requirements in the Bill designed to support regional production are just crumbs from the masters’ table that will be swept aside at the first sign of revenue hardship.

Northern voices in Westminster should be raised in support of at least one network based in the regions to provide cultural diversity and avoid a concentration of broadcasting influence in the metropolis at a time when social and economic factors point once again to the need for a devolution of political power.

Yours sincerely,
DAVID PLOWRIGHT
(Chairman, Granada TV Manchester, 1987-92),
Westways, Wilmslow Road,
Mottram St Andrew,
Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 4QT.
December 30.

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