For Broadcast October 15, 2008

Michael Grade told a sell-out RTS breakfast last week that an ITV without any of the rapidly diminishing perks of a public service licence would have "huge attractions".

The ITV executive chairman will see what kind of PSB deal Ofcom offers, but a non-PSB future is clearly an option particularly if it allows him to "shed all this regulatory inheritance nonsense that we live under".

The idea of dumping all its PSB obligations could well be a negotiating ploy to wring the best PSB deal out of Ofcom. I suspect that it is, and that a lot of horse-trading is going on at the moment, but either way it is interesting to know what Grade really thinks ITV could be - a business like Tesco rather than "as an arm of social and industrial policy".

But what would a completely PSB obligation-free ITV, or New ITV, look like? And could it make more money?

The mantra of New ITV would be simple: if it don't pay, it don't play. New ITV would be about rewarding shareholders not coddling independent producers; about attracting advertisers, not improving the cultural or civic health of the nation.

New ITV could mean more celebrity-strewn reality contests; anything with Ant and Dec; and even more Corrie. Branded content and product placement would be welcomed and pitches from outside producers would play second-fiddle to in-house ITV Productions that can be more lucratively exploited.

Children's programming would disappear and those who like opera and culture better find a big sponsor or switch over to the BBC (where Melvyn Bragg will be looking for a job).

Regional news would be dumped and New ITV wouldn't guarantee international and national news either, especially in a falling advertising market.

Whether New ITV would make more money than old ITV remains to be seen. It would certainly have more freedom, but nothing is guaranteed, given the state of the economy and advertising in particular.

In the end New ITV would need to put on good programmes, market them properly and exploit them on every platform and territory. Not so different from now, really.

The irony is that if ITV is "set free" from its PSB obligations it becomes an easier target for takeover, something that could provide a good exit for Grade but not necessarily a better TV experience for viewers. Let the final wrangling between Ofcom, the government and Grade begin.