BBC boss critical of moves to allow US firms to own ITV and Channel 5

LONDON - Greg Dyke, the director general of the BBC, has spoken out against government plans to allow US media firms to buy up commercial television in the UK.

Dyke said that such moves would lead to a fall in quality if media ownership rules, proposed by the government in the draft communications bill, become law.

Dyke told a parliamentary committee on the bill that programming would suffer if US media groups were allowed to own ITV and Channel 5.

"If Disney were to own ITV, you may see lots of cartoons dumped," he told MPs. "If you allow Time Warner to own ITV, US programmes like 'Friends' and 'ER' will not come to market for free-to-air broadcasting."

The government's bill, announced in early May, opened up the UK media market to foreign investment. It also allowed Rupert Murdoch to make a bid for Channel 5 by removing barriers preventing newspaper owners with more than 20% of the national market from owning the smaller terrestrial channel.

Culture secretary Tessa Jowell said the move would boost inward investment in the UK. The plan allows for companies like Viacom and AOL Time Warner to make moves on Carlton or Granada.

Since the bill was announced US media chiefs, led by NBC and Viacom, are reported to have been scouting the UK media landscape for possible acquisitions. Bob Wright, chairman and chief executive of NBC, was among those who have travelled to London to look at potential acquisitions.

Viacom chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone also confirmed that executives from his firm, which owns US broadcaster CBS as well as MTV, has met with UK broadcasters.

Dyke went on to argue that it was a question of reciprocity, suggesting that the UK government should be looking for something in return from the US. Under US law, European broadcasters are prevented from owning US networks.

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