He claimed the increasing use of VoD platforms and personal video recorders meant that consumers "no longer need multichannel to offer choice". He said quality VoD services were a new way of delivering consumer choice, just as the emergence of multichannel TV had been.
His outlook, delivered at the Edinburgh International TV Festival, came as Ashley Highfield, chief executive of Kangaroo, the planned VoD venture from BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4, predicted that half of all video-on-demand content will be for archive material in five years' time.
Highfield said he expected the Competition Commission to present the findings of its competition enquiry in January.
It also emerged that the BBC Trust was hanging back from approving Kangaroo's plans until the Competition Commission probe was complete.
David Moody, BBC Worldwide director of strategy, admitted approval was not guaranteed: "The Trust has said it will not consider Kangaroo for approval until the Competition Commission has finished its investigation."
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