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Even if it is, there will be no guarantee that famous names will fall on their swords.

The BBC will argue it has already taken remedial action in the case of presenter's columns and the appointment of Mark Byford as deputy director general in charge of complaints and compliance.

A few changes to editorial guidelines are being held back to offer up something if Lord Hutton's tone is sharper than expected. Director general Greg Dyke is even retaining the option of rejecting the findings if they are judged too severe.

As Dyke put it last month, things move so fast these days that hardly anything remains a story for long. Even the dramatic capture of Saddam Hussein was old news within five days.

So, barring unexpected mishaps, you can forget the prospect of resignations or even the BBC's traditional approach in such difficult circumstances - that deputy heads will roll. It will be a case of onward and upward to Charter Review with a new identity and safe house for Andrew Gilligan in the outer reaches of the Corporation.

The BBC's approach to Charter Review is also becoming clearer. Detailed answers to the government's 24 questions about its future will be published by March. There are a lot of people at the BBC who know a great deal about submitting near-perfect examination answers and there are sure to be many hands involved in the honing.

One issue the BBC is taking very seriously is 'top-slicing' - giving a percentage of the licence fee to other broadcasters. Ofcom, for example, has commissioned consultants to see how the UK broadcasting system would be affected if 10% of the fee were awarded to others. Dyke would not take kindly to the loss of £260m a year and is scouring the world for examples of where the scheme has been introduced and gone wrong.

On the offensive side, the BBC is determined to ingratiate itself with the government by offering to fund a universal digital terrestrial service covering virtually the whole of the UK. This is very clever. It is trying to make itself seem essential in government plans to switch off analogue broadcasts between 2006 and 2010 and will pick up brownie points if this bold adventure succeeds.

Never mind that BSkyB's free-to-air offer could do virtually the same thing. The extra advantage for the BBC is that its viewing figures for Freeview are much higher than the other multi-channel platforms.

So the BBC pleases the government, gives itself another important reason for existence, protects its posterior and creates a bulwark against pay-TV. It even persuades someone such as Crown Castle or NTL to meet the up-front transmitter costs. Brilliant. This is why Dyke will have had a very happy Christmas - despite the thin ice on which he has been skating.