In a speech to the Media Festival in Manchester yesterday (19 November), Hunt said CRR means "the biggest and most successful advertising market in Europe is also the cheapest - with its broadcasters slowly being driven out of business".
He said: "The public wants choice and innovation, as well as quality, and we need to ensure the regulations recognise the proper balance between those needs."
This week, the Department for Media, Culture and Sport unveiled the timetable for independently funded news consortia to provide regional news on channel three. The consortia could receive public funds.
Hunt said public subsidy would lead to publishers putting effort into "lobbying ministers and Ofcom", rather than "developing new business models that are being opened up by the internet" and it would undermine the fact that British broadcasters "compete on their ability to attract viewers not subsidy".
The Conservative Party has previously suggested using interleaved spectrum to create about 80 local television franchises. Yesterday, Hunt said an alternative way to provide regional news could be to use space on existing multiplexes to form a new network.
He said ITV, Channel 4 or Five could become the backbone for a network of local affiliates, who could be a combination of new players and existing local newspaper groups, and advertising could be sold nationally with local opt outs.
This week, Ofcom recommended the relaxation of some of the regional media ownership rules. Hunt said the UK's previous approach to media regulation has "stifled innovation and made it very difficult for independent commercial operators to make a profit".
Hunt said the media industry cannot be considered distinct from the technology industry and regulated in a totally different way and media operators should be allowed more flexibility to own businesses operating on both the same and different platforms.
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