Current rules prevent a newspaper owner with a market share of 20 per cent owning an ITV or radio franchise. BSkyB. Ministers are thought to have tread lightly in this area to avoid antagonising powerful newspaper owners in the run up to an election. When radio moved into millions of homes in the late 1920s, people were suddenly able to hear live dispatches from around the world. And politicians could appeal directly to large numbers of voters for the first time. About thirty years later, the advent of television ushered in the second broadcasting revolution.
Most commentators predict that the third revolution is less than two years away.
The combined impact of broadband and wireless technology is expected to transform the way we communicate once again. Broadband cables will enable us to watch almost anything we want whenever we want because video and film will be much quicker to download. When broadband becomes available in the mass market, the distinction between PCs and televisions is likely to break down. It will be possible to watch films and television on a PC and to access the Internet on a television set using a wireless keyboard. In this new environment issues of regulation and public interest programming become much more complicated.