[Tom]

Good quality TV is definitely doomed. Channel 4 do a lot of documentaries, The Fixer is a high quality drama, News at Ten is a high quality news programme. All but The Fixer cannot manage 3m+ on a regular basis, with The Fixer settling down in the lie 4m's.

The BBC have no issues with funding because their money is definite and constant. ITV have to rely on advertising and if mindless, trashy, low quality programming such as Britain's Got Talent is getting higher viewing figures than high quality programming, then they are going to stick with the lower quality to gain more advertising revenue.

With regards to kids TV and sitcoms, there is still a market. My Family returned last night and Benidorm was on head to head- both very successful sitcoms but I'm unsure of the figures. When written properly, they don't die on their arse like sitcoms such as Moving Wallpaper do. Kids TV is definitely a dying brand and there has been so much dumbing down lately its unreal. There was a time when people wouldn't mind watching kids TV until they were about 15 because it was multi-layered TV and the presenters weren't patronising. These days, its all done by voiceovers except for one on CBBC who is extremely patronising. The programming is now mainly cartoons and imports and broadcasters want to strip back on kids TV on main channels. There was a time when kids TV would be just as varied, if not more interesting than "grown up" TV but in the last 5 years its died a very quick death especially with the sudden demise of Saturday morning programmes.