Jeremy Isaacs’ MacTaggart Lecture articulates his vision for the new fourth channel. He envisages broadcasting in the eighties as being characterised by a confrontation between ‘a BBC on two channels and an ITV on two channels’; the former ‘poorly off and getting poorer’, the latter ‘rich’ and getting ‘richer’.

While Pilkington's (1962) assessment of ITV was critical, Annan (1977) found much to praise. The change reflected the impact of Pilkington's remarks in shifting the Independent Television Authority (ITA) from being a ‘friend’ of the companies in the direction of more rigorous regulation. Isaacs argues that ITV enters the 1980s with a secure financial base and consequently the second ITV channel must be resourced to deliver quality programming without any diminution of programming on ITV 1. By contrast, BBC has witnessed a decline although it remains the ‘best television service in the world’. The BBC has been underfunded since the establishment of BBC2 in 1962 and this is evident in programming: shortages of drama; an increase in American imports; and too many repeats. This decline is crucial since the BBC serves as a sheet anchor for all television programming and Isaacs’ hope for the 1980s is that ‘BBC television will be guaranteed the funding it will need’.