Some of ITV's programmes are “crap”, Melvyn Bragg has acknowledged, but he suggested that the company would be destroyed if it fell into the hands of a private equity bidder.

The veteran arts broadcaster defended ITV - which reported a 35 per cent slide in profits this week - as a £1 billion contributor to British creative industries.

However, the host of the South Bank Show said: “ITV is still in an ancient and redundant straitjacket. Next year Google, with scarcely any regulations or investment in British content, is set to overtake ITV in advertising.”

He criticised regional quotas demanded by Ofcom, the regulator, and the Contract Rights Renewal system, whereby the amount of money advertisers have to commit to ITV on an annual basis is reduced when the broadcaster's audience share falls. Ofcom had left ITV “fossilised”.

Lord Bragg said that Michael Grade had the right strategy to revive ITV, but noted that the share price had fallen by almost half since Greg Dyke's 130p-a-share bid was rejected two years ago.

Lord Bragg said that a private equity takeover, such as that proposed by the consortium of Goldman Sachs, Blackstone and Apax Partners would strip ITV of its assets and leave a “junk-food derelict rump”.

Lord Bragg, 68, said: “People in ITV want to make good, popular programmes, even though some of the time it is crap. They would be mad not to run arts programmes because they deliver upmarket audiences.”

Commercial broadcasters believe that they have secured agreement to avoid a potential ban on the £150 million alcohol advertising market.

Ministers have indicated that an alcohol awareness campaign funded by advertisers could forestall legislative action.

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