— Michael Grade’s plea for a publicly funded bailout of regional news was roundly ignored on Wednesday, as his call for about £100 million of cash was overshadowed by the actual £400 billion bailout of the banks. Grade chose his words carefully, but it was clear that if public money was not available, then ITV would probably not broadcast regional news, as it would relinquish its regulated licence.

In any event, the solution he proposed is an elegant one – a third party, perhaps ITN or Reuters or the Press Association, gets cash to run a regional news service on the ITV network. That avoids giving public money directly to ITV (hardly a deserving cause for it), but whether ministers want to start handing out cash for broadcasters after handing it out to all these banks is debatable, to say the least.

— Mr Grade also upped the stakes in his growing battle with STV in Scotland and UTV in Northern Ireland, the two remaining ITV companies, saying that he wants the ITV logo plastered across their schedules as well as saying that the two companies get a £25 million subsidy from his ITV plc. Not surprisingly, STV hit back, because if ITV were to prove it was subsiding the two national broadcasters, it would have a significant financial impact.

STV’s problem, though, is that its public service obligations are imposing a heavy financial burden already. It, too, says it wants a bailout, at least for its Scottish programmes, although investors might worry then about the underlying strength of the business, and by implication, UTV over the water. Is either company’s broadcast licence worth anything after 2012 without state aid?

— Virgin Media’s stock price dipped below $5 yesterday, a record low, valuing the heavily indebted cable company at $1.6 billion (£950 million). Even bombed-out ITV, at £1.4 billion, is comfortably bigger. Time for somebody to make an approach, if there is anybody out there with any cash to hand.

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