TESSA JOWELL has managed to run into trouble at an interesting time, at least for those who are in the telly-watching business. The BBC White Paper is due in a week or so, assuming there are no revelations to prevent the Culture Secretary making it until then. It is a pity for the BBC that as the final issues are getting resolved, the Cabinet minister responsible is distracted by the demanding task of saving her career — but that’s showbusiness.

It is hard to get too excited about much of the White Paper, assuming there is no surprise change of personnel. Probably its weakest bit, the half-baked idea to reform the BBC Board of Governors by splitting it into two, is already set in stone. And you can picture all the comments about quality telly and fewer repeats long before they can be seen on the page.

With this in mind, it was nice to see that the BBC is planning on reviving Play for Today — can it really be a fortnight before the White Paper? This innovation is coming as soon as next year but the need to announce something now is obviously pressing. If there is one thing that is in healthy supply on both ITV and Channel 4 it is good one-off drama, so, if anything, the return of Play for Today is a bit like reviving an old brand for no great viewing purpose.

Yet, there is still one open debate that matters. The good old licence fee, love it or hate it, may have been promised to the BBC for another decade but the question is will the document dare to sow seeds of its destruction? The key question is at what point will the BBC’s funding be reviewed — the idea that it should be somewhere around 2012 is too far off.

It would be nicer still if the BBC was encouraged to explore subscription with pay-per-view broadcasting. That would, at least, help people to size up what the actual market demand for BBC content is.

The size of the licence fee increase will be resolved a few weeks after the White Paper but you have to hope that the document will give a few clues. As the Treasury becomes a bit more engaged, it will surely have to include inflation plus 2.3 per cent — to help to fund the far too expensive move to Manchester, the mythical superinflation of talent costs (we’d all like some of that please) and attacks on newspapers through local television.

It would also be nice, but a fantasy, to believe that the White Paper will conclude that the BBC is too big. Its one-third share in television feels about right but its 55 per cent of radio is threatening to crush a sector whose troubles have mounted since the Green Paper appeared last March. The BBC’s presence online, successful in many ways, also risks making it hard for commercial operators to make money out of new media. But will the BBC involvement be carefully circumscribed? Almost certainly not.

Add it up and the White Paper is likely to amount to a missed opportunity. A tweak of the BBC’s governance — however big it feels for long-time BBC insiders — and a large dollop of cash will help to weaken private media companies. With this excitement looming, it is tempting to wonder what a fresh pair of eyes at the top of the department might bring. But after the Cabinet Secretary’s vote of confidence yesterday, this is not the time to adjust your set.

• It is hard to be certain that the SonyBMG peace deal between its two shareholders, Bertelsmann, of Germany, and Sony Corporation, of Japan, will last. For now Bertelsmann has been placated with the arrival of Rolf Schmid-Holz as chief executive. But Sony was amazed by the ferocity of the whispering campaign against its man Andrew Lack, the chief executive who is now becoming chairman.

  The German company, for its part, hopes that the recorded music business will grow market share, ending a period of erosion as Lack restructured the operation. But Sony — a public company — reckons that profit will continue to be more important. The view there is that it isn’t worth recording every artist to keep up with Universal. Sony is worried that Bertelsmann dislikes more commercially minded executives.

  On the record, everything is harmonious in this particular German-Japanese alliance but the noises in the background suggest otherwise. Already, Bertelsmann’s Random House has started pushing film ideas towards NBC Universal rather than Sony Pictures (which did get The Da Vinci Code).

  It is hard to imagine that this joint-venture sing-song will last many more years.

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