ITV boss condemns 'traffic wardens' who regulate television

Ofcom, the broadcasting watchdog, has been accused of demanding programmes that are only of interest to "niche, marginal and worthy" audiences in a stinging rebuke delivered by the head of ITV television.

Peter Fincham, the former controller of BBC1 and one of the most respected figures in British television, mocked the regulator by comparing it to an interfering traffic warden who wanted to get behind the steering wheel. "You wouldn't ask your traffic warden to give you advice on what sort of car to buy, still less how to drive it," he said.

In an attack delivered as part of the MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, Mr Fincham said Ofcom's attempts to define the type of shows that constitute "public service broadcasting" had resulted only in the "deathless language of the committee... rinsed of all life and passion".

He said the watchdog risked creating a broadcasting environment where programmes were made "for the niche, the marginal, the worthy" and mainstream audiences were driven away. "It's like starting with a packed Wembley Stadium and ending with one of those recreation grounds where 15 football games are being played at once," he said. "Lots of opportunities to take part – no spectators though."

ITV is under intense pressure to deliver bigger audiences in a declining advertising market and earlier this month announced a 28 per cent rise in losses at its half-yearly results. Michael Grade, the ITV executive chairman, has claimed that the broadcaster is being hamstrung by a "nanny state", and that "Ofcom and the Government need to understand very, very quickly that we cannot afford to pay more than the licence fee is worth".

ITV currently pays £220m a year for its broadcasting licence and is lobbying hard to reduce its obligations to make certain "public service" shows in genres that deliver small audiences.

Mr Fincham, who resigned from the BBC last year in the wake of false claims that the Queen had been filmed storming out of a photo shoot, warned that British television could split "like a medieval church", with the BBC and Channel 4, "chastened by public money", being separated from the rest of the industry. He complained of favouritism, saying that "organisations dependent on the public purse... are clasped more warmly to politicians' bosoms than those who say, 'Don't worry, we'd rather look after ourselves'."

Mr Fincham became a multi-millionaire after building the independent production company Talkback Thames into a hotbed of comedy and drama talent. He was once tipped to be chief executive of Channel 4 and last night poured scorn on that broadcaster – which is seeking greater government funding – saying it had "chosen to don the hair shirt of public subsidy". He added: "Let's hope it's a comfortable fit for that irreverent and free-spirited organisation."

Earlier in his lecture, he attempted a rallying cry to an industry that, this time last year, was reeling from a succession of scandals, not least the one that brought about his own departure from the BBC.

Though his audience, comprised of senior figures from across the television industry, laughed at his anecdotes, the broadcasting regulator will this morning be less than amused.