OPINION: Double Divestment Drops Down Agenda as Decision Day Looms

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The conventional wisdom was clear. There was only one way that the Carlton-Granada merger would be allowed - and that was double divestment of sales houses. Some who really should have known better were convinced the merger would simply be turned down.

This would have been bad for Michael Green of Carlton and Charles Allen of Granada. David Elstein, when he'd finished with trying to undermine the BBC's finances, might even have got a chance to put his managerial plotting to the test and parachute a team in.

What is now clear is that there are different levels of competition other than the market for ad sales and that TV is not seen in the same light as concentration …