ABSTRACT
In 1979, a General Election on 3 May removed the Labour government which had appointed the Lord Annan Committee and produced the latest White Paper on broadcasting policy. After considering the Annan Report in depth, the ruling Labour government issued a White Paper in 1978, It accepted Annan's recommendations for the setting up of a fourth channel to be run by an Open Broadcasting Authority, authorised by the appropriate legislation, and envisaged extending the Independent Broadcasting Authority Act until the 1990s. The decade of 1970s witnessed the rise of more distinct coalitions of interests, whose greater degree of organisation helped them to carve out a role for themselves in the field of broadcast advertising regulation. Under the tripartite system of regulation of British commercial television, where one of the regulated parties is responsible for the enforcement of regulation, it, too, is in danger of becoming 'regulation-minded'.
