A powerful consumers' panel is to be placed at the centre of a proposed giant single media regulator covering television, radio, advertising, the internet, telephones and the press.
The new regulator, dubbed Ofcom, will be outlined in today's communications white paper as the government's main response to the blurring of boundaries between media technologies.
The independently appointed consumers' panel will have powers to commission research, canvass public opinion and publish advice to the regulator, as well as its views on issues of taste, programme content and quality.
It will also advise Ofcom on its regulatory powers, including decisions on media ownership rules. The panel could for instance argue against Rupert Murdoch being allowed to extend his media empire into terrestial television.
The government accepts that economic regulation decisions directly affect consumer concerns such as price, choice, and programme content.
Some ministers privately hope the panel may also act as a powerful popular restraint on media magnates, allowing government to step back from the front line of the battle to control media quality.
A government source said the move would put consumers "at the heart of regulation".
He added: "This is a world where some of the most powerful companies in the world operate and lobby bloody hard."
The source added that the consumers' panel could also consult through citizens' juries and the internet.
The white paper will also strip the BBC board of governors of some of its self-regulatory powers, but leave the board as chief defenders of the BBC's political impartiality.
The white paper, prepared jointly by the departments of culture and industry, is intended to liberalise the regulatory regime whilst protecting programme quality.
Ministerial sources also promise the white paper will ensure that as digital television takes over consumers retain free access to many programmes.
The new giant regulator will take over the roles of the broadcasting standards council, the independent television commission, the radio authority, the British board of film classification, Oftel and the advertising standards authority.
A government source said: "We have to recognise we now live in a world in which you can watch TV on your mobile phone, or listen to music on the internet.
"Technology is bringing the media together and to continue to have separate regulators is mad."
