If 2008 was a year of debate for Britain's public service television sector, 2009 promises to be a year of decisions that will have far-reaching consequences well beyond the economic downturn.

When the current policy debate began, the problem looked relatively easy to define and the solution simple: a future funding gap at Channel 4 could be solved by giving it some of the television licence fee, the top-slicing option. But now neither the problem nor the solution looks quite so simple.