Enough of this rubbish. We're in serious need of a seperate forum dedicated to birds' boxing, this is getting ridiculous.
ITV/5 and others need to justify the spending much more than the BBC. People at the BBC can sign things off routinely, within the budget limits they have; the private sector has to actually find the money and prove it will make a return. For two examples: at ITV I had a budget for digital content; we once got rights for a European football tie with a local club for £10k; I couldn't sign that off and we didn't do it, even though we had the cash - someone else had a better audience for the advertisers at the time. At the BBC I could sign off £150k with no questions at all.