The former BBC governor Richard Eyre once compared the BBC board's monthly meetings with those that took place 'in the chapter houses of medieval cathedrals', describing an atmosphere charged with 'ideology, faith, schism, cynicism, moral imperatives, power and status. It's very difficult to cut through the corporate self-regard and cockiness.'

Although Eyre, who ran the National Theatre for almost a decade, is an admirer of the BBC, those words could have been penned by one of the corporation's critics, for whom the antiquated system of governorship represents much that is wrong with the national broadcaster.

Eyre also noted wryly that the Board of Governors (BOG) was saddled with 'an unfortunate acronym'. It may not be in use for much longer if the government recommends they be scrapped. The DCMS will publish its long-awaited green paper on charter review this month. Media executives are speculating that it could appear as early as next week (Monday 21 February), although Whitehall sources warn that the timetable could slip. 'We wanted to get it out in the first few weeks of the year, but no date has been finalised,' said one highly placed government source.

Although it is a consultation paper, to be followed by a White Paper at the end of the year, it will provide the first clear indication of the government's thinking since the Hutton inquiry pushed relations between the government and the BBC to their lowest ebb.

There is growing speculation that proposals could include plans to fundamentally overhaul the role of the governors as a quid pro quo for maintaining the licence fee. That would have been unthinkable two years ago, but there is a feeling at the highest levels of government that the dual role the governors fulfil - holding management to account while simultaneously safeguarding the corporation's independence - is a paradox that can no longer by ignored.

The contradictions inherent in the dual role were illustrated by the governors' reaction to Andrew Gilligan's infamous Radio 4 report, when their eagerness to defend the BBC's editorial integrity prevented them from holding managers to account, according to critics.

The green paper will examine the funding of the corporation and the length of its next 10-year charter. In theory, it could recommend that the licence fee be reduced or scrapped, but few expect a Labour government to seriously consider either of those options, even if it has clashed with the corpora tion in the most dramatic way. Nevertheless, the Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has made it clear that the way the BBC is run is 'unacceptable' and its chairman, Michael Grade, has conceded that 'the governance of the BBC is the major issue around the Charter Renewal debate'.

Grade is fighting a rearguard action to prevent the current system from being dismantled, implementing a series of changes designed to demonstrate that the BBC can puts its own house in order.

Grade argues that self-regulation works, pointing out that the governors can still champion the BBC but castigate its management when necessary, even firing them if necessary. He insists that past failings should not be used to justify an unnecessary overhaul of a unique constitution that has safeguarded its independence for 80 years.

Grade concedes the system has it flaws and recognises that it needs strengthening. In a series of speeches and public pronouncements over the past few months, he has stressed that the governors should be granted greater independence from management. He has already implemented some radical changes, moving the governors out of Broadcasting House and creating a separate secretariat designed to reduce their reliance on existing BBC management structures.

But the momentum is moving firmly in favour of change. The Abbey National chairman Lord Burns, the former civil servant advising culture secretary Tessa Jowell on charter renewal, delivered a blow earlier this month when his commission recommended that the governors be scrapped and replaced with a 'Public Service Broadcasting Commission', dubbed 'Offbeeb'.

Last week, Ofcom, the media super-regulator that is still in its infancy but already baring its teeth, tacitly endorsed this proposal. It published a weighty report on public service broadcasting that will inform the government's thinking about charter review. Publicly, it insist that it doesn't want to regulate the BBC, but in truth it already oversees large parts of its output under the terms of the Communications Act that brought Ofcom into being. Privately, it argues that it would like to see its powers extended, pointing out that it makes little sense to regulate Channel 4 and ITV but not the BBC.

Senior industry figures, even those who approve of the BBC's unique place in national life, are critical of the way it is run.

'I have a lot of sympathy with Ofcom's position that they should have more control of governorship issues at the BBC', said one. 'It is a strategic problem. You have an independent regulator but that regulator has relatively few powers over the main producer of programming and information. Where they do regulate the BBC, they tend to do so separately from the rest of the sector. It's rather like having a roads policy and a rail policy but not a transport policy.'

One plan is to make the BBC subject to a corporate governance code similar to the one quoted companies abide by. 'That code could be quite easily be reframed and applied to a public body like the BBC,' says one media executive. 'The BBC should state what it is for. They should set out key performance indicators, and the management are then answerable to that. All the slightly tedious but necessary things we do in the private sector.'

Similar proposals have been put forward before, but the BBC has proved remarkably adept at maintaining the status quo. 'People always talk about radical reform, but the BBC leads a charmed life,' said one rival executive. For the governors, that charmed life could be drawing to a close.

In our view...

"The BBC have recognised the unsustainability of this dual function. There is the non-executive role, if you like; there is the broader governance role, but there is also the regulatory role. Just as the BBC has made very welcome moves to achieve this separation, we would not regard the status quo as an option ... for the next charter review. "
Tessa Jowell, Media Secretary

For the last three years the BBC has dramatically failed to meet its obligations in terms of independent commissioning. It has a 25 per cent quota, and each year it has failed by a larger and larger margin. To whom are the managers accountable? The governors. How come the governors did not implement a system to ensure there was not a second year of failure? You have to accept that the governors actually have no authority.
David Elstein, former chief executive, Five

We think the board of governors should take on the role more like non-executive directors of a plc board, more similar to Channel 4. It is impossible to ask the board to be judge and jury. I think they should be independently reviewed by Ofcom.
Charles Allen, ITV chief executive

I do not think there is a problem with the governors being the champions of the BBC. Where there has been a problem in the past has been a perception of the governors as the champions of management, which is an entirely different thing. The current constitution of the BBC has been very effective in maintaining the independence of the BBC. Governments of many persuasions have attempted border raids or excursions across the borders of thresholds of the BBC, but the constitution and the independence of the governors has stood the test of time and it is a guarantee.
Michael Grade, BBC chairman

We have no imperial ambitions at all. With that caveat ... is an Ofbeeb or Ofpsb a good idea? It may well be. My only personal observation would be that the regulator needs to have institutional clout.
Stephen Carter, chief executive, Ofcom

The current system of regulation and governance at the BBC is unsustainable, and reform ... is required. It is inherently difficult for one group of people, the current governor, to provide leadership of the BBC and to be responsible for promoting the success of the BBC by directing and supervising its affairs whilst at the same time being the body that is responsible for overseeing the content of the BBC.
Lord Burns