Culture Secretary John Whittingdale is believed to be considering a ban on the BBC going head-to-head with commercial rivals.

He is due to reveal his plans for the charter within weeks.

“It has to be at a time when families who love the show can sit down and watch it together – that is important.“I think the BBC have brought this upon themselves by getting involved in a silly and ridiculous ratings war with ITV.

“I am sick of it because ratings should be irrelevant to the BBC.”The new charter could set out a tougher regime as part of a proposed deal to safeguard the BBC service for another 11 years.

ITV has complained in the past that licence fee money is used to wage a ratings battle against its weekend evening shows.

Mr Whittingdale has said the charter is looking at whether the BBC should continue to be “all things to all people” or should have a more “precisely targeted” mission in terms of what it produces.He has previously expressed concerns about the broadcaster’s 10pm news bulletin being broadcast at the same time as ITV’s.

He said: “The Government will be setting out its plan on the BBC charter in a white paper in May.“The Secretary of State has made it clear on a number of occasions that the Government cannot and indeed should not determine either the content or scheduling of programmes.”

The salaries of stars could also be forced into the open, but published in bands rather than by actual sums given to each.

Mr Whittingdale recently made it clear he wishes to close the loophole that allows people to avoid paying the licence fee by watching television on online catch-up services like BBC iPlayer.The 11-year charter extension will please BBC bosses, who have argued that renewal should be brought out of sync with the general election cycle to lessen political pressures.