The commercial television watchdog has published a study setting out how broadcast and interactive services can drive forward economic growth.

The report, Culture and Communications, contains chapters by 21 distinguished authors including chairman of Sport England Trevor Brooking, director Sir Richard Eyre, film producer Lord Puttnam, regulatory expert Dr Irwin Stelzer and the Chief Rabbi, Professor Jonathan Sacks.

The authors set out policies that could support creative and economic success and give their views on what new media can offer culture and society.

The essays highlight three priorities for government over the next 10 years. These are maximising competitiveness while ensuring quality, broadcasting and new media in the "information society" and the role of the electronic media in supporting a cohesive culture and promoting democracy.

ITC chief executive Patricia Hodgson said the essays were about "what people want and need from broadcasting and from new media".

Suggestions put forward by the authors include simplifying ownership rules, protecting intellectual property rights and ensuring that the BBC and Channel 4 focus on quality and innovation.

Irwin Stelzer notes that non-business users are not yet finding it worthwhile to invest in broadband, although there is a market for more choice in entertainment as well as a good early response to interactive television.

Hodgson said it could take 20 years to make true broadband universally available but that a combination of cable, DSL and satellite could offer "services hard to distinguish from broadband" in the meantime.

Contributors call for more ambition from broadcasters. Computers and televisions should be seen as a vital entry point to cultural citizenship" said Paula Ridley. Rodney Bickerstaffe argued that new technology should not exclude "significant sections of society, such as pensioners, the low paid, people with disabilities and the disadvantaged".

Another author, Tim Gardam, questions whether "modern democracy in a global market economy [can] retain the necessary cohesion to work as civil society". Possible solutions put forward include using public interest in electronic media to re-engage with the public, with young voters highlighted as a key group.

Hodgson said the ITC said the report would be a "substantial addition to the debate" on the future of the media and added that she hoped it would influence future legislation.