BBC Trust chairman Michael Lyons is back on Rupert Murdoch's Christmas card list. The corporation's governing body today told the BBC to delay launching News and Sport iPhone applications while it investigates their possible impact.

Rival news organisations, including Murdoch's News Corporation, have long criticised the BBC's activities, arguing they distort the market. They think the corporation has the unfair advantage of guaranteed income through the licence fee. 

There's some truth in this. The BBC's acquisition of Lonely Planet was a crass move into commercial territory. But all the signs are that the Trust has lost its nerve. The BBC is arguably the world's best broadcaster, but it risks becoming mired in even more bureaucracy as its governing body tries to appease its deadly rivals. As a licence fee payer, I want BBC iPhone apps. I resent people like Michael Lyons denying them to me because he's scared of Rupert Murdoch and the Daily Mail. The BBC has done far more to pioneer online services than its rivals in the last ten years, but I fear that it will give up innovating if its own regulator imposes endless delay before new initiatives see the light of day. Britain needs a strong BBC.