IT IS not often you see hard-bitten television executives and journalists choked with national pride, but the Bute Room in Edinburgh's National Museum played host to a few trembling lips last week.

With comedian Elaine C Smith and former BBC news head Blair Jenkins by his side, Alex Salmond stood up to confirm what the papers have been saying all summer: the proportion of television network commissions coming to Scotland is "outrageous".

He also rejected recent attempts by ITV chief executive Michael Grade and BBC director-general Mark Thompson to blame the decline from 6% of commissions in 2004 to 3% in 2006 on untalented Scots.

"This is about a country which is achieving international success across the entire range of artistic and cultural endeavour. I don't believe it. Does anyone in Scotland believe it?" he asked.

The BBC was dubbed "hideously White City" for its west-London bias, while ITV was attacked for steadily reducing its commitment to regional television. Channel 4's own dismal Scottish record did not go unmentioned either.

Drawing on a theory recently put forward by Richard Curtis, screenwriter of Four Weddings And A Funeral, the first minister said the success of theatre, radio, TV and film was interconnected.

If one was weak, it weakened the others, he said, and this was why he was setting up a Scottish Broadcasting Commission, led by Jenkins, to find answers to the problem. Although we are still waiting to hear its exact remit and membership, Salmond made it clear that all options would be on the table when it reported back next year, from the legendary Scottish Six, to public subsidies, to devolving media policy to Scotland.

Naturally, the audience loved it. Almost everyone who got up to ask a question welcomed the initiative, and the wine-and-sandwiches room was buzzing afterwards.

After so many years of putting up with Scottish Labour politicians who may or may not have really supported Scottish broadcasting, but certainly would not diverge from the London message, here at last was somebody in power who could talk the talk.

But now that the backslapping is over, there are questions about how well planned the announcements were. There are certainly those who are saying that launching a commission is a tacit admission that the SNP's media policy is not well-thought-out.

Salmond did say afterwards that he had always intended to launch a broadcasting commission, but it was not specifically mentioned in the manifesto, and Jenkins was approached to run it only in recent weeks.

The fact that the remit and membership are still being sorted out, and that Salmond went ahead even though culture minister Linda Fabiani was on holiday add to a sense of opportunism.

But while there is probably some truth in this, it overlooks the deep importance that the SNP attaches to getting control of broadcasting as a key landmark on the road to independence.

As Elaine C Smith said in remarks to introduce Salmond's speech, broadcasting is vital to how a country views itself. As long as it is under London control, it is a potent glue to keep the union together.

As for the depth of the SNP's thinking, observers counter that Salmond should be given credit for playing the necessarily subtler game of a minority government.

Setting up a commission with cross-political figures, whose 10 or so names are tipped to include Smith and former first minister Henry McLeish, will lead to demands that should be harder for Westminster to ignore than pure nationalist tub-thumping.

Jenkins's appointment has meanwhile been greeted enthusiastically. Having been out of work for nearly a year since resigning from BBC Scotland in apparent dismay at being forced to cut news and current affairs, many see him as an ideal person to lead the commission.

As well as being seen as highly intelligent and non-partisan, his first job at the BBC was as a consultant in the late 1990s looking into the viability of a Scottish Six news. It was eventually killed off by then director-general John Birt under heavy pressure from the Labour government.

Having also previously been head of broadcasting at Scottish Television, Jenkins's experience is restricted to neither news and current affairs nor the public sector.

There are suggestions that he was positioning himself for this kind of role by being prominent in the recent debate about Scottish broadcasting, but if this is the case he is not admitting to it.

People also wonder how his past will affect the commission. As well as leaving BBC Scotland under a cloud, he was pushed out of Scottish in a boardroom clear-out in 1997, which has inevitably led to questions about whether he would have scores to settle.

This is probably going too far, but it is certainly likely that his thinking will have been shaped by his experience of Scottish cutbacks at both organisations.

This will doubtless add to the mixed feelings towards the commission that are sure to be setting in at the BBC and Scottish. It is hardly likely to make either broadcaster weaker, but political interference could strain BBC Scotland's relationship with White City. And while Scottish would jump at extra commissions from the networks, it will probably not welcome any attempt to make it deliver more regional public service broadcasting without recompense.

One thing that Jenkins has been saying is that he wants the commission to have economic, cultural and democratic lines of enquiry. This means asking whether it is building an economically stronger television production sector; how well Scottish culture is reflected on television; and whether broadcast journalism is making a strong enough contribution to democracy.

He also intends to start by finding out what the sector and the public would ideally like and then coming up with proposals for how to achieve them.

One obvious possibility is quotas. The thinking goes that if you add specific Scottish quotas to the current requirements on out-of-London production, you force the networks to take the nations seriously.

In the case of the BBC, which has an additional internal target requiring 17% of network commissions to come from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by 2012, you could insist on separate targets for each nation. If Scotland had a 9% or 10% target, it would take the country to what Salmond believes should be a minimum level of network commissioning income.

The trouble is that quotas are loathed by much of the television industry, although less so in Scotland. Bobby Hain, managing director of Scottish, for instance, says: "Quotas are a blunt instrument but actually they do work. If things don't improve, I can't see other alternatives."

One alternative is to devolve broadcasting policy to Scotland, possibly even including an independent regulator, which would surely be a major step towards independence.

But it is hard to see how it would solve the immediate broadcasting problems. It would give the Scottish Executive a say over things like programme content and media ownership, but it would not increase the number of network commissions. No Scottish regulator could force the London networks to do that.

Philip Schlesinger, professor of cultural policy at Glasgow University, says: "It's not clear to me that devolving control necessarily shifts market power north of the Border. What's the connection between those?"

The independent producers are also keen to be part of the solution. None was invited to the Bute Room to represent their companies last week, and there are some who are nervous that the SNP's apparent first priority of changing the BBC will see them overlooked.

As Colin Cameron, head of Lion Television Scotland, says: "I hope that somebody is chosen for the commission who represents the interests of the indies and not just those of the broadcasters."

There is therefore much food for thought as the Jenkins commission gets under way. But before it is allowed to slip into the background to get down to business, we can expect all these issues to be rehearsed again at the Great Nations and Regions Swindle debate at the Edinburgh Television Festival on August 24. Jenkins, no doubt, will want a front-row seat.