Sometimes, a competitor just comes up with the best line. The best, smartest, most creative way of saying something. And when they do, you have to either live with it, or try to go one better. The worst thing you can do is copy it. Not only does it admit that they were the best, it reminds everyone that they got there first.

The example that springs to mind is the BBC's great line they used for iPlayer, their on-demand, online TV player. "Making the unmissable, unmissable". You can argue that the comma is not strictly accurate, but splitting grammatical hairs is not the point. It's a great line. Succinct, witty and memorable. So what do ITV do when they - belatedly - launch their iPlayer equivalent? "Amazing telly you can't miss". Come on ITV - that's just paraphrasing your competitor. It's the same pun, but not as well done.

Now this was a little while ago, and it annoyed me at the time, but I would not have been compelled to write a blog had Sky not joined in with their recent poster campaign. Huge pictures of Eric Cantona along with the line - wait for it - "The unmissable should be just that". Awful. The same joke - again - but a clunky, graceless construction that the writer should be ashamed of.

Come on guys! This is a creative industry. The ad writers at Sky and ITV should hang their heads in collective plagiaristic shame.

Or maybe it just confirms what we always knew, and what everyone subconsciously feels compelled to confirm, ie that BBC are just better at being creative than everyone else in the TV world.