The BBC has scaled back a day dedicated to Gary Barlow after radio rivals voiced concerns about over-promotion.
Earlier this week the BBC website featured details of the day of coverage, which featured appearances on Ken Bruce and Steve Wright's shows, an "Ask Gary" Q&A on the BBC website, and the live broadcast of a concert from the BBC Radio Theatre.
The broadcasts tied in with the launch of the The X Factor judge's solo album Since I Saw You Last.
"This is no ordinary performance - throughout the day, you can listen, watch and interact with a bona fide national treasure - before seeing him perform in concert," the BBC website stated.
However, following criticism from commercial radio industry trade body Radio Centre and others, the website has been edited and some of the Barlow coverage scrapped.
References to "no ordinary performance" and Barlow being a "bona fide national treasure" have been removed and replaced with more neutral language: "You can listen and watch Gary performing In Concert, live from the BBC Radio Theatre."
Radio 2 has also dropped Barlow's appearance on Wright's show and the live website Q&A.
A spokeswoman for the BBC said that the "In Concert" format involves artists "dropping into other Radio 2 shows and our broadcast plans are always being fine-tuned and are often subject to change in advance of a live transmission".
However, Matt Payton, RadioCentre head of external affairs, argued that the BBC over-stepped its remit by giving such blanket coverage to a single artist.
"We wouldn't say that a station like Radio 2 and across the BBC we wouldn't expect a big star like Gary Barlow to appear," he said, speaking in an interview on BBC Radio 4's Media Show.
"But for us it is a question of degree. The issue we are raising is whether this sort of extensive coverage across TV, radio and online is potentially the BBC straying from its remit. If you look at the scale and the reach of the BBC if it starts to offer things akin to free advertising that potentially has an impact on our revenue."
Payton pointed out that BBC Radio 2 has been given a "very clear remit to offer something distinctive and different to the commercial sector".
The BBC spokeswoman said that an artist with broad appeal such as Barlow would be covered by a wide range of services, and that the corporation did not expect to be judged for it decisions "before it has broadcast".
"It is not unusual for an artist of broad appeal to appear on a range of programmes that reach different audiences, this is entirely in keeping with our editorial guidelines," she said. "We expect to be judged on content we have actually broadcast, rather than in advance of broadcast. However, we are careful to make sure the amount of coverage given to any artist is appropriate and we will always monitor our plans to ensure this remains the case."
The corporation has got into hot water for over-zealous promotion and tie-ups with big film and music events in the past.
In 2010 the BBC Trust ruled that a Harry Potter-themed day on BBC Radio 1 gave undue prominence to the film and broke editorial guidelines.
In the same year the BBC admitted that it had breached guidelines in promoting U2's album No Line on the Horizon, which included altering its logo to "U2=BBC" and holding a concert on the roof of Broadcasting House.
A year earlier BBC Radio 1 was criticised by the BBC Trust for overly endorsing Coldplay's Viva la Vida tour, following a complaint from the RadioCentre. * To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". * To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on and .
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