The digital economy bill was an ambitious piece of legislation designed, among other things, to overhaul the broadcasting industry, start the ball rolling on radio switchover, ensure high-speed broadband access for all, and deal with internet piracy.

Gordon Brown regarded it as an attempt to equip Britain for the digital age by providing the infrastructure needed to ensure the country's creative industries could flourish.

A lack of parliamentary time ahead of the general election torpedoed several key measures in the bill. And a process that would normally involve several weeks or even months of legislative scrutiny was squeezed into a two-hour Commons debate last night, during which the rest of the bill was largely waved through by MPs.

Today the bill is being considered for a final time in the Lords, where peers are expected to rubber stamp the legislation.

Ofcom

A clause widening Ofcom's power to oversee "all media" rather than merely TV and radio was opposed by the Tories and dropped by the government earlier this week as part of "wash up" horsetrading with the opposition to get the rest of the bill through.

Two other clauses were passed, giving Ofcom new responsibility for producing regular reports on the evolution of the internet in the UK and looking at how on-demand TV and other websites are contributing to "public service objectives". That amounts to little more than a recognition that public service broadcasting content will increasingly be delivered over the internet as well as on TV.

Internet piracy

Most of the controversial parts of the bill are contained in clauses 4-18, which deal with the contentious issue of illegal downloading and how best to tackle it. Moves by backbench MPs to defeat measures forcing ISPs to restrict or cut off their customers' internet access if they habitually download films or music illegally failed.

The most incendiary part of the bill - clause 18 - which handed the high court powers to grant injunctions forcing ISPs to block access to online sites, was withdrawn. However, it was replaced by a government amendment which will effectively achieve the same outcome by different means.

Other clauses, including one that gives Ofcom the power to impose fines of up to £250,000 on ISPs who don't act against persistent offenders, went through. Cue fury from those, including privacy campaigners, who claim this infringes the rights of internet users.

Internet domain names

Clauses 19 and 21 give the government the power to intervene when new domain names are registered, after consulting Ofcom. The regulator is now likely to keep a careful eye on companies who register ".uk" sites to ensure they are not doing so for "illicit use" – ie illegal downloads. Currently, domain names are handed out by an independent body.

Channel 4

Clauses 22 and 23 will prompt changes at Channel 4. The broadcaster's remit will be rewritten and extended so its original requirement to make innovative content for minority groups applies to its online activities as well as television. It must also produce news and content for children and teenagers, addressing the concerns of campaigners who claim children's TV is in the doldrums.

Commercial TV

There is more broadcasting housekeeping in clauses 24 to 28, which creates single channel three franchises for England and Scotland, a measure that will save ITV plc and STV some money. England currently has 10 regional channel three franchises, all owned by ITV plc, while STV owns the two Scottish licences, STV and Grampian.

The licences for Telextext on ITV and Channel Five, a service which many viewers – particularly the elderly – still use, will expire in 2014, the bill confirms. Ofcom will be given the power to rule on their future after that, but if those licences are renewed they must be on "commercially viable" terms. In other words, ITV and Five must be able to make money from them. Both would rather use the capacity teletext occupies for more profitable services.

ITV replacement news services

The government's decision to withdraw clause 29 marks the end of an acronym – IFNC. Independently financed news consortiums, which would have made local news to replace regional bulletins on ITV1, foundered in the face of Conservative opposition.

The government also failed to sign contracts with the preferred bidders for three IFNC pilots – which did not need parliamentary approval via the bill – before Whitehall closed shop for the election.

If Labour forms the new government after 6 May, they could yet be revived.

Digital radio switchover

On to clauses 30-40, which tidy up some of the radio licences in preparation for digital switchover. The government is handed the power to set a date for switchover, as it did for television, but despite industry pleas, there no date has been enshrined in law. Radio groups believe an announcement about when the analogue signal will be switched off would help them sell digital to a sceptical public.

Video games

Another industry that was the subject of intense scrutiny in the original Digital Britain report – video games – is also dealt with in just two clauses. Games that include violence or encourage criminal activity will be regulated more tightly. Regulation of games will be removed from the British Board of Film Classification, and handed to the Video Standards Council, but that is unlikely to fundamentally alter the way the current ratings system.

Intellectual property

Clause 43, a controversial measure which would have allowed organisations to use "orphan works" – content whose owners cannot be found – has been jettisoned. That will not please public institutions such as the British Library, which wants to make more of its vast catalogue of works available online but must overcome huge copyright problems in order to do so. It will cheer rights owners, including photographers, who argue the change would allow publisher to take their work without paying for it, simply by claiming their owners could not be traced.

Two other clauses were passed, raising the maximum penalty for a criminal conviction for copyright infringement, such as copying DVDs, to £50,000; and absolving libraries of copyright infringeemnt for lending ebooks and audiobooks.