But Jeremy Hunt is persuaded, on the advice of his lawyers, that Lord Puttnam is wrong.
In fact, what Lord Puttnam has proposed is not the full Levesonian Monty.
Lord Puttnam feared that regulators and legislators in Europe and the UK would "remain supine and simply wave this acquisition through".
Among those giving evidence have been songwriter Billy Bragg, former peer Tony Benn, Tory Lords leader Lord Strathclyde and film maker Lord Puttnam.
Then it's on to the main event - the third reading of the Defamation Bill - as amended at report stage, courtesy of Labour's Lord Puttnam.
Specifically answering Lord Puttnam's point Mark Hansen, director of business development for Lego Universe, said children were very good at determining the underlying ethic of a virtual world.
And watch out for a series of amendments tabled jointly by the formidable alliance of Lords Puttnam and Mackay, and Baronesses Scotland and Boothroyd to create a "Leveson-esque" voluntary Arbitration Service for defamation cases.
Maybe the government can block Lord Puttnam and not provide a compromise, but the lesson from this episode is that the Parliamentary supporters of press regulation are not going to get bored and drift away.
The bill now includes a Levesonesque press regulatory body, a recognition commission intended to validate voluntary press regulation - and there's been some rather inflated comment about the chances of "saving press freedom" by reversing the Puttnam amendments.
Lord Puttnam's warnings were echoed by, among others, Tory ex-cabinet minister and former Midland Independent Newspapers chairman Lord Fowler, former BBC director-general crossbencher Lord Birt, and two former Guardian Media Group chairmen, Labour peers Lord Myners and Lord Gavron.
The Lib Dem cabinet minister's announcement preceded a Lords debate on 4 November 2010, opened by Channel 4 deputy chairman and Labour peer Lord Puttnam, on "the case for maintaining a broad plurality of media ownership in the United Kingdom".
At the moment the Labour peer Lord Puttnam has attached "Leveson" amendments to the Defamation Bill, and the prime minister may end up dropping that much campaigned-for measure to liberalise the libel laws, rather than allow the Commons to vote on them.
In part, this reflects the fact that some of the first rich people to back Labour came from the arts men like David Puttnam, a film maker, and Melvyn Bragg, a television presenter. (Both men are now peers.) But it also illustrates a keenness to cultivate opinion makers.
So it is quite possible to imagine a rainbow coalition across the parties voting down any attempt to kill the Puttnam amendment. (Remember the Coalition agreement between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems doesn't cover this issue, so a break in collective responsibility would be possible - although every breach of this kind adds to Coalition tensions).
Update, 15:55: I was fascinated that in the House of Lords debate today, Lord Puttnam said that he believed Jeremy Hunt as culture secretary could intervene to block News Corporation's bid to own all of BSkyB, on the grounds News Corp would not be a "fit-and-proper" owner (in the light of the recent revelations about conduct at the News of the World).
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