[jambutty]

I think that we should first deal with the myth that the BBC equals the TV licence.

IT DOESN’T!

If the BBC suddenly ceased to exist today there would still be a TV license to buy. In the same way that we buy a Road Fund License for our motorised vehicle to enable us to legally use the public highway.

You need a license to own a firearm.
A pub landlord needs a license to sell liquor as does any premises that sells booze.
A pub needs a license to play music in the pub.
A tobacconist needs a license to sell tobacco products.
You need a license to operate a HAM radio or a CB radio.
There was a time when people had to have a dog license to keep a dog.
We even had to have a license to listen to the radio whether it was from a ‘proper’ wireless set or as ‘cable’ radio from Uni-Relay or Rediffusion etc.
We need a license for a variety of things and they are issued by the government and the government gets the money.

In the case of the TV license much of the revenue generated goes to fund the BBC and the BBC is charged with collecting the license fee. If the BBC didn’t do it the government would set up yet another QUANGO to collect the license money and probably a different Quango to check on who has and has not got a license.

If there were no TV license fee (and it would take a change in the law for that to happen) the funding of the BBC would still have to be made from the public purse – that’s you and me. OK! So let the BBC stand on its own two feet as it were. That means that it would become a private enterprise and any profits would go to shareholders and fat cat bosses.

It is difficult to get hold of the actual figures but the BBC does make a profit from the programmes that are sold to other TV companies and all over the world.

Currently £135.50 (that’s a fraction over 37p per day) it represents extremely good value when you tot up what we get for it.

With the digibox we can view more than 30 channels for FREE or rather for 37p per day. We can also listen to any radio station that we can pick up. Many of them are BBC local radio stations.

Read all about the license fee at http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/licencefee/

If you watch just one film per day you are making a profit on the deal. 37p to watch a film in the comfort of your home as opposed to several pounds to watch it in a cinema. Not that there are many of them left now.

Last weekend I watched THREE FA cup matches and it only cost me 74p. On Tuesday I watched a European Cup game for 37p and any second now I’m going to watch the Uefa Cup match on channel 5 for another 37p. Beat that for value.

Even if the license fee went up to £1 a day (£365pa) it would still be the best value ever.

So I vote a resounding YES! Keep the TV license fee.