Quoting Andy P <

I personally think it is time the BBC generated their own funds by whatever
other method apart from this ludicrous licence fee; PPV, or advertising. My
car insurance is now cheaper than this damn fee! I drive my car every day,
but I cant remember the last time I watched anything on a BBC TV channel,
I'm being diddled! However, I would be willing to pay the 6 or 7 quid or
whatever it is that comes out of the TV fee to pay for BBC radio, I do
listen to that on a daily basis.

I don't mind the licence fee as I consider it fairly good value. I would probably be prepared to pay that amount for the radio alone, as a sucker for radio dramas, comedy, and documentaries R4 is superb and globally, an unrivalled service as far as I can see. I greatly value 5Live. Peter Allen and Anita anand are a dream partnership on 'Drive' -or in my case- bicycle. The weekly cinematic sparring between Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode makes excellent listening- and I bloody hate going to the cinema. (I'm not keen on the phone ins though, your average pub bore's mechanism of torture for the rest of us. Also Nicky Campbell needs a bloody good smacking the cocky little bastard). Locally, Radio Norfolk's sports coverage is brilliant and saves me a packet on internet subscription to Norwich commentaries if I can't get to a game. Roy Waller is a true Norfolk hero. So frankly- the telly's an added bonus for me though I'm not really much into telly.

I do feel the fee itself though, as a method of supporting the Beeb must be well past its sell-by date. The Beeb make a fortune from selling programmes abroad etc and even advertising (on BBC World for example). To set up this enormous beaurocratic apparatus to collect £90 or whatever it is (unless you're blind and you get a small discount- I love that) each year off every house in the country with a telly just seems bizzare. And I detest those threatening ads they run on BBC1 that suggest if you don't pay your fee, your genitals will be hacked off by a machete wielding gangster and your kids will be fed to crocodiles-or some other similar threats that I forget the details of. And I'll never forgive Paul Merton for doing the voice over for one of these 'ads'. Twatt. He'll be doing Tesco's ads next.

Cheers
Giles.