BBC funding

The British government seem to be intent on abolishing the BBC television licence fee. And yet it is not clear that there are better funding alternatives.

  • Direct "grant in aid", as used to be provided for the World Service, would make the BBC even more dependent on government largesse
  • Advertising, while used already for non-UK services, would compromise independence if it beame more than a minor source of funding
  • Subscription is impractical for broadcast radio and television, and undesirable at least for the text parts of the websites
  • Other commercial sales, while useful, will not bridge the gap.
I think the licence fee is the least worst option. If this is to end, I would much prefer direct taxpayer "grant in aid" to the other alternatives (acknowledging that they are already far too beholden to government as it is so an annual grant may not make much difference).

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