Originally Posted by Chris

No, of course it's not. Culture is only for those that can afford the price of a theatre ticket, after all. The plebs can huddle round the wireless.

Honestly daddy, of all the bone-headed comments ... TV's impact on our national life has been immense. It has made culture and entertainment universally available, has played an important role in creating and maintaining a sense of British national identity and has transformed our outlook on the world - the modern success of major fund raising events like Sport Relief is directly attributable to TV images of the famine in Ethiopia, which wasn't the first or the biggest the world had ever seen, but was communicated in a way no other humanitarian disaster had ever been up to that point.

A basic TV service, providing news and catering for as wide a range of tastes and outlooks as possible, is of course absolutely essential.