[Stuart]

I say keep the licence fee. The whole industry needs it. People have held up Channel 4 as an example of good programming. It is, but it is partially funded by advertising and partially funded by the licence fee.

As I stated earlier, I think making the BBC a commercial entity will cause massive problems for the existing commercial channels (several, including Channels 4, 5 and ITV would possibly fold). It's basic economics that the more suppy you introduce into a market, the lower prices for that supply go. Commercialising the BBC would introduce a massive supply of advertising space into an already over saturated market.

Apart from anything else, if you have watched any TV or listened to any radio station in this country, you have either directly or indirectly benefitted from the BBC. Whether they provided services for production, trained the technicians or developed the technology involved.

Also, the licence fee allows the Beeb to "carry" a series that has low ratings, but may improve. Look at "Men Behaving Badly", "Only Fools and Horses" and "Blackadder". The first series of each of those was dreadful, and if they were on a commercial channel, they probably wouldn't have been recommissioned (this actually happened with Men Behaving Badly - it's first series was on ITV and wasn't recommissioned by them).