[cjmillsnun]

Kronas,

When you look at the (compared to just about every foreign country) HIGH QUALITY output of all of our terrestial tv channels (include Freeview) then the small sacrifice of £121 a YEAR (that is only £2.33 a week) that restricts the advertising for the majority of people in this country to the small number of commercial stations, means that

a) the cost of advertising on TV is relatively low (but is set so that ITV and the other commercial stations just earn enough)

b) We get impartial news cover (remember that) - listen to BBC radio news on Radio 4 or on 5 Live or watch the news on BBC 4- Instead of Murdoch's populist xenophobic drivel.

c) We get 8 TV channels that provide a public service (with the possible exception of BBC parliament.)

d) We get 8 National Radio stations and countless local radio stations (all without advertisements)

e) There are high quality documentaries and informative programmes (eg Panorama and Horizon)

This is bloody good value for money. Especially as they pay for $ky, NTL and Telewest have them on their service.

The TV licence isn't a tax, because the BBC is NOT a government department (which leads me back to their impartiality)