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  This is a tricky one...a few years ago I think I was all for the abolition of the License Fee complaining that it was just an extra tax, but now Im not so sure. Since then we have had Freeview foistered upon us and you can see at a glance what televisual life would be like without structure. To quote from Pink Floyd's The Wall for a moment, dating from 1981...
  " I got 114 channels of sh*t on the TV to choose from.."
  
  This previewed what was to come. Now its here. Freeview shows what TV without the BBC would be like. Wall to wall garbage, and repeats of garbage, garbage updates, if you missed the garbage last week here's another chance etc etc.
  
  Almost all countries have a state TV service funded sililarly to the BBC or at least through government funds. The problem with the BBC is that they try to do too much. They really need to lop of the various branches that just consume money taking it away from the central flagship BBC1. They spread their resources too thin even though they have plenty of resources to play with. They tried to cut some services last year but as ever twas met with howls of protest from the few.
  
  If the BBC was gone and we were left to market forces, and channels as supplied by Sky and Virgin and so on, costs to the viewer would escalate madly. And those that couldnt afford it would be left watching...yes Freeview..if they were lucky. The BBC gives us some structure and keeps us on message as per government shenanigans and so on...Im not sure the independent news services are quite on the money. So my view is that the BBC holds us all together, gives us a national identity, or more accurately helps us to hold on to a national identity. But it needs to stop trying to do too much and to pour its resources into central mainstream programming.

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