i agree too. The BBC is far from perfect, but it's a good deal better than any other large media outlet i can think of. Kind of The Guardian of the airwaves, y'know? They're still going to steer clear of undermining the established order in any great way, but are - at least - a step up from the rest.

However, the problem i have with the licence-fee is that it's mandatory. It's a technical issue, i guess, but there should be a way of blocking an individual TV from picking up the BBC signal. If Joe Smith decides he'd rather save 100 quid a year and lose out on the BBC, then he should have the right to do so.

As it happens, BBC News-24 is by a *long* way the most watched TV channel in my household, with the dial rarely leaving it (except for a couple of hours on Sky-1 from 8 to 10 on Thursdays, of course :-)

So i have no objections to paying the licence fee. If some of that money is supporting an alternative to the tabloid mess that is Sky News or the shiny shallowness of CNN, then it's money well-spent. And BBC-Four is pretty good too.