Scrap the B.B.C

Why should I pay for Brusells to broadcast it's shame faced propaganda into my home?

Those in favour of keeping the B.B.C are a funny lot.
What else could be bought with 3 BILLION per year?
A navy, an army, airforce, Schools,Hospitals, Tax cuts, etc,etc,etc.
3 Billion !!!

Ben , London, England

I would defend the BBC to the end and would, if necessary, pay more for the priviledge of programmes not interrupted randomly by advertising.

Do people not understand the concept of Public Service Broadcasting? No-one else will provide it if the BBC doesn't.

Pat.R, Cwll,

It is right that the BBC does high quality programming Also right is its inefficiency and its trying to do everything - radio, TV, internet. Everybody resents the licence fee Quality is being dumbed down ( BBC 3). But there has been nobody capable of reforming it because that is all that is needed

david kay, heminford grey, england

Too much of what is great in this country is being lost or diluted. The B.B.C is the only tv station that I and many of my friends feel gives us the decent, indepth and interesting media that the independents lose in their sensationalising and pandering to the mass audience.long live the B.B.C.

David Laverick , Brinsford,

Sir Lyons may be speaking through forked lips when he says "technological invention" is the key to BBC success. British broadcasting has long relied on illicit surveillance of Americans for information and exploitation in news and entertainment. Freeing all stations should be his first goal.

Jeanine Brown, Albany, USA

We should get rid of this monopoly once and for all!!

Louis, Liverpool, UK

Inform, Educate and Entertain are the old core values of the BBC, but times have changed and with digital TV i believe the BBC must change for the good of TV. And if that means we need a new way to finance the corporation then so be it, we cannot not go on has we are being held to ransom

Clive, Dartford, Kent

BBC news/current affairs is so biased in favour of Labour it serves no purpose except as a propaganda tool for the Govt. BBC TV programming is dumbed down & most not worth watching. I object to paying a TAX for soaps, reality TV, makeover shows etc. The sooner the licence is scrapped the better.

Donna Walker, Effingham, England

These liberal/lefties who insist on forcing the entire country to subsidise their programmes don't even know what PSB is. Why should "minority" programming get billions while popular programming "majority" gets nothing.

John, Salford, England

To all those people who criticise the BBC, look at American television - all reality TV and adverts very 5 minutes. Do we really want that?
I would also like to remind people that the license fee is not just for the TV channels but the radio, website and so on.

Lucy, Sussex,

I'd happily pay my TV Licence just for the BBC's Natural History Unit, but of course we're not allowed to say things like that in this country. I mean, heaven forbid we should actually be proud of anything!

Yes, the BBC has some problems, but just look at US TV and be glad we've got Auntie!

James, Sutton Coldfield, UK

There are no meaningful justifications for a large public broadcasting network and great dangers in terms of political leverage on the free media. What needs to be done is to abolish the BBC licence fee completely and let these creative types flourish in the real market place or completely sink.

kevin, Lincoln, UK

All the numpties who have commented so far fail to see that much of the transmitter infrastructure will fail if the BBC does. And any way why are these people who moan on about the BBC and the licence free so happy to watch so many pay per advert session television. Do they really ads every 5 mins.

Cranford, poole,

All those slagging off the bbc should just watch tv in any other country in the world. The real brainwashing is the commerical channels reflecting the views of their owners, and the absurb number of adverts that render many things unwatchable and very annoying! The licence fee is a bargain!

David Hope, York,

Not surprised the BBC wants to retain its cosy financial structure in place - and even I as a Labour-supporter can recognise their political bias, to achieve that.

They are financially incompetent and the guaranteed financial income makes them complacent and uncompetitive.

W. Dobson , Chester le Street, UK

I think in this day and age the licence fee is unjustifiable as new media sources come online. The BBC no longer commands the media landscape like it once did and its time to scrap the tax.

I spend more using my playstation and PC than watching any BBC channels. Should I send Sony a licence fee?

Darren , Derby, Derbyshire

I agree with many comments already posted, the BBC is lazy, self serving and bias. The billions it receives are wasted and the programming is lazy and repetitive, why cannot the BBC be as innovative as HBO in the USA? Also in Scotland it airs hours of gaelic tv per week yet only 0.2% speak gaelic.

jon fallis, kirkcudbright, scotland

The BBC is certainly not accountable to anyone that I can see. If you mean directly to the public, I am sorry to say that your complaints proceedures are ineffective fig leaves. Since you are also independent from government that leaves the BBC as a guardian reading, latte drinking law unto itself.

Diane Hepburn, Reading, UK

BBC should not share the licence fee. BBC is worldwide recognised as one of the best broadcasters and we should be proud . It is doomed to criticism because: a.it has to meet the demands of everyone so there will always be something not up to other people's liking; b. Brits love to criticise

lance, London,

"clear line of accountability back to those who pay"
What - and where is their option to decline payment ?

"the demands of its customers "
Customers have the choice to go elsewhere.
We are not "customers" of the BBC we are HOSTAGES

Jacinda, London, UK

Abolishing the licence fee would surely mean a swift end to 'TV Licensing', whose threatening advertising tactics over the years have proved far more shocking than any BBC production.

Richard, Devon, UK

Has anyone ever been to the US and watched TV there. The license fee is a small price to pay to preserve the fantastic TV system we have in the UK.

kevin, Belfast, UK

The BBC can go hang.
'Auntie' stopped representing me and mine many years ago when Dalek Birt was in the chair.
Since then it has been the mouth piece for every Muslim terrorist or other nutcase who despises the UK.
Time for a huge shake up and return to the 'Auntie' of old.

Howard Leech, Gdansk, Poland

A Liberal media should not have a monopoly, this is worse
than a poll tax. Atleast the bin men don't try and brain wash
people with a load of LIBERAL TRIPE.

Steve, Manchester, UK

The BBC no longer represent the majority as the majority of people live outside of London. The BBC may have always had a London bias but any attempt to represent the views of the nation as a whole are long gone. The BBC has become feminist, ethnic, leftwing liberal alienating all other views.

Tim, Guisborough, England

Scrap the licence fee now. The very few decent programs on the BBC are made by independent companies and would continue to be made, as for the rest no one would miss it.

sedgwick, London, UK

Not many supporters for the BBC and its poll tax here then. And not surprising really, nothing but lefty propoganda and repeats with the occasional worthwhile production coming along about once a year. Pay per view has to come soon, and only because the BBC have forgotten what they are there for.

Timsky, Guildford,

The Licence fee is well past it's sell by date, if the BBC produces anything of value (questionable in my mind) then kill the licence fee, and let the BBC run advertising or become a sub scription service, then let's see how much people really value their contribution. I for one would not pay!

David Allcock, Lytham, UK

An organisation that takes ALL of the licence money without the guts to put its logo on the licence, threatens anyone with prison who watches its rivals without one, and does everything it can to spoil ITVs ratings.

Patrick, Reading, Berks

The BBC need to work out their considered position on this matter.
Can I suggest taking 100 or so top managers to Barbados for an extended weekend to "Blue Sky".
It wouldn't affect the programming at all.

Minnie Ovens, London, UK

Mr Lyons,
The BBC is grossly overmanned. For example, in my experience in events BBC covers, it send the most number of reporters, technicians and assistants. In countries abroad,It has plethora of radio presents, TV presenters, business correspondents etc. and USA alone more than 20 of them.

Gary Smith, LONDON, UK

What nonsense - the BBC has over the last 11 years become the political mouthpiece of the Labour party. It is biased beyond belief and now quite blatant in the way it administers state sponsored propaganda - your abuse of the license fee to these ends is shameful.

Bryan, Totland, UK

It cannot be right that a broadcasting agency funded by a mandatory tax thrives while commercial broadcasters suffer and in some cases, face extinction. It also isn't right that the BBC retains it's funding at present levels while the rest of the UK struggles to survive. Reduce the fee or divide it.

Mark B, Hull, UK

Forced to pay to an organisation which is institutionally biased to the left, whose political bias now permeates not only the news output but most of the 'entertainment' on offer, is offensive and undemocratic. Get rid of the licence fee now.

Harry, Brighton,

What on earth is 'public service' about the BBC? It's just trash financed by Stalinist methods.

John Ledbury, Kings Lynn, England

I rarely find anything of interest on the BBC, just pap and repeats.

Mc, Manchester,

"For the BBC, the licence fee provides funding unfettered by government and a clear line of accountability back to those who pay.."

The BBC is clearly 'fettered' by the present government and arrogant and censoring of its publics opinions. It is first rate propaganda and second rate entertainment.

Roger, Southwark,

how can they justify the expensive license fee, i worked out that i
hardly ever watch it, except for due south and they canned that, the best news is on channel 4 and as for period dramas i would prefer to pull my toenails out with a pair of pliers,overpaid and underworked staff just like the banks.

dave, sheffield, gb

Preserving the licence fee is just rigging the market. No organization works well when it has a monopoly claim on a permanent stream of income.

Most of the troubles at the BBC are because of the fee and lack of competition - arrogance, unaccountability, bias and contempt for the the public.

jon livesey, Sunnyvale, CA/USA

Being forced to pay a tax for the left-leaning metrosexual BBC offends every bone in my body.

The sooner the BBC collapses, the better.

Paul, Manchester, England

Television license fee is anachronism and a poll tax. BBC cannot argue for its continuance. The bottom line is it must be substantially reduced so that the BBC can focus on the really public broadcasting core like news, art and drama. If license fee is to be shared it should be reduced first.

James, London, UK

The BBC at best make mediocre entertainment programmes, they are institutionally biased to the left(and have little qualms about repeating government spin word for word), they impose a nastily enforced poll tax on the public and for all these reasons they deserve to lose the licence fee entirely.

Steph, Newcastle, England

If the BBC's output is what people really want, they will choose to pay for it, through subscription or pay-per-view. The licence fee is a soft option which the lazy BBC management, terrified of the rigours of the free market, naturally want to keep.

Richard Baron, London,