I always look at the World News pages to read overseas news! I then look at the "USA and Canada" section. It is the headline story there. Where it ought to be. It's hardly the headline story in the UK is it?

I think you (and the Wail) are over egging the pudding on this licence fee issue. The BBC spokesperson apparently said in response to a question from an MP:-

"They won’t be coming to your door in quite the way you imply.”

She added that over-75s would first be notified in two letters that the free universal concessions were ending, with the BBC also offering telephone and face-to-face support".

Face to face support, when needed, implies help and not policing.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

This is becoming very common to your replies to people's posts... You've totally missed my point which was about the BBC's double standards. High-ranked, multiple negative Trump stories which all appear on the UK page and the opposite when not negative. They of course all appear on the "USA and Canada" section.

I do think the license fee is on borrowed time really. The younger generations are all glued to Netflix, Amazon Prime and Youtube.

Edited by dollardays (18 Jul 2019 5.30pm)

I really hope not. The principal of a national broadcaster free both from government control and the long arm of commercial interests is very important.

I realise they raise a lot of revenue these days from overseas sales where advertising is involved but it doesn't happen at home to any significant degree.

It means we get an unbiased approach to news reporting, despite all the claims to the contrary expressed here. Just because that reporting doesn't match your personal world view doesn't mean it is biased.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

The licence fee is a bad business model for the BBC. Their income is falling relatively year on year as the younger switch to the ever growing streaming services meanwhile their core population gets older and is now alienated and will die off.

This combined with the growing number of people who simply refuse to pay the licence makes for a bad business model.

The refusal rate has increased in the last couple of years by 1% each year and now stands at 7%. If it continues at this rate it will hit a tipping point when the BBC and the courts will not be able to cope with the volume of cases. Non payment makes up a massive percentage of court cases.

At the moment the BBC is trying to deflect blame to the government and to protect it's current model. It would be better accepting the inevitable and moving to a model where they can generate as much income as they like.

I see a future 2 tier BBC where the majority of it will be commercial (BBC1 etc.) and the taxpayer will subside specific areas such as local news or education. The government already pays for the world service.

Either way the axe will need to be taken to the tree. Too many staff and too many well paid staff.

One more point

'BBC have subjected us to unashamed anti-Brexit propaganda over the Past three years' [Link]