The news that Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned the BBC to expect a decrease in the TV licencing fee should be greeted warmly. Currently standing at £145.50 for colour coverage (it actually went up in April), this is a licence for the BBC to waste money. While the public sector as a whole faces cuts, the BBC has hitherto been left alone. No more.
Only yesterday, the Telegraph reported the huge sums wasted on flights for senior BBC Executives to and from South Africa for the World Cup, not to mention the overall costs of covering the world cup itself (did it really need so many presenters to go out to South Africa?). This is added to the huge sums paid to mediocre presenters such as Jonathan Ross - who thankfully bid farewell to the Broadcaster last night - and the amounts wasted on digital channels such as BBC Three and 6Music, and even 5Live Sports Extra, which many licence fee payers cannot access by conventional means - such as the car radio.
The only shame is that we have to wait until the licence fee review next year; with actual cuts, if they are introduced, only as early as 2012.
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