The BBC - Not Time To Go?
	I can only protest at the folly of attempting to bring down the television license fee (Cf. Chris Denton's article ''The BBC - Time To Go''). Away from ideological debates, the measure must surely be the effect on the quality of television and radio programming. And by destroying the delicate balance between public service and commercial broadcasting in the UK, the effect can only be to make it worse.  To remove the license fee surrenders television, and, lest we forget, radio, wholly to the beautifully obscure world of commercial logic. At this point the pro arguments play the idealized pluralistic card - clearly, we are led to believe, by opening the market, programme makers will make programmes people like and at the same time this keeps the advertisers happy. The BBC, an out of touch and arrogant remnant of British imperialism is thrown by the wayside and everyone lives happily ever after.
						The BBC - Worthy of a place in our hearts?
	Clearly indeed. And then you look at ITV now and realise the folly of that argument. ITV viewing figures have been steadily dwindling, and no amount of ‘Celebrity Fit Club’ seems to be capable of changing that. In broadcasting commercial logic simply does not apply to beneficial ends. Here’s why; - mainstream commercial television relies entirely on advertising for its budget, and quite clearly, your average company wants its adverts to be seen by as many people as possible. As a result, programme makers are driven towards making programmes that they think will be as popular as possible, and popular, at that, to those with the most disposable income at hand. This in itself is quite obvious. What results however, is that programme makers resort to specific formulas of what has been previously and recently popular, say, at present, celebrity-based reality TV. This may work for a while, but in the long-term results in programmes that are formulaic, stale, and increasingly unpopular. As these pressures increase, new talent is given less chance to develop, which in the long run can only result in a decrease in the general standard of television. Ultimately, also, this means a reduction in viewing figures, and then the cyclical problem of the advertisers again demanded the gratification of an instant hit. ITV, for example, would have been unlikely to have persevered after the shaky first series of ‘Blackadder’. Instead we get ‘Hardware’; - mild and inoffensive, pushing all the formulaic buttons but ultimately mundane. Commercial logic, it seems, creates disliked and bad television. But forget television for a moment. What always seems to be forgotten in license fee debates is that the money is also, believe it or not, used to fund the BBC’s array of radio services. Removing the license fee might be bad for television, but it would be simply disastrous for radio. The alternative, local commercial radio in the UK, is both dreadful and certainly not local. Trent FM, Radio Aire, Red Rose Rock FM may give the appearance of serving local markets, but again commercial logic does not transfer successfully to broadcasting. The need to reduce costs results in mergers as the evolution of companies such as Capital and EMAP into radio Caliphates owning a number of local stations, and using the same centrally produced programming on each. Again, commercial pressures require mundane, Top 40-based play-lists to bring in middle-of-the-road disposable incomer types, but eventual this too becomes stale, requiring stations like Radio 1 to break new music on its evening shows which then become mainstream themselves. To abandon the license fee would prove therefore disastrous not only for television, not only for radio, but also for the music we all know and love as well. John Holmes. Comments?
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