Re: Sian Kevill, BBC Licence fee for broadcast - NOT internet.,

David Elstein — Tue, 04 Mar 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Sian's approach is cautious, but still contains some dangers. The BBC is funded to provide broadcast services. Interactive options for those viewers with digital TV are (within reason) a legitimate expenditure of licence fee revenue. Internet investment is more questionable. The Internet is not a broadcast medium (ie, costing the recipient nothing at the point of use, which is the standard justification for the licence fee); nor is it as widely spread as television - so, even though in theory everyone has access to the Internet through libraries and Internet cafes, it is not usually free access, and it is clearly biased towards owners of PCs, or those who have access to them at work. A large proportion of licence fee payers are as excluded from the new BBC e-democracy initiatives as they are from the normal run of politics. There are simpler and more appropriate ways for the BBC to fulfil its duties as a public service broadcaster: like restoring Panorama to a 46-week run each year, rather than 20 weeks, and placing it in the heart of peak-time (on BBC2, if need be). That's the best use of the BBC's broadcast frequencies, and of licence fee revenue.

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Re: Sian Kevill, BBC Licence fee for broadcast - NOT internet.,