Formed in 1922 to educate, inform and entertain, the BBC creates global, national and local radio, online content and television for mass audiences while also catering to those users who fail to have their interests served by commercial outlets.
It is funded by a licence fee paid by all television-owning households that is supposed to guarantee its editorial independence. In reality that forces the corporation to agree a funding round with ministers, often leading to tension.
On Monday Culture Minister Nadine Dorries, who has previously accused the BBC of metropolitan group-think, said the licence fee cost would be frozen for the next two years, and would rise in line with inflation for four years after that.
She added that a debate was needed on future funding models, questioning whether people should pay 159 pounds ($217) a year for the BBC when they can pay less for Netflix or Amazon Prime.
BBC Director General Tim Davie told BBC Radio that society would lose something precious if it pursued a commercial model.
"It serves the British public and all the British public," he said. "The principle of universality is absolutely the debate here. People say 'can this be a commercial operation?' Of course it can be a commercial operation, but it will not do what it does today."
The settlement, he said, would leave the BBC with a 285 million pound shortfall, requiring some services to be cut. He added that while BBC output needed to properly reflect all the communities it served, it was difficult to maintain an impartial reputation in an increasingly polarised world.
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The BBC is a relic. No young people under 30 watch or listen to the BBC. Its dead in the water. The only people who like it are really old and they dont even want to pay for it. Kill it now.
Regrettably like many things they get beyond their sell by date, and the BBC is just one of the many that need to enter the modern world where you have to "work" for your living not expect handouts. Once upon a time the BBC was "the" deliverer of news, but they became like their competition, sellers of "hype" to get listeners and viewers, and having gone this way should no longer require a licence fee that if not paid by an individual with a TV gives a "criminal record".
How many times have I suggested the BBC should be funded through Commercial Advertising. As ALL the other Commercial Channels obtain revenue. The cost of getting and administering the BBC licence fee would be stopped.No detector Vans No on line licence chasing paperwork etc. Saving a large amount of Money. But the Beebs Controllers are so set in their ways from way back in time. They will not change.
There are far more options now to watch programs on streaming services, The BBC should be very careful because people will scrap their licences and go elsewhere