BBC good value?

Giving the public five options on the future of free TV licences for over75s the BBC lets us count with one hand, but a finger must also point at how the BBC spends our money!

There’s always a problem with providing a benefit then taking it away, although demographics tell us that the number of over80s will continue rising and by 2030 free licences could account for a fifth of BBC expenditure. Who knows what public broadcasting may offer viewers by 2030? Let’s forget bureaucratic meanstesting. The challenge facing the BBC today is to meanstest itself on what it offers. Viewers weren’t best served by programming quality in teasing out the pros and cons in the referendums on Europe or Scotland.

The public also became all too aware of male/female pay differentials when BBC lost the plot on salaries and rewards it paid. Longer term, a reduced universal licence fee may be the only realistic answer with a betterrun broadcaster.

JIM CRAIGEN

Downie Grove, Edinburgh