I would be more than happy to buy on DVD programs it produces that interest me - I'm not happy about the "forced" licence fee, I would like the choice!
But without the licence fee these programmes would never get made in the first place. ITV is the classic example of this - look how far programming from that channel is toned down to ensure it appeals to a wide audience at home and abroad. By contrast the BBC judges the success of it's programming on ratings coupled with audience appreciation - a unique position because of the licence fee. It's all very well for you to say "you'll buy what you want" - but without the licence fee they simply wouldn't be made.
there appears to be a substantial amount of "wastage" at the Beeb on things like taxis and trips to the States to cover the election. If I had a choice about paying for that then fine, but I don't - that's the annoying factor.
There is "wastage" like that in any large organisation - it's a fact of life. Large organisations employ people from all over the country. These people need to travel and costs need to incurred. If you think the BBC is bad look at the military!
Give me Sky or NTL TV access without the Beeb to save me the licence fee any day!
Ok - but as Sky buys a substantial amount of programming with the BBC (on a Sky shows first, then the BBC) the licence fee partly pays for Sky TV viewers - some you would still need to pay that part of the licence. In addition UKTV satellite channels have direct access to the BBC archive - including programmes that have only just been aired on one of the main BBC channels - so you can also contribute to that part of the licence fee. And, if the licence fee was scrapped, there would soon be a call to create more UK programming and therefore you would find you would probably end up paying a substantial amount extra on your subscription to fund the quotas that would be assigned to Sky.
The news of the proposed increase in the licence fee certainly got a few at work talking and the general widespread opinion was that if we could do without the beeb, we all would as we hardly watch anything it produces anyway.
You must have a fairly non-standard workforce then! If you look at the ratings figures the BBC achieves it produces some of the most popular programming on TV: Eastenders, Casualty, Doctor Who plus countless short dramas such as Charles II, Cambridge Spies etc - these have all been massive ratings winners. Likewise look at the favourite channel polls on this forum - the BBC always comes out top (when you conbine BBC1/BBC2 polls together). If the BBC was failing in the ratings then there would need to be questions raised about how to make it more mainstream - however that is simply not the case!
When you look at what the BBC provides - extensive and varied UK programming, unrivaled news coverage, over 8 TV channels, dozens of radio channels and one of the best websites on the internet - I think most people agree it is worth the licence fee and more!