I think the TV license should be kept, but the BBC should be more efficient and waste less money.
With no advertising the BBC offers something completely unique and being government run it has different aims that make it very valuable to society.
Things like GCSE bitesize, an amazing and resourceful world leading website, comic releif are things that would not be here if it weren;'t for the BBC.
That said it is very expensive and being government run wastes a **** load of money. Like everything in the government it needs to be more effeicient.
One thing that amuses me about the anti-licence fee brigade is that they seem to overlook the fact that the UK's licence fee is actually very good value compared to most other developed nations. The majority of countries in Europe have a licence fee and/or public stations funded by the taxman, many of them are a damn sight more expensive than the UK and few give a service anything like as good as the BBC's. It's interesting to note that the UK would be the only major country in Europe with no public-funded broadcaster if the licence fee were to be abolished.
For all its faults, the BBC is still probably the world's best public broadcaster and the UK would be a poorer place without it.
As I've said before the wider question of the licence fee is dynamite anyway. If the BBC went commercial, it would eat up 40% or more of the total advertising pot, which would be catastrophic for the entire broadcasting industry -- that pot ain't going to get much bigger, so Messrs Murdoch, Grade and co will be left with a massively reduced budget and a need to axe potentially thousands of jobs. The viewer will be similarly hurt, with a corresponding reduction in quality. You think it's bad now.
And the worst thing about it is that once done there's no turning back. And all so a bunch of complainers who on the whole can easily afford to give up the £2 a week can win a point of principle.
I used to be for, now against. No problem with the cost if there was more than a handful of programmes I'd watch or listen to. Since it's not the case it's far cheaper to buy DVDs of everything I watch. My main concern is the threatening and presumed tone of the letters sent out by the licensing authority.