@divebuddy
I agree that the licence fee is doomed - boxed sets and streaming are undermining its justification as we speak.
I agree that it is a thinly veiled tax but adding it to income tax leaves them a few million fee units short (jobless, retired etc.) so the current way is fairest.
As for unfair advantage over competitors, I say that they are not meant to be a competitor, they are meant to be a _public service_. Maybe not fully Reithian any longer but they are not straightjacketed like sponsor-dependent broadcasters sometimes are - theoretically, they are free to produce 'edgy', 'daring', 'challenging' material which, inevitably means low ratings (but high audience appreciation by those who do watch).
In parliament, they take the BBC to task over ratings, saying that this is the way it must fulfil its public service remit - that aggravates me no end because, imho, it is behind the trend to ditch thought-provoking material and go for crowd-pleasing stuff instead. They're merely placating the "I don't like /watch bbc, so why should I have to pay for it?" whiners. As long as the people not being served, due to "dumbing down" are a numerical minority then that makes it okay, as far as the Govt is concerned.
Before I forget - @naillit
unlawful and illegal are the same thing. Congratulations on getting 6+ pages out of it. My threads struggle to make it to page 2.
;-)