Richard Hammond / BBC Funding

[Bazile]

I heard on the news recently that Richard Hammond is well on the way to recovery - which is good news .

However I also heard the BBC have offered him a new two million pound contract
Is he ( and others on the payroll ) really worth this amount of money ? - which leads on to my second question - is the BBC spending the licence payers money wisely - Who audits the BBC to ensure value for money ?

It appears to me that there is a lot of unnecessary posts in the organisation - you frequently hear of ' head of this ' and ' head of that ' - for example the other day a spokesman was on the radio who was supposed to be ' head of BBC News - West - does this mean that there is a head of BBC News East / North / South ? - and if so are all these posts really necessary - couldn't there be a head of BBC News .. Full stop . - isn't one post for all sufficient ?

Another example - you have different posts for reading news or making announcements on all the different radio channels for example - why ? - these are just a couple of examples , I could go on .

Also, do we really need all the different radio and tv channels from the BBC ?

All the above ultimately determines the size of the licence fee - which leads me to what really gets me angry every year - that is I have just received by television licence renewal - WHY ARE WE FORCED TO PAY THIS TAX
( IRRESPECTIVE OF HOW MUCH OF BBC OUTPUT WE WATCH OR LISTEN TO ) , IN ORDER TO WATCH OTHER STATIONS - WHY AREN'T WE GIVEN THE CHOICE - ( WHEN THERE ARE NUMEROUS OTHER SERVICE PROVIDERS OUT THERE ) - TO OPT AND PAY FOR WHAT WE CHOOSE ?

Does anyone else agree with me ?

[jake-the-peg]

Perhaps the real question is whether a flat fee license is still the best answer.

Most taxation has bands - wheras income tax, council tax even VAT has different rates.

Maybe the license fee should be banded based on say the size of television you have?

[Bazile]

Jake - the - Peg - are you serious ?

Are you saying for eg - that someone with a 14" tv should pay less than someone with a 24" tv ?

[pagey]

sp1814 - ive still not gone digital so Im missing out on all that...!

Coobeastie, I agree, American programming is very bad. I switch on, see some adverts, expecting something new to start, and then get credits and more adverts. And all the adverts are hard-sell. At least we do have some entertaining and even thought-provoking adverts.

I don't begrudge paying the fee for BBC1 and 2, and more importantly the radio stations that I listen to often, but in todays world it is a particularly unorthodox way of funding.

Sky, I have always had issues with. I simply cannot justify spending money on a subscription when you get even more adverts on every channel than terrestrial!