In what way is the BBC free? You still need a TV licence to view it live or via iPlayer, which has an annual cost of about £100 if I recall correctly.
A licence is required to watch any channel while it is being broadcast. It doesn't have to be "live" (or perhaps that is the same as "while it is being broadcast"). You also need a licence to record it while it is being broadcast. You need a licence to use iPlayer.
For these purposes, "broadcast" includes satellite, even if you only watch foreign channels.
The BBC and its funding have been a political football since forever. The right hate the BBC because it's funded by taxes, and seen as socialist; the left hate the BBC because it tends to lick the as* of the government of the day - the style of news coverage changes in the first few weeks after a general election.
The licence fee is a regressive tax; the beeb should be funded out of general taxation.
I'd like to see a BBC that is independent of the government, ad-free, and cut loose from the need to chase viewing numbers. I don't know how to get from here to there. If the beeb were a subscription service, I'd consider subscribing.
The TV licence is one of those anachronisms that should have gone away long ago. There's a wild mismatch between who pays and who benefits even if you accept the principle. And as you said funding through general taxation would be less regressive anyway.
I don't see a big problem with setting that up. It requires an Act of Parliament that establishes an arms-length public body to run the BBC, which it more-or-less already has in practice anyway, and a budget, which can then only be changed through a further Act of Parliament. That's as "independent of the government" as you can ever get under our legal system, but at least any attempt to change it later would require active steps by the government at the time that would immediately attract attention and could be resisted in both Houses of Parliament if they were inappropriate.
I renewed it literally this morning with a credit card and it clocked £ 159. But the radio is free.
Nothing stops you from firing up iplayer or BBC sounds over a VPN or something (unless something has changed outside the UK)
I’ve realised that I wrote “free television and radio network” in my parent, I can’t edit anymore.