Reply to post: Why should the licence payer in the UK provide free content to others?

BBC said it'll pull radio streams from TuneIn to slurp more of your data but nobody noticed till Amazon put its foot in it

martinusher Silver badge

Why should the licence payer in the UK provide free content to others?

The BBC has traditionally had two functions. One is the UK's internal broadcaster. The other is the UK's external broadcaster, the British equivalent of the Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, the IBA (Israel, not UK commercial), ABC, CBC and countless other national broadcasters. I know that successive governments have degraded the entire concept of national identity and public service over the last 30-40 years -- its all "Little England, I expect what I pay for and I don't expect to have to pay for freeloaders" -- but the external profile of a country really is important. Radio programs are for the most part of "no commercial value" -- the money's in TV and the BBC is very active in making and marketing programs -- but services like Radio 3 and Radio 4 are of inestimable value to the profile of the UK. Lost that and the UK is going to become even more of a backwater than its currently trying to be.

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