[Abundy]

Interesting...so now the State has competion from private TV? Hadn't heard that.

[tjwmason]

Interesting...so now the State has competion from private TV? Hadn't heard that.

First, to call the B.B.C. a state-broadcaster is misleading it is a public-broadcaster. Secondly, yes is has competition, and has had competition since the '60s (if I remember correctly, might be '50s). There are currently 5 analogue terrestrial channels 2 are B.B.C., then there is I.T.V.1 and Channel 5 which are entirely private and funded through advertising, and Channel 4 which is a private company (owned by the state, though not controlled) also funded by advertising. Additionally most households now have some extra system, the most popular being Sky (satelitte) which gives a few hundred channels.