The problem with the Beeb is that 27,000 mostly left of centre shiny bums rely on it for their living.
If it is forced to live in the real world and earn its own living, there will be redundancies and those people and their families friends and sympathisers are unlikely to back the government which wields the axe.
Turkeys tend not to vote for Christmas.
What a quote! You have encapsulated the problem concisely, as usual. :0)
oh yes, I wasn't suggesting it would happen overnight, but I think the signs are all there that the license is on its way out. The BBC staff needn't lose their jobs in one go. It will just be privatised or funded by central govt like PBS in the US. Also, we could have an embargo on hiring new staff - using freelancers instead. Just about everyone working in the media world in London is self-employed already.