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• Stephen Fry
• Sir David Attenborough

Should it be smaller? Name anything you would cut. Even the suggestion to privatise Radio 1 and 2 is misguided in my view; they are crucial to the BBC’s capacity to be a universal broadcaster – to carrying public service broadcasting news and current affairs to a universal audience. Arguably the BBC should have more rather than fewer digital channels. Is it straying into too much commercial territory in its internet and educational ambitions? This is policed pretty forcefully by the Trust, but there will always be areas of contention. I was surprised at BBC Worldwide’s purchase of the Lonely Planet Guides; the BBC can only justify commercial trade publishing of its self-generated intellectual property – and it loses crucial support if it strays too far beyond that mission. Equally it has to be careful about its website; the benchmark should always be whether any activity delivers public purpose.

Should Channel 4 get part of the licence fee? Here I think there is need for some lateral thinking. The BBC, under financial pressure, wants to keep it for itself. But it needs to think strategically. At the moment it is the capital ship – the aircraft carrier – at the centre of a flotilla of public service broadcasters. There is Channel 4 along with the public service obligations attached to ITV and Channel 5. Sky, free from this obligation, might have chosen to play the voodoo card, but if there were temptations Sky has resisted them – not least because of the high standards elsewhere. In a digital world we need to preserve the flotilla effect. Ofcom should resist the blandishments of the commercial broadcasters to be freed from public service obligations; and we need to find ways of keeping Channel 4 well resourced. Maybe there should be a licence fee supplement consecrated to Channel 4; maybe a deal can be done to cut Channel 4 into BBC Worldwide contributing to its offer and sharing in its profit flow. We need to keep the BBC strong, but the best means to do that is not to make it the only repository of public service broadcasting. It needs buttresses and supports.

For it is a great Enlightenment institution – recognised outside this country for being one of our very best national achievements. It is a global name with global reach. If its reason for being is to be one of the principle upholders of Britain’s public realm, paradoxically it gets very little public reward or acknowledgement for doing so. It is time that we the public had better mechanisms for certainly expressing our concerns – but also our appreciation. You’ve got your faults, BBC. But you are loved.