[DTV]

The news channel definitely does have public value, I really do disagree with you on that.

I didn't say that the BBC News channel doesn't have public value, it's just that the public service value that it provides is not unique within BBC services and comes at a far higher cost than most other public service functions. Even the merger proposals as they stand (of which I have been repeatedly critical and feel they could do better than) do not see any BBC public service function eliminated entirely. I just don't think it is fair for a channel that has already seen below average budget cuts, which has low reach for a non-targetted service and which isn't really providing any unique functions to be excluded from the current deeper round of budget cuts (or even, as some seem to propose, see an increase in budget).