[bbctvtechop]

To go back to the original question in the thread title... The BBC have nothing left to reduce costs on, really. We're now in the territory of closing whole services and/or programmes.

On the future of the license fee, I'm increasingly of the opinion that the BBC needs to reduce down to ONLY genuine PSB programmes and those which the commercial sector won't go anywhere near. A reduced fee (maybe 50% of now) would fund these services* via either a broadband levy or council tax, and the rest** would be sold off to the commercial sector.

*End up with something like (TV) BBC News, CBeebies, BBC Public (mix of current BBC1, BBC2 and BBC4), BBC Experimental (mix of current BBC2 and BBC4), and BBC Parliament; and (radio) Local Radio, Radio Speech (ex R4), Radio News and Sport (ex R5L), World Service, Radio Music (mix of current R1 specialist and R6), and national radio eg Radio Scotland and Nan Ghadheil.

** Sell off R1, R2, R3, BBC1, BBC3, and anything else the commercial sector currently competes with, to the commercial sector.