Why do we still pay for TV licence?

LETTER - Why are we still paying for a TV licence? The BBC was converted from a private company to a public body under Royal Charter in 1927. Under the charter news programmes were required to be impartial.

When commercial TV arrived in 1954 we all thought that the licence fee would go - it did not. The commercial stations did not complain, knowing that as long as it had a licence fee, the BBC would not compete for advertising revenue.

The arrival of cable and satellite in 1980 posed a new problem. With BSkyB offering 140 channels, BBC viewing figures plummeted to less than half of all viewers and has since fallen to two fifths.

The continuation of the licence fee allows the BBC to compete but provides no extra cash for popular programmes.

The BBC does not help its own cause. It has taken out £141 million in loans from the European Investment Bank and has also received EU grants worth £1.4 million over the past five years.

Do you think this has made the BBC "impartial" regarding the EU? It has made it deaf, blind and speechless!

The BBC's charter includes the words: "No significant strand of British public thought should go un-reflected or unrepresented by the BBC".

I consider our government's abject surrender to the EU a really significant strand. The BBC recorded the vote and little else.

I seriously object to paying through the nose for the dross presented as "entertainment" - now it is charter-breaking dross and I would like my money back, please!

Bob Wydell, Oswestry