You don’t know what you’ve got until you lose it, says reader.

I am writing in response to the letter published on September 7 entitled ‘Propping up BBC’, suggesting if a person’s television was adapted to not receive the BBC then they should not have to pay the BBC licence fee.

May I point out it would also be necessary to adapt their radio so that they could not receive national radio stations - at the last count, there were 10 of these. Regional radio stations, there are eight of those. Local radio stations, there are about 40 of those.

The BBC World Service (which was recently reduced in size, thanks to the banking crisis) provides unbiased news to peoples in countries where there may be conflicts and provides British nationals with important information in those sorts of situations.

A recent example of that was in Libya, when Brits were trapped there.

Also, they would have to have their computers adapted so that they couldn’t use the world famous and award winning internet site. Also, ‘free view’ boxes would have to be adapted to prevent them watching the BBC news channel.

As you can guess, I am quite definitely pro-BBC.

It is admired around the world.

I know this after living abroad in Finland and the natives of that and other countries I have visited admire the BBC’s news and entertainment programmes it makes. A Finn once said to me: “You see that little BBC sign in the corner of the screen and you know you’re going to watching something good.”

By the way, the BBC raises a lot of funds from the sale of such programmes.

Largely unbiased opinion is essential in a true democracy.

�145 a year is a bargain and I say that as a person on low pay.

I think some people don’t know what they have until it’s gone, and then it’s too late.

Steve Williams

Willow Close

Seaton