I don't see many people here not backing the BBC so let me at least try balance things out. Fuck the BBC and fuck the licence fee.

It would be bizarre to be told you had to pay a "tax" to Hulu if you wanted to subscribe to Netflix. You wouldn't expect to have to pay Ford an annual "tax" to be legally allowed to buy and drive a Toyota. You certainly wouldn't be happy if you had to pay Wallmart every year for a licence that lets you join Costco. So why is it ok for the BBC to take public funding and not have to compete with the other stations for their viewers and money?

Whenever someone rushes to defend the BBC it will most likely be the following two things. The first one is what you said in your post title and the second one is the repeated use of "public service" which should actually be read as "entertainment network like every other fucking TV company". The BBC news is also one of the top arguments and it may be "great" or "balanced" but it makes up a tiny amount of their TV and Radio content. It's not like all these masses of channels and radio stations are broadcasting nothing but fair and balanced news 24/7.

They are all full of garbage shows like any other channel out there. They have some great quality shows don't get me wrong but they have way more crap than they do quality.

For decades they have spunked out the same rehashed storyline dramas every other month but just set it in a different time period. Same old fucking cooking shows with the latest celeb chef, moron-baiting daytime chat shows, pannel shows where famous people get paid your tax money to shit jokes out about some semi-current events then Davie Attenburrows or the Who Doctor will pop up with a special just in time for everyone to forget that the last 9 hours of BBC content has been garbage and you footed the bill for it.