On Sunday night, the BBC rebooted an ad based on one that first aired 40 years ago. In the new edition presenter Romesh Ranganathan pretends he is a disgruntled license fee payer, and asks the question: “What has the BBC ever done for me?” Some of the national broadcaster’s biggest stars make the case for its survival and ask the public to keep funding it.
The ad aired shortly after the BBC’s new director general, Matt Brittin, said the organization was in “real danger” due to a sharper-than-expected decline in license fee payments. But what is the alternative to the old model?
Nosheen Iqbal talks to Guardian writer and broadcaster Mark Lawson about how the BBC got to this point and what options it has to survive in an increasingly competitive market.
