WI - BBC Television Licence Fee Scrapped in mid-1980s

During the mid-1980s the Thatcher government initiated a review on financing of the BBC known as the Peacock Committee, the government had expected the committee to report that the television licensing fee used to fund the BBC should be scrapped only for the Peacock Committee to favor retaining the licence fee.

What if the Peacock Committee instead favoured the scrapping of the television licence fee used to fund the BBC and how would the latter be impacted by the loss of funds from the licence fee compared to OTL up to the present?

Would the BBC end up being privatized, funded by advertising (and possibly the occasional grant) like Channel 4 or funded by partnerships, joint ventures or mergers?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peacock_Committee
 
I've no idea, but it's an excuse to post this again...

I've not posted this one before...

Or this one...

And this one...

I might have posted this one before...
 
IIRC God's own comedian, Dave Allen, did a routine about advertising on the BBC. He said the only brand names they could say were Harrods, Rolls Royce and The Times.

I don't know if they still do, but "when I were a lad," Blue Peter used demonstrate to make things like Tracy Island out of Thunderbirds from old cardboard boxes, detergent bottles and sticky back plastic, held together by double-sided "sticky tape" (not Sellotape). I mention it because all the trade names were covered by black masking tape.

Also Top Cat had to be renamed Boss Cat because there was a brand of cat food called Top Cat.
 
What could have been done, could still be, would be having an extra - say 2.5% on the standard VAT (Value Added Tax) that would be put on audio-visual equipment i.e. TVs DVD players etc. This 'addition' would be a TV License tax. While it would not cancel the whole TV License, it could make a big reduction, thereby benefitting those who are content with older equipment. But the tax would not be too high to put off people who want to update to bigger Flat screen TVs.
 
This, not at once but Thatcher would be happy to slowly sold it as BBC was in a crisis at the time.

How would it impact shows such as Eastenders, Doctor Who and Top Gear, along with BBC New and BBC America, etc? And where would that leave BBC 2 and other related channels, would some of them be reduced or separated from BBC and acquired by another company to become equivalents of Dave or (the original 1995-1999 incarnation of) L!VE TV?
 
How would it impact shows such as Eastenders, Doctor Who and Top Gear, along with BBC New and BBC America, etc? And where would that leave BBC 2 and other related channels, would some of them be reduced or separated from BBC and acquired by another company to become equivalents of Dave or (the original 1995-1999 incarnation of) L!VE TV?
I knew little to nothing of britsh media, but depends what Thatcher want, for herself, sold it all off for the bigger offer so the channel can pay for itself, if too radical,a gradual sale to partners in media alongside reductions the TV Fees till she can fully dump the channel to the market.

Maybe Rupert Murdoch would try to buy the BBC?
 
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