Dear Sir,

The Government and the BBC need to recognise that the era of "broad" casting is drawing to a close. We will very soon watch our TV programmes at the times we choose, not at the times they are "broad" cast. We already have HDD DVD recorders and soon will have digital transmission at speeds sufficient for the programmes never to be "broad"cast at all.

Once the technological problems associated with encryption to prevent piracy are resolved, the structure of the media industry will change reapidly and permenantly.

Other than live sport, news and major national events, eg the D-Day commemorations -the only programmes that justify live transmission on a blanket basis - almost no other programme requires "broad" casting at all. 

The ability to download the encrypted file and watch it at your leisure will become the norm, with the viewer gaining much wider choice as programme makers no longer have to justify potential funders with projected audience figures and entrepreneurs may enter the market easily, with single programmes, rather than having to establish whole "Channels".

The scenario here for the BBC is as the provider of those things the market will not provide. So no more premiership football at huge expense to the licence fee payer, but perhaps bog-snorkelling, which no other commercial programme maker might see as viable, but which has a few thousand avid fans who would no doubt tune in - or set their HDD DVD recorder to catch it for them.

The other role for the BBC is as the portal to new programmes and to the store of programmes in its library. A menu system allowing access the latest episode of Eastenders, stored under your favourites of course and set to automatically play the last three minutes of the previous episode before playing the next one sounds like TV heaven. Never again will there be "nothing on".

To be able to surf the BBC library of film and drama and sport held in digital archives would end the tedious debate about repeats. Come home, switch on, search for what you want to watch, be it I Claudius, Blake's Seven or Middlemarch and watch what you want, when you want to.

lastly, the licence fee would become much smaller and be used to provide those programmes the markets would not make and to provide the "portal" referred to above on a subscription basis, along with radio. All other programmes would be charged for and the BBC would take a tiny percentage of the charge for carrying the digital file through its portal. 

When Eastenders at 10p an episode could provide the equivalent of the whole of the current licence fee, the possibilities to reduce, or potentially even eliminate the TV tax altogether, is clear. 

Alternate portals would also be allowed and these might reflect the current "Channel" structure, but access to media such as audio recordings in record company libraries, videos of orchestral music, ballet and opera - much of which is in commercial hands - might be available through any of a number of such portals, with the "Channel" making its return from the carriage fee.

Finally, viewers might be offered a choice of tariffs, pay a smaller fee for the programme with adverts, a higher fee for advert free viewing.

In the digital age, there really will be no need for channels and broadcasters as we know them today. There will be a far more direct link between the viewer and the programme maker. The propoer role for the BBC and the Government in such a scenario is to ensure equal access and then to let the market get on and do what it does best, provide what people want, even down to bog-snorkelling!


John J C Moss