'Yes, Minister' writer wants BBC cutbacks

Yes, Minister writer Sir Antony Jay has said the BBC should be reduced to one TV channel, a speech radio station and a news department.

Within 20 years the licence fee "will be indefensible in theory and unenforceable in practice", said Sir Antony, who was also an editor at the BBC, in a report for free-market think tank the Centre for Policy Studies.

"The massive increase in channels over the past 15 years means that many of the viewers' and listeners' requirements are satisfactorily met elsewhere," he said, calling for digital-only channels BBC Three and BBC Four to "make their excuses and leave".