Letter : Licence fee is low-cost way to quality TV

Sir: I wonder if your reader who wrote so forcefully (Letters, 28 August) about abolishing the licence fee and introducing advertising on the BBC or pay-per-view TV is aware of these facts.

Everything we buy is more expensive because of the intrusive advertising on the commercial channels. In the case of Sky and ITV, the quality is inferior also. If the BBC took on advertising our television would sink to the level of programmes in the United States. Pay-per-view is expensive, as Sky has shown - its subscription sport works out at roughly pounds 300 per annum. Perhaps your writer can afford this.

If the BBC lowered itself to intrusive and offensive advertising it would ruin programmes such as sport, which need unbroken coverage. ITV has already shown this with its "We'll be back after this short break". In fact even with the proposed licence increase, the cost of BBC TV and radio would be only about 27p per day.

NICHOLAS COX

Redhill,Surrey