The latest skirmish between the
BBC and the government is part of a running debate over who the BBC serves, which dates back to the organisation’s earliest days. But this time, the stakes are higher
![The fight for the future of the BBC | podcast](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b0b98599bb5f829a1d99c1f47f348bc4d74497d8/0_354_5310_3186/master/5310.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=c01abbd17fc05be442055e839561240b)
For more than a hundred years the BBC has been a mainstay of
British life. The broadcaster’s news bulletins, soap operas, children’s programming, comedies, dramas, concerts, sport coverage and nature documentaries have shaped the nation’s identity, and won the enduring loyalty of audiences around the world.
Since 1922, the BBC’s offerings have been funded by its licence fee – a charge originally linked to purchase of a wireless radio, Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian’s chief culture writer and author of This New Noise: The Extraordinary Birth and Troubled Life of the BBC, notes. Today, that fee comes to £159 per year, or 43p per day.