There's no money in news. Should we scrap it. I think impartial news is very much needed. Which is one of the major parts in the mandate. They do a good job at it as well, respected around the world. One or two things haven't be up to scratch, but the vast majority is.
Aye, and relatively little money in pure educational, or quality documentaries (certainly in the short term), not to mention new drama costs a fair bit and is a risk..
Any move to a subscription system would massively cut the BBC's ability to provide a varied range of content - they would have to try and compete for subscribers, which is completely at odds with giving a varied output.
Not to mention any subscription method would be a nightmare to implement at a reasonable cost (every TV, DVR, Freeview box would need a suitable cam and card, and the admin costs of that would be higher than the TVL), and that's before you consider what might happen with regards to radio (do the people that pay the sub pay for all the radio, do you sell off the radio services, or do you require every radio be fitted with a CAM or micro CAM making tens of millions obsolete over night).
When you consider how much the BBC costs us, compared to say Sky (and take into account we don't pay extra for every set, and are not tied to particular hardware models), it's cheaper with much more new content in general.