By Emma Morley

Last updated 11:46, Tuesday, 23 September 2008

Its purpose was to educate, inform and entertain and I must admit I’ve always felt a sense of loyalty towards the BBC and reassured to know that if I want a ‘quality’ programme on the TV or radio then I can turn to a BBC channel and my wish will be granted.

Why then did I feel sickened last week when the reminder for the TV licence came through the letter box?

At £139.50 it is not much more than I paid last year but out of all the bills I get (and, let’s face it, utility bills have certainly gone up in the last year) I seem to resent this one the most.

When it comes to the heating, if I’m cold I will switch it on but turn it off as soon as the house has warmed up because I know it will cost me more the longer I have it switched on.

But with the licence fee it is not so easy to quantify usage with the amount paid.

If I think about what I actually watch on TV, the BBC channels are probably the ones I watch the least.

They do have high-quality programmes but do I really need to pay this much money to watch maybe one of their ‘quality programmes’ a week?

And what about the programmes that certainly don’t fall into the good quality category?

And the good quality programmes on other channels?

I have bought a Freeview box so why should I also have to pay a licence fee?

I don’t know how the argument for the licence fee can be sustained anymore – things have moved on since it was first introduced and it needs to be updated.

There must be some way of providing the programmes that do match the quality standard that the BBC was created to offer.

As the analogue switch off looms, this is an issue that can’t be put off any longer.