Letter: BBC's duty

Sir: Mark Brandon and Bob Lynton (letters, 6 December), writing on D J Taylor's lament on the paucity of cultural content in our television, both suggest that he, and others who think like him, should subscribe to cable.

What impertinence! Like everybody else we pay our television licence fee and should be offered programmes we can enjoy, and perhaps even benefit from. Why should we pay a cable subscription for this? Those whose taste lies in sitcoms, soaps, quizzes, football and pop music find them provided in abundance on the commercial channels for free.

The BBC, whom we pay, has a public service responsibility to provide a sufficient quantity of cultural broadcasting to show we live in a civilised society. It is failing to do so. Its self imposed competition for "ratings" with the commercial stations is irresponsible. We can only hope that the new management, will do something about this sorry state.

ROBERT NAIRN

Southampton