What few remember is Thatcher's introduction of the commercially financed but government owned Channel 4 group was designed to show that the model could work, Channel 4 do not get a penny from the license fee, or more accurately the BBC Tax. This idea she stole from Tony Benn who in 1967 proposed the exact model for Radio 247 to replace the Offshore Stations, he never wanted the BBC to run the replacement service.

If you read his diaries both Benn and Wilson were fans and listeners to Radio 390, you can also read about the big role the BBC had in closing the offshore stations, the tax should be abolished and the BBC sink or swim using it's commercial arm which already brings in billions, it has subscription technology in place, it runs adverts on BBC World and makes a fortune creating dramas, paid for by our taxes to BBC America, and now include the obligatory US actor or location to help sell the programmes we have paid for. Additionally much of it's output is produced by the Shine Group which is part of the Murdoch empire.

BBC News since the pandemic is almost always the BBC World output, with programme trailers where the ads are shown around the world. It can do all that but cannot manage to provide local news on it's HD channels.