Sir, In the same way as every other TV owner in the country, I have been asked to pay for a full TV Licence, even though less than half of the free services on offer are available in most of the South Lakes.
The BBC channels that I can access (BBC 1 and 2) are constantly informing me of the possibilities available with freeview, including: l Six new BBC television channels l Interactive services of major sporting events (Wimbledon, The Olympics etc)
l BBC Digital Audio Broadcasting I have exchanged letters with Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins with regard to freeview digital services.
Mr Collins has confirmed that the BBC had assured him that the South Cumbria digital signal strength would be considerably boosted, yet there is still no evidence to support this statement I cannot accept the BBC's argument regarding the licence fee not being a guarantee of reception. Reception is clearly within their control - our lack of freeview is purely a commercial decision.
The argument that only a small proportion of the licence fee is being directed to these new channels is also unconvincing. It is obvious that the BBC is continually increasing the proportion of money raised through the licence fee to advance digital services as can be seen from all the new programmes appearing during the BBC 1 and 2 adverts.
I feel that the full TV licence fee can no longer be justified when I can access less than half of the services on offer to other subscribers. As such, I have paid the licensing authorities only £60.50, which equates to half of the licence fee for full services.
I do not think for one minute that my taking this action will have any effect on our digital signal strength. If we are to gain equality of service in the South Lakes, we need strength in numbers.
Dave Parry Kendal
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