BBC Four & CBBC to close

[telebox2001]

I'm going to phrase this carefully bearing in mind what Rob has said, but I do wonder if there is an element of the BBC playing politics here in announcing this so far ahead of time?

By the time it takes effect we'll have had a General Election, so I wonder if there is an element of announcing the worst case scenario in the hope that opposition parties will pick it up as an election issue?

A repeat of the 6 Music closure U Turn in the offing?

I don’t think this is the case at all. There is a cost of living crisis - no party is going into the next election pledging to increase the license fee, which is what this would need. I seriously think people here are massively overestimating the attachment that viewers have to these things.

I agree broadly with this.  Especially because post-Corona, traditional party lines have just gone straight out of the window. (Example: Conservatives' various financial measures dished out in Spring 2020, not a traditionally blue thing to do.)

So I don't think it's a given Labour or indeed anyone will contest the next General Election on a "Save the BBC" platform.  There's plenty of reds and blues who want reform, just as they are want it protecting.  Like Brexit, it's not a case of "Tories = X, Labour = Y."  It's a cross party issue and neither side has a single position.

And I think as the world finds its feet post-Corona and hopefully peace in Ukraine, there will simply be other tickets on which the next election will be campaigned.