This speaks to the next big shit storm in UK media. The findings of the Leveson Inquiry are going to have repercussions way beyond print journalism. The keyword here is Murdoch.

Anyone who thinks he's going to forgive and forget for the ditching of his plans to wholly own BSkyB is deluded. And since he also largely blames the BBC and Channel 4 for the sinking of Rebekah Brooks, and world's largest English language tabloid, he's now going to go after the licence fee with even more determination. But he's playing a waiting game, because he knows full well about the potential to deliver a service viewers exactly like you and me want, but currently aren't getting.

We no longer have a TV licence, because we live on a tight enough budget as it is, without having to factor in the cost of occasionally glimpsing the news headlies and the odd episode of QI. On top of that we're vociferously opposed to the idea of paying for Top Gear and Strictly Come Dancing, on the weak argument that it enables the BBC to carry on making The World at One and natural history documentaries.

We're also penalised by of the downside of not being able to (legally) stream as-it-airs content, for example, because iPlayer deliberately delays the rebroadcast of topical content, whereas light entertainment is immediately made available. Case in point being, whenever an episode of The Girl Whose Nipples Speak German is aired on BBC Three, it is immediately available on iPlayer. But Newsnight and Question Time aren't made available until, sometimes, 24 hours later.

Murdoch knows, from the model adopted by Dish in the US, that people will pay for content À la carte, on the belief that it offers more choice. In reality, it segregates and segments the market even more than it already is. Genre based Electronic Programme Guides are the future of TV. But this is anathema to the idea of paying a flat fee.

What happens next is down to whether or not the British public are prepared to see the BBC go to a voluntary funding model, similar to PBS in the States, through a switch to a lower cost replacement for the licence fee, with the option to top-up the subscription package for premium content. What's worrying, isn't if this will happen, it's when. Because if Murdoch gets his timing right (and when has he ever not?) this could potentially destroy the BBC altogether — because Murdoch ultimately holds the rights to more premium content than the BBC can afford to compete against.

I would argue, rather than trying to out-do Murdoch on broad interest programming, they should focus on their core strengths and focus on science, factual and drama. But I rather suspect the BBC Trust have an agenda driven more by the profits of BBC World, the commercial wing of the BBC, than they do the continuation of University Challenge and Only Connect.