Once upon a time there was only one TV channel, financed by a licence fee levied on those who could afford a TV set, which was expensive.
And it was boring.
Along came commercial TV, financed by advertising, and it was good.
So the original broadcaster renamed its first channel BBC1 and set up BBC2, which was to be intellectual and show the workers what they were missing.
And the licence fee was increased to cover the cost. And it was boring.
So the BBC sent out programmes for the brain-dead on BBC1. And it was boring.
And the commercial companies set up Channel 4, subsidised by the adverts on Channel 3, catering for some minority interests. And they all found that there was not enough local material to fill all four channels, so they filled in the spaces with American films.
And the BBC found that the workers were not inclined to watch stimulating programmes on BBC2, so they made the content similar to BBC1.
And Channel 5 was brought in.
So now its all boring.
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