Read this: A carve-up of the licence fee would be sheer vandalism | Polly Toynbee |Comment is free |The Guardian

Summary: Just as the lottery was once plundered so the BBC will, before long, shrink away to something insignificant. Make no mistake, that isthe purpose of those malign forces that have pushed for this for years. This is not about the sum of money itself, because governments already decide how much the BBC gets when setting the licence fee in hard times ahead, no doubt the BBC will be squeezed like everyone else. - guardian.co.uk