For those that complain, you should try living in Germany. Here you must pay a license fee for a TV and even for a radio in a car or computer capable of connecting to the internet. It costs more than the UK TV License. And what do we get: probably the worst TV in Europe (and I have lived in Spain) - endless quizzes, adverts for ringtones, outdated programmes and for a treat they give us a badly-dubbed 1980s US film every so often. I would pay several times the license fee to get British TV and this gives me the opportunity. Plus it raises money for programmes apart from that gained through the license fee. You should be grateful for the BBC and for British TV, but instead you moan for the small amount you pay for it.

Charlie, Munich,

It's a poorly written article - it's not clear that this are British shows available to Brits with a British iTunes account. These programmes are not available on iTunes to the USA. So no, as some people seem to think, Americans cannot download episodes of Torchwood cheaper than Brits.

Rich Johnston, London, UK

"Scrap the licence fee! Scrap the licence fee! Rip off Britain!"
Okay, so if the BBC is stripped of the licence fee, how will it be funded? More then likely it will be through advertisements, a la ITV, C4 etc.
You can read the subsequent Daily Mail headlines now:
'Too Many Adverts! Not like the BBC's good old days!"
Yes, the current TV licence set up is confused but it is a system that produces content of real quality, beyond television. We should be proud of it. Look at what's happening in France if you don't agree.
Don't want to pay the Licence Fee? Don't get a TV, then. The people moaning about the BBC are probably people who could do with reading a few more books anyway...

Roger Mexico, London,

Lux Aeterna,

Great name (great song), but you are clearly living in a fantasy world. You pay your license fee therefore you get permanent immediate access 24/7 to anything the BBC has ever broadcast? Hmmm.... that would be worth about 120 quid a year would it? Fair enough.

Gareth, Melbourne (via Bristol), Australia

I ask this without a smidgen of irony -- isn't this (yearly licensing fee, etc.) what you British pay for the privilege of quality, unbiased television? Or are my glasses just too rosy?

Olivia, New York, NY

I pay a TV licence to finance the BBC. I think that for that I should have permanent access to anything it makes or commissions. Period. By all means sell things abroad, but in this country we shouldn't have to pay again for something we have already paid for once.

Lux Aeterna, MANCHESTER,

Tobias said "The thing is though, the licence fee doesn't cover repeats - every time a programme is repeated, the writer and actors need to be paid again."

Why for heaven's sake? As I understand it there are more out of work actors than in, so just buy them out outright. When I write something for my employer I get paid once, no matter how often or how long the employer uses it.

Lux Aeterna, MANCHESTER,

The BBC have been charging more in the UK than abroad for its output. A few years ago I was wanting to buy a copy of the BBC production of 'Pride and Predujice". Guess what? Available in the USA for less than half the price I had to pay in the UK!

Chris, Edinburgh, UK

I trust either:

(a) any American downloading any BBC content will be required to pay their £120 licence fee upfront before being allowed to download the material, or

(b) for us Brits any download costs will be subtracted off our yearly licence fee.

No? Thought not.

Dominic, London, UK

The whole licence issue is a farce and requires urgent review. I happen to want to watch some of the channels on Sky and I pay for it. Why am I legally obliged to pay a license fee to the BBC if I don't want to watch its programming. The fact I DO want to watch but am then possibley going to be charged for "eatras" makes me furious!

The BBC pretend to be leading the way (diverting attention) by offering better VFM with little nceties such as iPlayer but the vast majority of people still watch programming via traditional means. I am fed up of the BBC "innovating" with my money - witness Nicam, Hi-Def and the recent complete FARCE of DAB. Oh please surely they could see THAT one coming a mile off? I'd love to see the final bill ..........

The BBC is an outdated dinosaur which lumbers around playing catch - up using our licence fee to develop dubious methods of distribution rather than sticking to what its supposed to be doing ; making programmes.

Tony Ward, Brighton, East Sussex

About time Apple was boycotted until they see UK as a customer and not a golden goose.
toad.

Paul Heeley, Worcester, UK

Why anyone would pay £1.89 per episode is beyond me.

The DVD release will be cheaper, better quality, not infected with DRM and *more portable* - easily transferable to non apple devices as well as iPod.

You just have to look at the comments against any TV shows in the UK iTunes store and you'll see the above echoed many, many times.

Personally I prefer to series record the over the air Freeview transmission and transfer that to my iPod. Cost... The licence fee.

Brian, Cirencester,

The article said, "Programmes made available on iTunes will no longer be available through iPlayer."

Does this mean no longer available on iPlayer at any stage? That would be a slap in the face to license payers and a step backwards.

If it means no longer available for free after 7 days on iPlayer then that seems entirely reasonable. As another comment said, people have been buying BBC content for ages.

John, Crieff, Scotland

This is terrible, not only do we pay a license fee, we have to pay double the price of the USA for our own content! Th BBC is taking the mickey with the public again, more revenue to support the hoards of Managers and old school chums in White City

John James, haywards heath, UK

Will this mean fewer repeats, on the basis that repeating a programme will bring in no further revenue when offering it for download will?

Hmm, I wonder....for some reason I'm cynical.

Ultimately anyone who pays to download something they've already paid for, just to get it in a format they could easily create themselves gets what they deserve.

I for one cannot wait to pay £2 to watch one episode from series 4 of Keeping Up Appearances on a 21/2" screen when I could buy a box set on DVD for £15 and watch it on my 32" TV.

A scheme doomed to failure in this country but no doubt will rake it in abroad, until they find themselves with no costumes to make the next period drama or sets to film Eastenders.

J.Wilkes, Gloucester,

The thing is though, the licence fee doesn't cover repeats - every time a programme is repeated, the writer and actors need to be paid again. The licence fee only covers the production of the programme and a limited period for repeats (only a couple of years).

You've got UK Gold, you've got Virgin catch-up and now you've got iPlayer. if you want to see older programmes again, you need to pay for them, because the broadcaster needs to pay for them too. You've already paid for ITV's programmes through the adverts so why do you expect them to be different?

Tobias, London,

I think it's absolutely immoral to charge English people for downloading these programmes.

Have the BBC forgotten where their money comes from, and that they're effectively civil servants who are working for us?

We are entitled to access everything they have in their catalogue for free. If they want to make money, fine, but they should make it out of foreign countries, and the profits should be put into increasing the production value of our programmes.

Andrew Corr, burton on trent, staffs

Yet another rip off britan, lets end the license fee this all about making money, if it was not then the shows would still be on the bbcs iplayer, but shows going on to itunes wont be on iplayer, just what is the point of iplayer if the best shows are not going to be on it?

The bbc has over steped the mark on this one and as far as i am concercned is no longer worth of the licence fee, its time to end this farce!

MR W Jones, Liverpool,

how come the scots, who have already paid for these programs in their licence fee, have to pay more than all the countries who haven't???

billy, Lincoln, UK

To Julian Stone,

No you don't HAVE to pay twice. Watch it for free on the BBC as many times as you like for 7 days after broadcast. Then move on. People have been paying to own BBC shows on DVD/ VHS for years. How is this different?

If you lived in a country with an underfunded national broadcaster you wouldn't moan about the BBC. You would realise that it raises standards across the board and encourages diversity and quality in programming. You would cherish it. Maybe it should be funded differently, but it should continue to be funded.

In Australia we have 3 strong commercial channels competing with eachother by providing roughly similar American rubbish or badly slapped together local shows. News and current affairs on those channels is reduced to filler in order to keep people watching until primetime.

Meanwhile the ABC (our national broadcaster) fights a losing battle to keep us informed and entertained on a shoestring largely with BBC content.

Gareth, Melbourne (via Bristol), Australia

Alternatively, record the programmes as broadcast on your computer and convert them to Apple format with iTunes. That costs nothing once you've brought a cheap USB TV adapter!

Dave M, Fareham,

A double rip-off then. I am to be charged twice as much as US citizens for programs I have already paid for via the licence fee. Who said rip-off Britain was dead?

Julian Stone, Balsall Common, UK

how come the english, who have already paid for these programs in their licence fee, have to pay more than all the countries who haven't???

jb66, derby, england

Why do we still pay a TV license fee when the BBC are making money from selling programmes which the public have paid for? I have the option to pay for all other channels, why not make the BBC an optional extra which you can subscribe to?

Paul, Cardiff, uk