With the BBC about to publish its Annual Report, Jay argues that there is only one way to preserve all that is good about the BBC, in How to Save the BBC, published today Friday 4 July by the Centre for Policy Studies.

Is the BBC worth saving?, he asks. Despite the fact that much of its output is indistinguishable from commercial channels; and despite its reputation as a propaganda vehicle for the liberal élite, Jay believes that the BBC should in some form be preserved.

But in what shape? Sir Antony believes that the BBC should ask itself the following question: if broadcasting had started as a purely commercial enterprise, then what would be the role, structure and resources of a public service broadcaster?

He suggests that the BBC should limit itself to one national television channel; and one national speech radio channel (effectively BBC1 and Radio 4). These two channels should concentrate on producing the type of high quality popular programmes which commercial channels are unable to produce. Jay foresees a golden age for production, with the BBC enriching television for all the nation’s viewers.

A slimmed down BBC would be far cheaper (BBC1 and Radio 4 cost £1.5 billion a year out of the total £4.2 billion BBC budget). Jay believes that such an institution could be self-financing, particularly through the investment of revenue from asset sales and more importantly from better exploiting commercially its "rich library of television programmes". As Jay points out, City experts regard the BBC’s exploitation of its huge library of programmes "as a joke. A bad joke". Jay concludes:

The tradition and the skills are all there – for the moment. We have about ten years to reshape the BBC so that it can continue to use those skills and draw on that tradition to maintain a stream of high quality nationally-produced programming after the licence fee has gone.