This is taken from the Financial Times:

BBC’s Thompson defends licence fee
By Tim Bradshaw
Published: May 10 2009 22:21

The BBC’s director-general has defended the broadcaster’s funding in the pages of parliament’s in-house magazine ahead of a vote to freeze the licence fee.

In the latest edition of House Magazine, published on Monday, Mark Thompson told Don Foster MP, the Liberal Democrats’ media spokesman, that he understood the licence fee is a “unique privilege” carrying “unique responsibilities”.

The BBC is therefore giving partnership with other public-service broadcasters “a much more prominent role”, Mr Thompson said, while undertaking “the biggest redundancy programme of any broadcaster”.

The House of Commons will vote on whether to freeze the licence fee on May 20 after the Conservatives challenged this year’s proposed £3 increase to £142.50.

David Cameron MP, leader of the opposition, has been critical of the BBC in recent months. As well as calling for a yearly review of the licence fee in March, Mr Cameron said last week that the government should ensure the BBC “doesn’t over-extend itself”.

But Mr Thompson told House that that the licence fee was a “critical part of this country’s investment in the creative industries”.

“More than a third of the licence fee goes straight to external contracts with independent producers and other suppliers and small businesses,” he said.

He cited PwC figures that estimate the BBC adds £6.5m to the UK economy, of which £5m goes to creative industries. “So we don’t think cutting investment at this time makes much sense.”

Mr Thompson said that the BBC, like its commercial rivals, was already making sacrifices in the recession.

“It is often forgotten, because it started some time before the cutbacks were announced at ITV and elsewhere, that the BBC is going through the biggest redundancy programme of any broadcaster. We have cut some 7,200 posts since 2005 with another 1,200 more to go as part of planned savings of £1.9bn in this licence fee period.”

Fewer new houses, and therefore fewer new licences, mean the BBC will have to find a further £400m in savings, he said.

The director general added that BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s commercial division, continues to have “constructive discussions” with Channel 4 about some form of tie-up, but said these “complex commercial negotiations … will take time”.