It's War!
The first shot was fired by Tony Ball of BSkyB - BBC 'should sell popular shows':

The BBC should be made to sell its most popular programmes to its commercial rivals and concentrate more on its public service obligations, the chief executive of BSkyB said yesterday.

Tony Ball outlined his radical idea, which would compel the corporation to license series such as The Weakest Link, Fame Academy and Holby City, at the annual MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival.

He also revealed the results of a new survey that claims 51 per cent of viewers believe the licence fee is not good value for money - a significant fall since similar research was conducted four years ago.

It must be grating to have to pay a television license fee to the BBC. It would be like National Public Radio collecting a fee on every working radio in the USA.

But then there was a counterattack - BBC launches public attack on Murdoch 'imperialism':

The controller of BBC1 launched an unprecedented attack on Rupert Murdoch yesterday, calling the media billionaire a "capital imperialist" who wants to destabilise the corporation because he "is against everything the BBC stands for".

Lorraine Heggessey said Mr Murdoch's continued attacks on the BBC stemmed from a dislike of the public sector. But he did not understand that the British people "have a National Health Service, a public education system" and trust organisations that are there for the benefit of society and not driven by profit.

That's certainly not much of a recommendation. And we're also pleased to hear:

The BBC has been alarmed by the increasingly close relationship between the Government and Mr Murdoch's British newspapers, at a time when the BBC's relationship with New Labour is strained as never before. The frostiness of the relationship has raised speculation that the Government will consider abolishing the licence fee in its forthcoming review of the BBC's charter.

Now we're talking. And I'm puzzled by the BBC honchos' pretensions to some sort of policy making role. They merely run a TV network on the backs of the taxpayers. Of course, I should not be surprised - that's what the public broadcasters do in the USA too except they have pledge drives.

And finally, the Guardian is in full BBC defense mode. They have to protect their allies in the leftoid media.