\u201cThe licence fee is worth every single penny, and not just for programmes like Springwatch,\u201d he said. \u201cBut for all of the real news that\u2019s out there as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, frankly, where have Amazon Prime been, where have Netflix been in Ukraine covering the news there? They\u2019ve been nowhere. And they cost a lot more than the BBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, good, top-quality public service broadcasting \u2013 that\u2019s what we pay our licence fee for.\u201d<\/p>
The popular presenter also spoke more specifically about how nature programming might be affected if the licence fee was scrapped, claiming it would be a \u201ctragic loss\u201d for the BBC\u2019s output.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of our nature programmes can be really expensive to make, but they are world-leading,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd they have been for a long time. And we\u2019re very fortunate that we\u2019ve assembled a team of people that make those all the way through production, all of the technicians, camera, sound, editing, and so on and so forth.<\/p>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/04\/winterwatch-chris-packham-9bd58ab.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\u201cAnd that\u2019s a unique opportunity that we have in the UK to continue to fly the flag of world-class natural history programming, and the BBC Natural History Unit and now Science as well have been at the core of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you take away that funding, you\u2019ll take away that quality. What a tragic loss at a time when more than ever we need to communicate our passion and concern for the natural world as we\u2019re in our climate and biodiversity crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additional reporting by Christian Tobin.<\/em><\/p>\n See more photos from the Radio Times Covers Party 2022 in the new issue of Radio Times magazine, on sale Tuesday 5th April. Subscribe now to get each issue delivered to your door, and for more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times podcast with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p>\n Looking for something else to watch? Check out our TV Guide<\/a> visit our Documentaries<\/a> Hub for all the latest news and features.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Patrick Cremona Published: Monday, 04 April 2022 at 12:00 am The future of the licence fee has been one of the most prominent debates in the UK in recent years \u2013 with Chris Packham having long been an opponent of government plans to scrap it. And in an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":13239,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/chris-packham-defends-bbc-licence-fee-wheres-netflix-been-covering-news-in-ukraine.jpg",1920,1280,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/chris-packham-defends-bbc-licence-fee-wheres-netflix-been-covering-news-in-ukraine-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/chris-packham-defends-bbc-licence-fee-wheres-netflix-been-covering-news-in-ukraine-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/chris-packham-defends-bbc-licence-fee-wheres-netflix-been-covering-news-in-ukraine-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/chris-packham-defends-bbc-licence-fee-wheres-netflix-been-covering-news-in-ukraine-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/chris-packham-defends-bbc-licence-fee-wheres-netflix-been-covering-news-in-ukraine-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/04\/chris-packham-defends-bbc-licence-fee-wheres-netflix-been-covering-news-in-ukraine.jpg",1920,1280,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Patrick Cremona Published: Monday, 04 April 2022 at 12:00 am The future of the licence fee has been one of the most prominent debates in the UK in recent years \u2013 with Chris Packham having long been an opponent of government plans to scrap it. And in an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com at the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/13238"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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