Whose money?

A news story says that the Chairman of the BBC is fighting back against plans to "slice off part of the BBC's £3.6bn licence fee" for other purposes. I would think he would know better. I am old enough to remember when ITV first started up in the mid-1950s, and it was only a matter of time before there were people saying that they shouldn't have to pay the licence fee as they "never watched BBC, only ITV", and they were told in no uncertain terms that the fee was a licence to have a television set, and had nothing to do with what you did or didn't watch. And that's just as true today - it is not and never has been the BBC's licence fee - it's the Government's licence fee and is theirs to do with as they please. Certainly it has always been given to the BBC, and therefore it is reasonable that an expectation has arisen that this state of affairs would continue, and I think if the Government intend to make changes, they must give the BBC sufficient notice to enable them to adjust to the new reality, but for the Chairman to talk of it as their money displays a woeful misunderstanding of the situation.