Yeah it's extremely messed up and BBC likes to pretend it's not really responsible for it by hiding it under the guise of a "TV Licencing" body to distance itself [1]. I used to be pro-national broadcasting but honestly the quality of shows they produce has dropped so dramatically and how biased their news coverage has become I refuse to ever pay for it again.

[1] : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Un...