Its very cynical, the BBC push the brand name (e*a*)and use the excuse contemporary culture, but the fact is by the very size of the BBC operation they feed into the creation of contempory culture, the other comparison is to look at commercial broadcasters and if they give so much air time to positive brand promotion, FOR FREE, I doubt it.
£3 increase is what the BBC want, £3 added to our license fee, I have no idea what the cost is for ads on the commercial networks but I am sure the Reach and Positive brand promotion the BBC have given to e*a* would have cost Millions if they had been paying for it, but they are not, we are, so by the very fact UK people are forced to fund what the BBC decide is Popular Culture Promotion puts us in the hands of a Corporation that decide what is best for us, like it or not.
The BBC think adding a few people with regional accents is meeting their charter for more inclusive broadcasting, I dont think so, anything that survives because people are forced to support it is dubious at best, the moderate voice of the BBC is not what holds society together and life would go on without them but they would not go on without us, or at least they money we are forced to pay to support them.