BBC going commercial

Recently there has been talk of the Royal Charter for the BBC being up for renegotiation.  In other words will we in the UK continue to pay a television licence so that we can receive BBC radio and TV programmes.  At the moment it's a criminal offence if you do not pay and then watch BBC broadcasts but with the move to other technologies it's very difficult to stop people watching programmes across other media sources such as the Internet and not just a TV aerial.  One suggestion is of course to make BBC programmes like other commercial stations and include advertising.  Noel Edmunds, a TV presenter and commercial guru, is even offering to buy the BBC and run it as a commercial company.  If the decision to introduce adverts goes ahead then I for one will bemoan the day.  Having experienced American TV while living out there I can tell you that commercial TV leads to a dumbing down of all broadcasts.  Advertisers are only interested in large viewing figures and for that reason the channels become swamped with quiz shows and talent contest.  The niche programmes do not bring in large budget advertisers so say goodbye to the fantastic Arts and History programming that we have got used to in the BBC.  PBS (Public Broadcast Service) which is a donation channel in the United States, is popular with certain elements of the USA and from my memories shows large numbers of BBC programmes but because of its low income cannot produce any original broadcasting of its own or if it does it not of a BBC standard. The BBC needs to remain a licence based organisation so we are not forced to accept that low grade TV and radio is what the population is forced to watch.  How do we improve the intelligence of our population if all they are offered to watch is pap like X Factor and The Cube  As usual the easiest and cheapest answer is to bring everything down to a lower level instead of trying to raise the bar and improve the quality of things for everyone.