What is the BBC for? You might think, based on recent evidence, that its purpose was to generate headlines about scandals on Blue Peter, to insult the Queen with false accusations and to allow its creative director to take somebody else’s documentary and pass it off as his own. No, the BBC is much more than that, alas. It is expanding its channels to make sure it is a player in the digital age and buying its way into travel publishing by snapping up 75% of Lonely Planet.

Mark Thompson, the BBC director-general, writes in The Sunday Times today that the corporation should “continue its migration into the digital future”. The BBC, he claims, has embraced the internet and digital media with more conviction and success than any other broadcaster. That will continue, he says, and the BBC will not “draw up the wagons around our existing services and leave it at that”.

Those who say that the BBC should concentrate solely on producing quality content are, Mr Thompson says, wrong. But hang on. Every media organisation, including this one, wants to expand into the digital age but most do not have an annual licence fee from taxpayers of more than £3 billion to pay for it. The BBC Trust has its share of economists. They must recognise how imperfect the competition is between a licence-funded broadcaster and the commercial sector. Level playing field it is not and why the BBC was allowed to buy Lonely Planet was a mystery.

Here’s a novel idea: the BBC should concentrate on its core broadcasting of quality news, current affairs, documentaries and drama. It could then sell off the populist television channels and radio stations and put the money into an endowment to fund quality television and radio output. That way the public would continue to get good programmes without advertising and without having to pay more for it. Those who prefer soaps, game shows and reality TV will continue to get them. And yet another tax and state-funded behemoth would bite the dust.