The BBC is a far-from-perfect organisation: it has over-stretched a little in recent years, its quality (particularly in its news broadcasts) has been diluted by trying to fill a 24-hour news channel; it has become too interested in the sensational, and ratings-grabbing formats; and it is funded by a regressive tax.

However, it still shines by comparison – even if it does, at times, follow the agenda set by News International and the Daily Mail, it is much more measured, and largely free from bias. The regressive nature of the licence fee is diminished by free licences for the elderly, and at around 40p per day, the BBC represents tremendous value.

Living in Brussels, and being exposed to a range of European broadcasters, I still regard it as the world’s leading broadcaster. However, the Rupert (and James) Murdoch-led crusade against state-funded broadcasting (abetted by other broadcasters, and dead-tree media who fear the corporation’s continued march into internet-based services) seems to be starting to bear fruit.

Stripped of self-confidence by its Iraq reporting errors, criticism from the commercial sector, and fairly useless management, the axe is to be wielded.

Yet it will fall in some odd places, according to the announcement made today by the Director-General, Mark Thompson (who rakes in £800,000 a year). While the BBC faces some criticism for being too commercial, it plans to cut some of the very services that are not widely available in the commercial sector – 6Music, a diverse radio station that has helped drive growth in the DAB sector, and the Asian Network, another digital station.

Changes will also be made to BBC Four, one of the few (only?) intellectually-stimulating TV channels in the UK . The BBC’s web output will be slashed (justifiably in places). No changes will be made to BBC Three – a youth-oriented station that replicates a lot of the dross available elsewhere on digital TV; the same for Radio 1 and 1Xtra, which offer similar fare to commercial radio.

So why the choice of victims? In part, due to lower ratings. But this strikes me as paradoxical: surely public services, at a very minimum, should cover areas where the market cannot provide. Strictly Come Dancing and EastEnders are popular, but hardly distinctive. Yet the BBC has, it seems, chosen retained those services where competition is more fierce (and, dare it be said, quality lower).

#save6music is now a rallying call on Twitter. Good – and the station won’t go down without a fight. But there is a formidable constituency intent on doing down the BBC and other publicly-funded services (aided by the insidious and ubiquitous Tory front group, The TaxPayers’ Alliance - thank goodness for the sane voice of The Other TaxPayers’ Alliance).

Murdoch wants the BBC cut, seeing his TV (and newspaper and web) offerings threatened by the Corporation on one side and “new” media – YouTube and torrent sites (as well as webcasting of English football from Asia) – on the other.

David Cameron is happy to provide – he will end the BBC Trust, the Corporation’s governing body, but has (as usual) no stated plans about what happens next. All that matters is keeping Murdoch as his influential newspapers onside.

In the end, public service broadcasting is like other public utilities – providing access where the market cannot provide, at a relatively low cost, for the general benefit of the population at large. It is vital to our politics, democracy and culture. It’s worth defending.