Why pay for the BBC?

Stephen Pollard in the Spectator is not too pleased with the BBC's decision not to bid for the TV rights put on sale by the ECB. He says:

The ECB made it clear to the BBC that it wanted to have Test cricket on the BBC and would find a way to accomodate it within the overall rights package. Yet there was no bid of any sort from the BBC, not for one Test a year, not for two, and not for a highlights package. Cricket, as far as the BBC is now concerned, is not worth a penny.

That should lead to further questions about just what we pay our licence fee for, if it is not in part for the BBC to televise the national summer sport.