ive no problem with the bbc spending a proportion of its money on ethnic programmes -afterall, ethnic minorities pay a licence fee too (no option for anyone not to if you buy a TV -which is another issue altogether!)and so the bbc should represent their interests as much as anyone elses. But youre quite right to question where the government can dig up this sort of money from given the current economic climate. Besides, in the interests of integration, shouldnt ethnic programming be more a part of the existing channels first? Surely creating a seperate network only encourages seperatism. Fine, you can still have your (non bbc)specialist channels whether it be for sport/history/natural world or "ethnic" but why should the bbc fund a seperate ethnic network, it doesnt have a seperate sports channel or a dedicated history one does it. Surely theyve enough existing channels to incorporate more ethnic programming into them without the additional expense of a new network?