UK News 27-08-2003 who: Shadow Culture Secretary John Whittingdale what: Says BBC website should be shut down when: Yesterday snippet: "It is not clear why BBCi is on the Net when, by and large, the same services are provided by commercial operators. He thinks the BBC should only provide services that no one else does" - a spokeswoman for Mr Whittingdale, quoted in The Independent. It`s unlikely he`ll be impressed by the news in The Telegraph that the BBC is spending "up to £10million" on the rights to screen the first Harry Potter film at christmas. Elsewhere in Beeb news, The Mirror reports that Auntie has banned Michael Barrymore from guesting on BBC chat shows. [... more]

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