In an interview last July before the funding settlement with the BBC, Osborne indicated that the licence-fee-funded BBC should not be allowed to crowd out newspaper competition.
Treasury to save £340m from new funding settlement for BBC.
The BBC had a massive boost with the funding settlement.
But he warned future flood defence works might be hampered by a tight funding settlement.
And the funding settlement for the BBC requires both cuts and the reallocation of spending".
Now we have fixed the funding settlement, the debate moves on to what the BBC does with that funding.
Both the chancellor and the culture secretary have indicated that the funding settlement is contingent on a "satisfactory" outcome.
Any new funding settlement must promote world class competitiveness in teaching and research, with better quality for students.
Liam Fox, a former Tory defence minister, also said the West Lothian question and the funding settlement between all UK nations would become "unavoidable".
Mr Alexander set, for the first time, a specific long-term funding settlement for flood defences, rising to £370m by 2016, which will be guaranteed until 2021.
Boris Johnson and his transport executives are adamant that a recent £40bn funding settlement is not enough to fund the tube upgrade programme.
