On the face of it, approving the BBC's plans to become a major provider of online educational materials and teaching aids should be as easy as A, B, C.
The corporation wants the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, to give it the green light to launch a range of online and digital educational aids tailored specifically to the national curriculum and designed to enhance the learning experience of children across the UK.
In a seemingly dream scenario for overstretched school budgets, Auntie plans to do its bit for the nation by giving the kit away for free.
Yet, as Ms Jowell knows only too well after the furore that surrounded the proposed launch of the young people's channel, BBC3, nothing is ever that simple when the BBC plans to move in on an area that commercial rivals claim is already well served. The decision she is due to make soon will not be an easy one.
The BBC's "Digital Curriculum" plans, submitted in May, have sparked a period of intense lobbying, tense meetings and bust-ups that would not have looked out of place on a school playground.
A broad alliance of publishers, software companies and media groups already in the business of selling educational products claim that they could lose up to £400m if the corporation is allowed to spend £150m of licence fee-payers' money on building a service that is similar to their own but is free of charge.
Deep concerns
"Our industry could be decimated," claimed Dominic Savage, money-chair of the Digital Learning Alliance (DLA), a consortium of UK educational software and book publishing firms that includes Pearson Education, Harper Collins, Channel 4, Granada and Reed Elsevier.
"We have deep concerns about our members' ability to compete. There is a serious risk of substantial job losses."
The BBC insists its proposals strongly reflect its public service remit and would provide a valuable service. They would also maximise the return on the £1.8bn the government has invested in computing products in schools since Mr Blair first came to power.
"If the 21st century is about the 'Knowledge Economy' then the BBC should help that happen," said Michael Stevenson, joint director of factual and learning at the BBC. "We would be letting a generation of kids down if we did not do it.
"These children are of a screen generation. They go home to a Playstation and expect the same dynamism from a PC in school. Our products will help them experience that - and they'll be free."
Government figures see the BBC's plans as an important complimentary service to Curriculum Online, a Department for Education & Skills (DfES) initiative to provide digital resources to schools to support the National Curriculum.
Tony Blair threw his weight behind the project by announcing in December 2001 a plan to provide schools with £50m worth of "Electronic Learning Credits" during the 2002-03 year which they can put towards buying digital resources.
Curriculum Online was due to be launched by the end of this month but has been delayed. A spokesman for the DfES confirmed that although the deadline would now be missed an announcement was "not far away".
A verdict on the BBC's plans should in theory follow shortly after. If Ms Jowell gives the go-ahead to the proposals as they stand she is likely to face accusations that yet again the government has kow-towed to the corporatist expansionism of a publicly-funded organisation that is behaving more like a private business.
After the recent award of the digital terrestrial televisions licences vacated by ITV Digital to a consortium led by the BBC, the commercial sector is likely to feel that the mandarins at Broadcasting House are out of control.
Yet, if she turns it down, she risks the wrath of teachers and parents around the country who will feel their children have been deprived of the chance of a learning experience from what remains arguably the most trusted broadcaster in the world.
The commercial sector believes it has proved that many of the BBC's proposed products are not distinctive enough from those already commerically available to warrant public funding.
A report by independent consultants SRU, commissioned by the DLA, also warned that if the government fails to rein in the BBC and create a level playing field with its rivals, the range of quality, innovative resources available to teachers will reduce, and education will suffer.
SRU argues that in order to offset the impact of the BBC and maintain effective competition the government would need to provide at least £800m of "ringfenced" funding over five years - rather than the £50m that Mr Blair has so far committed.
Judicial review
One member of the DLA, troubled software group RM, has even gone as far as to demand a judicial review of the BBC's plans, claiming that EU laws prohibiting state aid would be breached if the BBC's plans were funded through public money.
Like many software firms, RM is feeling the effects of the economic downturn and implosion of the dotcom bubble.
The BBC's Mr Stevenson insists that the corporation would work in conjunction with commercial rivals, rather than ride roughshod over them.
"The argument that the BBC is dominant and monopolistic is wildly exaggerated," he said. "Our plans were not conceived as something the BBC could or should do alone. This is about the BBC making a sizeable contribution alongside the commercial software sector. We will create opportunities for others, take risks and plant the standard further forward."
The BBC argues that without it the commercial companies and classrooms will suffer. Mr Stevenson claims that nothing similar in "scale or ambition" to what the BBC is trying has been attempted before and a successful BBC offering will increase teachers' confidence in new technology and encourage them to buy products from the private sector as well.
In an effort to placate opponents the BBC has pledged to limit spending on the core subjects of maths, science and english to just 25% of its £90m content budget. A further 40% will be spent on minority subjects like community languages. The remaining £60m of the £150m will go towards supporting the technology and online distribution.
Commercial rivals say this is still too much on core subjects and a compromise deal looks likely. "We're not saying the money shouldn't be spent, just that it should go where the BBC can offer a real public service," said the DLA's Mr Savage.
Yet if schools are going to see any real benefit from the initiative soon Ms Jowell may have to assume the role of headmistress and bring the bickering to a swift conclusion.