...such as the Ameglian Major Cow?

A subsidy would imply that the BBC was being paid for out of the general taxes collected by the British Government, whereas the license fee is actually collected directly from the license payers by the BBC. Having said that, I will agree that there's some jiggery-pokery where the money goes to the Consolidated Fund and then gets 'appropriated' to the BBC.

Ahem...the BBC is NOT subsidized by the British Government...

...prepare to die