This briefing, produced for the UK Media Influence Matrix, provides a summary of the government’s recent proposals for the licence fee, assesses its motivations and consequences, and identifies some potential action points including:
- Launching a petition declaring the public’s willingness to pay for public service broadcasting and to introduce funding measures that will avoid cuts to the BBC. In the short term, even a 5% rise in the price of the licence fee would only translate as an extra £7.95 a year, or an extra 63p per month. A petition is the ideal way to highlight this fact in a ‘viral’ way.
- Commissioning polling that compares support for a flat tax versus a progressive form of funding in order to take on board legitimate grievances about the shortcomings of the existing licence fee.
- Pointing out that relief for the poorest households paying for the TV licence could easily be organised: free licences for two million of the poorest households in the UK would cost £320m, equivalent to a range of small tax rises on the wealthiest UK households.
- Arguing that cutting the BBC’s funding harms households across the UK, especially the poorest, in a different way: by forcing the BBC to make further cuts to its programmes and services. Many households cannot afford to subscribe to Netflix (£120 a year for the standard package), Amazon Prime Video (£96 a year), Sky (£312 a year or £492 with Sky Sports), The Times (£312 a year for a digital subscription) or The Telegraph (£156 a year). These households, as we have already argued above, depend on the BBC across TV, radio and online.
- Launching an Early Day Motion calling on the government to explore longer-term and fairer alternatives, such as a Household Levy (as in Germany) or an independently administered public service fee (as in Sweden) to the television licence fee, that maintain universalism as a fundamental principle of paying for genuinely independent public service media content.
Not much consulting went on about yet another licence fee freeze, two years this time, which added to the five year freeze nodded through by Mark Thompson will result in even more savage cuts to staff and programming. Heard nothing from Sharp or Davie to explain why they have agreed to the freeze or if they didnt how come they are doing nothing to my knowledge about it. Hard to believe they are going to fight hard to keep the licence fee or that any replacement wont result in further damaging cuts.
Brilliant to see practically how the fee might be covered and how its covered elsewhere.
I am 78 years old, disable by debilitating health problems, am almost housebound going out is to go to hospital or other clinical services issue’s, I started work at 15 years of age and retired at 64 years of age
My grandfather purchased a 10 inch television and BBC the only station available at the time, throughout my viewing life the BBC provided high quality program’s free to AOP’.s and a reasonable fee to other viewer’s
the BBC remit was to show no bias to any person’s, or organisation’s whatever these may be, it is obvious that the present government is bent on destroying this