Latest news with #publicServiceBroadcasting
The Independent
14-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
If the BBC licence fee is scrapped, Doctor Who should disappear behind a paywall
I've spent most of my career watching television and, through thick and thin, I've always stood up for the BBC. Currently, for £14.50 per month, the licence fee pays for national and local TV and radio, the iPlayer, BBC Sounds, the BBC website, a selection of apps and the BBC World Service. That represents incredible value for money, but the Corporation's Royal Charter is up for renewal in 2027. It's been a decade since the last renewal, and in that time, the media landscape has changed beyond recognition. In 2017, Netflix were sending me DVDs through the post; now streaming services, YouTube and social media have changed the way we watch and have made it increasingly difficult to argue the future of the compulsory TV licence. This means even dyed-in-the wool supporters like me have to argue that the BBC's financing method has to change. In an interview with the Sunday Times, BBC chairman Samir Shah has argued that the licence fee should be included with council tax payments, with a sliding scale of payments according to the value of your property. This sounds sensible – but with no council tax in Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, that rather puts a spanner in the works. As a huge supporter of public service broadcasting, I'd suggest something different: make the BBC a two-tier service, with a basic offering for all supplemented by premium services for those who want to pay extra for them. Once rid of the licence fee, a pared-back BBC could then be paid for out of general taxation, with a subscription service offering premium extras. 'BBC Basic', as it might come to be known colloquially, could breathe life into its Reithian principles – to inform, educate and entertain, offering all the important things that hold the nation together as well as a real service element: news, consumer programmes, popular drama like EastEnders and Death in Paradise, and revealing and positive documentaries. Such a service would hopefully 'breadcrumb' viewers into paying for tasty and desirable treats, either via a rolling monthly subscription, or with individual programmes available to rent on demand. 'BBC Premium' might offer full coverage of sporting events (there could be highlights on the basic package), some popular flagship programming such as Strictly Come Dancing and Race Across the World, and all the programmes that cost more to produce, such as major dramas and nature series. As with the streamers, you'd get your first episode on the basic package and pay for the rest. Shows that you pay for should be the icing on the cake of the BBC, and I'd even argue for shows like Doctor Who to go behind a paywall. Who else but the Beeb is making popular sci-fi with incredibly high production values, whose every plot twist and casting decision dominates the headlines? The BBC has a massive archive of programming which could be open to subscribers. This would require spending money on rights clearances, but this would fit in with the corporation's public service ethos. The iPlayer recently ran a pop-up TV station, Memories, aimed at those with dementia, but providing an incredible historic insight into the past, from arts programming to life in an insurance company in the 1970s (quite niche, but I enjoyed it), so a bigger offering than the current meagre and largely unchanging collection could prove a big draw. Archive material could also fill some daytime TV slots on a basic package as a money-saver and something for those of us bored with endless property programmes and gameshows. The BBC's commercial arm is a big success, with 2023/24 figures showing sales of £1.9 billion, with the most popular shows sold to other broadcasters around the world including Planet Earth III, The Famous Five, The 1% Club and coverage of the Coronation. It has also made shows for Netflix and Apple TV+ that have never been shown on the BBC. Such commercial creativity should be able to come up with new programming that entices viewers to pay for a premium service, perhaps working with social media content creators to draw in the much-desired younger audience and reshape broadcasting for a new era. As much as I've loved Auntie Beeb over the years, she has to change. She's not an auntie to younger viewers, more like one of those distant relatives you avoid at all costs because you think she's really boring. But you could probably learn something from her, which is why the good things that come from the BBC must continue, even though you're going to pay for them in a different way.
Telegraph
03-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
BBC director pushes for higher licence fee after ‘grinding cuts'
The BBC director general has called for a higher licence fee after taking aim at a decade of 'grinding' cuts. Tim Davie said he was open to reform of the fee and its enforcement, but made it clear that he wanted more money from the public to enable investment. He said: 'I do want universal funding and I want proper investment and not begrudging, grinding cuts to the BBC, which you've had in the last 10 years, which have just not helped.' The call for investment amounts to a demand for a higher licence fee, which makes up two thirds of the BBC's income. The BBC received around £3.7bn from the fee last year, which currently stands at £174.50. It will rise in line with inflation until the end of the charter period in 2027. However, bosses have warned that previous cuts have left a black hole in the corporation's finances that have forced the BBC to wield the axe on programming and jobs in a scramble to cut £700m in costs. The public service broadcaster said that its income from the licence fee dropped by 30pc in real terms between 2010 and 2020 after a series of freezes and cuts to the levy. Mr Davie's comments come as the BBC is locked in discussions with ministers over the future of the licence fee. The upcoming settlement is viewed as pivotal in deciding the broadcaster's future as it struggles to compete with new US streaming services and faces calls for the licence fee to be scrapped. The BBC's declining income has been compounded by a fall in viewer numbers as audiences increasingly ditch the broadcaster in favour of rivals such as Netflix and Disney. The number of UK households paying the licence fee dropped by roughly half a million last year, with younger viewers in particular turning their backs on the broadcaster. The crisis has fuelled calls for the licence fee to be replaced with a different system such as a subscription service. Speaking at the Deloitte and Enders Media and Telecoms conference in London, Mr Davie said his major concern was a 'mainstream weaponisation where people don't care' about the BBC. He said the broadcaster would be wrong to 'assume' that the public cared about its future and had to prove its worth to the country. He defended the BBC by saying it was not just a vehicle for programming but also 'venture capital for the UK', pointing to its ability to drive investment in cities such as Birmingham and Manchester. Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, has previously branded the licence fee as 'unenforceable' and ruled out funding the BBC through general taxation. Speaking in London on Tuesday, Ms Nandy said the Government wanted to 'support a BBC that is empowered to continue to deliver a vital public service, funded in a sustainable way'.
