Downing Street Says » BBC Licence Fees

» Tuesday, February 24, 2004

BBC Licence Fees

Asked if the Prime Minister was still committed to Licence Fees as a way of funding the BBC, the PMOS referred journalists to what Tessa Jowell had said previously. She had said that it would be improbable if not impossible to find an alternative. That remained the position. These were matters which were considered as part of the Charter Review, as they were with every Charter Review, so that was nothing new.

3 Comments »

Dare I link to Tom’s opinions on this?
http://radish.hosted.doosh.net/steiny/mt/archives/000022.html
Comment by Chris Lightfoot — 1 Mar 2004 on 3:14 am | Link
Invert the model – it might be crazy, but how crazy?
http://www.dgen.net/2004/02/29/bbc_charter.htm
Comment by Gavin Starks — 5 Mar 2004 on 5:57 pm | Link
You suggest an optional subscription to BBC online in place of the licence fee, with broadcasts being paid for out of subscriptions to BBC online. Surely this puts a "capitalist-agenda" at the core of BBC online and creates an unchecked incentive to reduce the cost of providing broadcast material with an inevitable reduction in quality.

What makes the BBC worthwhile is the fact that it caters to a wider cross-section of the public than a profit driven broadcaster, who will attempt to maximise the audience of each individual program resulting in "popular" broadcasts of limited variety.

The BBC needs some market forces to ensure that viewers are getting value for money, but any optional fee will reduce it to the level of other broadcasters. What is needed is a funding structure that rewards the BBC according to the percentage of the population reached over the course of a week’s broadcasting.
Comment by Paul Warren — 5 Mar 2004 on 11:47 pm | Link

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