BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen

[Stuart]

To me the logical thing to do is to make it a component of council tax. This means it can be made more progressive than the flat fee it is now, and can also then come into the existing schemes of discounts and exemptions.

The major issue with that proposal is that it encompasses everyone. An increasing number of people no longer require a TV Licence because of the alternatives available such as streaming and catch-up services. 

More than 2 million households won't be happy at being forced to pay for something they don't require.

[all new Phil]

To me the logical thing to do is to make it a component of council tax. This means it can be made more progressive than the flat fee it is now, and can also then come into the existing schemes of discounts and exemptions.

The major issue with that proposal is that it encompasses everyone. An increasing number of people no longer require a TV Licence because of the alternatives available such as streaming and catch-up services. 

More than 2 million households won't be happy at being forced to pay for something they don't require.

Diddums. Are you proposing a subscription system instead?

[CantGetIn]

The major issue with that proposal is that it encompasses everyone. An increasing number of people no longer require a TV Licence because of the alternatives available such as streaming and catch-up services. 

More than 2 million households won't be happy at being forced to pay for something they don't require.

Diddums. Are you proposing a subscription system instead?

It is that kind of arrogance that has resulted in this situation.

[natashajacobs]

The major issue with that proposal is that it encompasses everyone. An increasing number of people no longer require a TV Licence because of the alternatives available such as streaming and catch-up services. 

More than 2 million households won't be happy at being forced to pay for something they don't require.

Diddums. Are you proposing a subscription system instead?

Bit rude imo, that wasn’t needed

[Newsroom]

But anyone using iPlayer requires a TV licence. In fact you need to register to use iPlayer so unless the majority of the country and creating false email addresses to bypass the system - there's an awful lot of income to be collected by those watching catch up or iPlayer live.

[telebox2001]

I'm not sure council tax is the answer. If bin collections are anything to go by the BBC will get cut to the bone!

[L1]

To me the logical thing to do is to make it a component of council tax. This means it can be made more progressive than the flat fee it is now, and can also then come into the existing schemes of discounts and exemptions.

The major issue with that proposal is that it encompasses everyone. An increasing number of people no longer require a TV Licence because of the alternatives available such as streaming and catch-up services. 

More than 2 million households won't be happy at being forced to pay for something they don't require.

The question then is do we as a society want to fund PSB media for the benefit of the whole country? The answer to that might be no, and therefore some form of subscription would be a route to go down. However I think viewing figures and other figures suggest otherwise, I think the vast majority of the public support the BBC's services and at the end of the day it has to be paid for.

[Andrew]

To me the logical thing to do is to make it a component of council tax. This means it can be made more progressive than the flat fee it is now, and can also then come into the existing schemes of discounts and exemptions.

The major issue with that proposal is that it encompasses everyone. An increasing number of people no longer require a TV Licence because of the alternatives available such as streaming and catch-up services. 

More than 2 million households won't be happy at being forced to pay for something they don't require.

Isn’t that the same as council tax though? Most of us don’t use half the services the council provide but we all stay pay for them.

Bringing it into council tax isn’t a bad idea in my opinion, a PSB precept, but if it is subject to all the various discounts like council tax is, the base rate would have to increase, or else the BBC would end up getting much less than they do now.

[Brekkie]

The major issue with that proposal is that it encompasses everyone. An increasing number of people no longer require a TV Licence because of the alternatives available such as streaming and catch-up services. 

More than 2 million households won't be happy at being forced to pay for something they don't require.

The question then is do we as a society want to fund PSB media for the benefit of the whole country? The answer to that might be no, and therefore some form of subscription would be a route to go down. However I think viewing figures and other figures suggest otherwise, I think the vast majority of the public support the BBC's services and at the end of the day it has to be paid for.

Exactly - as they say you only know how important something really is when it is taken away and I think even for those who never use the BBC personally it's impact is far wider than it's audience figures.  We've seen that over the last two years with it's role in the pandemic too.

[Steve in Pudsey]

Bringing it into council tax isn’t a bad idea in my opinion, a PSB precept, but if it is subject to all the various discounts like council tax is, the base rate would have to increase, or else the BBC would end up getting much less than they do now.

Introducing a 25% single occupant discount (like Council Tax) wouldn't go amiss to be honest.

I do wonder about an advertising model, but restricted to between programmes rather than within. That wouldn't really change things for viewers in terms of being intrusive - we'd just see commercials rather than 5 minutes of trailers between each programme - but might be an acceptable compromise to the commercial sector that the BBC isn't going to come in and hoover up all of the advertising revenues available.

[Matthew]

But anyone using iPlayer requires a TV licence. In fact you need to register to use iPlayer so unless the majority of the country and creating false email addresses to bypass the system - there's an awful lot of income to be collected by those watching catch up or iPlayer live.

iPlayer doesn't check e-mail addresses against licence fee database so no need for false e-mail addressses

[Stuart]

The major issue with that proposal is that it encompasses everyone. An increasing number of people no longer require a TV Licence because of the alternatives available such as streaming and catch-up services. 

More than 2 million households won't be happy at being forced to pay for something they don't require.

Isn’t that the same as council tax though? Most of us don’t use half the services the council provide but we all stay pay for them.

Bringing it into council tax isn’t a bad idea in my opinion, a PSB precept, but if it is subject to all the various discounts like council tax is, the base rate would have to increase, or else the BBC would end up getting much less than they do now.

In essence, yes that how local government funding works, but the BBC is not a local government service.

It offers exactly the same service to all, so why should someone in Road 1 (Band B), be paying less to watch Strictly than someone in Road 2 (Band G) half a mile away.  It's where a concept which seems sensible in theory, starts to unravel in practice.

I'm more than content with the current arrangement, but perhaps Ofcom should set the amount of TVL increase, and not the Government of the day who may, or may not, have a political axe to grind.

If people want to opt out, they can, but if they are caught evading the TVL the penalties are high.  At work I see fines listed which run into the many thousands, because people have been caught year after year by Capita.  It's easy money for them, as they just visit once a year and cause the occupant another £800+ fine.  I've also more recently seen cases were people were fined for watching iPlayer, so perhaps they trace that activity through the IP address.

[Steve in Pudsey]

But then there's nothing to say it has to be done by band. Your council tax bill has "Precepts" added for the fire service and police, the TV license could be another one and be the same amount for every band.

[telebox2001]

Sounds like a Poll Tax to me.

[James2001]

I won't deny I'd laugh a bit if the licence fee got replaced by taxation, then all the people who've spent years campaigning for it to be abolished find themselves with no choice but to pay for the BBC whether they owna TV or use their services or not at least partly as a result of their campaigning.