BBC licence fee is ‘regressive tax’, broadcaster’s former chair says

Comments

• Syldon@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Just another reminder that Murdoch told Johnson to get rid of the BBC. Since then Tories have been gunning for it with fervour. The fact that Grade has such close links with the Tory party and its bidding just puts this into context. The way Ofcom has been ran during the Tory reign is very indicative that he is willing to follow the party line.

  The BBC currently is a steaming pile of poop. The Tories have ruined it. But as an institution it holds massive soft power for the UK. It doesn’t need scrapping, it needs reform on who controls it. Having a government control the narrative of the media is an abuse of power. It an independent body to control how the BBC is set up. That would only ever come from a cross party group set up after each GE.

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  • JoBo@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    That is the context that makes this difficult. But the licence fee is a highly regressive tax. The poorest household in the country pays the same as the richest.

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    • Syldon@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      There I agree. He is just the wrong person to be putting himself forward for a moral argument.

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  • Deceptichum@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Same thing Muedoch had them do with the ABC here in Australia.

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    • floofloof@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Here in Canada the Conservatives are always demanding the abolition of the CBC.

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• snacks@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  oh its one of those rare optional taxes which you dont have to pay. Not a tax, its a choice.

  probably should be a subscription model. that way you can choose to not pay it just as you can already. Itll just take away a perfectly good world class production company which makes a flipping fortune for UK Plc, into the hands of private companies. You think its expensive but it brings a stupid amount in through sales and worldwide syndication. It makes far more than it costs, its a superb company which should be protected.

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  • echodot@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    They also produced an inordinate amount of crap though. Try turning the TV on at any point in the middle of the day, on a weekday, and there’s absolutely nothing worth viewing.

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    • Devi@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      The thing that people don't get is that some TV is not for you. If a show gets low viewing figures then it's cancelled immediately these days, so everything you see on TV has decent figures for it's timeslot, ESPECIALLY those long running trashy daytime things. You're just not the target audience.

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    • Oneeightnine@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Don’t wanna be that guy but I’ve got two kids, we watch Cbeebies pretty much everyday. It’s add-free, it’s educational and it’s all of a pretty high standard. It’s absolutely invaluable. And I’d imagine the same for CBBC.

      Letting people self select what they want would likely mean the end of this.

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• brewery@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  It is and it isn’t. It’s regressive that we all pay the same. It isn’t because it is still a choice whether you choose to watch TV or not.

  I’d happily have it funded by tax in theory. However, only if it was guaranteed somehow but knowing Tories would gut it straight away means I would never support this. Other parties might choose to reduce funding to serve political needs.

  We also need to think how much we get for the price really. It pays for decent news coverage (especially internationally), Welsh language shows, weather, radio stations (with a lot of support to all types of music/ musicians, especially non mainstream and small artists), children’s education (tv channels and bitesize), food recipes (they have a lot of healthy newsletters). The news is contentious with some people but its only a small part of it all. They have also pushed creative, technological and social boundaries.

  The BBC is the UK’s NASA!!! We should be proud of it, push to keep it going and as with everything, push to improve it to serve us as people.

  I used bitesize just the other week to remind me of multiplying fractions as applying to do a degree as a mature student. It was such good content for free and there was much more on so many topics.

  They have a lot of TV shows that private producers like netflix would never make. They cater for making money for shareholders only. How many good tv shows do they cancel because not profitable anymore? How many shows for ethnic minorities or small parts of the country do they make?

  We should also support the ITV and Channel 4. They are differently operated to how a private company would be even without fees but do so much less than the BBC because they don’t get fees so is not a real alternative option. They challenge the BBC and produce a wider mix of content. I never watch ITV tbh but appreciate people must do.

  Let’s take away any political influence (e.g. choosing the chair and board), make sure its accountable to the UK public by ensuring its independence from the current government so it can actually challenge them, and make sure its following aims like increase access to culture of all types, support British creators, support/represent all parts of the community, help teach us and our kids, give us information how/ when we need it and make us proud!

  Wow, this was supposed to be one or two lines but I got carried away!

  TL:DR: the BBC does so much more than we often think about (TV, radio, news, weather, children’s shows, Bitesize, recipes etc). Let’s make it properly independent from govt and help it carry on supporting the British people in the many ways it already does so.

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  • shish_mish@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I agree with everything you said, and I do think the BBC is amazing. But for me and many people, the reality is that it is just too expensive . I am on a very limited budged and simply can’t afford it. I also don’t have any other subscriptions. I wish they scrambled their signal and people could choose to subscribe for a month and then drop it when they can’t afford it. I should not be forced to pay for a service when I don’t want it. I haven’t owned a TV in over a decade.
    Furthermore, I did ring them up and informed them of not needing a licence, and it worked for a while but then they started with the threatening letters again, they are pretty nasty in tone, which I find appealing.

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    • brewery@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      It is horrible how they target those who haven’t paid even if they don’t have to. They should put a stop to that, especially given how much people are struggling.

      I don’t think we should get into a trap of blaming things that cost us for being unaffordable but to be challenging why we are so poor compared to previous years. Austerity, big business and the lack of taxes on the rich are to blame for everyone suffering now. Also the B word hasn’t helped. Yes, there has been the Ukraine war and covid but other countries seem to doing much better in response.

      The licence fee is extremely good value for money for what we get and once we lose it, it’s gone and will never come back. To get the same things we did from private companies would be ten times as much. BBC is £13 a month. To replace that you’d need netflix (with UHD and multiple users, which bbc offers is £17.99), Planet radio (3.99 although free with ads), News (depends on your flavour. Telegraph is 29.99, Guardian £14.99. Free options are available but are paid by ‘special interests’ wanting to direct your thinking and ads) and even more other services on top.

      If you are not using it you should not be paying though, I definitely agree. There should be an assumption that you are not using it rather than you are choosing not to pay.

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  • LUHG_HANI@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Channel 4 do some absolutely amazing real life documentaries and films that give BBC a run for it’s money. At the end of the day the BBC have produced arguably the best TV series ever made. Planet Earth and Blue Planet.

    I remember last year when the BBC were talking about pricing. They just need to open it up to abroad for £13pm.

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• leaskovski@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  It's been classed as a tax since the mid naughties...https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldselect/ldbbc/128/128i.pdf

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• autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  This is the best summary I could come up with:

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  The head of Britain’s media regulator and a former chair of the BBC, Michael Grade, has described the broadcaster’s licence fee a “regressive tax” that needs to be re-examined by the government.

  Pointing out that both he, a well-paid executive, and a single mother living on a low income, pay the same £159 licence fee, the former ITV and Channel 4 boss said one of the big questions for the next BBC charter review was whether the broadcaster should be allowed to compete for advertising revenue against commercial stations.

  In an interview with Financial Times, Grade said he believed that the BBC needed to be more “independent and transparent” in its approach to how complaints are handled, something he said Ofcom has “pushed quite hard” for.

  The government is interviewing a shortlist of about 10 candidates to replace Grade, who was picked as chair of Ofcom after Boris Johnson’s attempt to appoint the former editor of the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre, was overruled.

  Ofcom has employed an additional 350 people to handle the extra workload from the recently passed Online Safety Act, which imposes rules for tech groups on harmful and illegal content.

  Ofcom will have powers to require tech groups to use “accredited technology” to search encrypted services for illegal content, which has raised objections from the industry.

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  The original article contains 446 words, the summary contains 219 words. Saved 51%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

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