"BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen"

"BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen"

Postby dutchman » Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:13 pm

Government announcement will force broadcaster to make deep cuts to its programme budgets

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The BBC will have to make deep cuts to its programme budgets after the government said the broadcaster’s funding would be frozen for the next two years, with the licence fee abolished completely in 2027.

The culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, is expected to confirm that the cost of an annual licence, required to watch live television and access iPlayer services, will remain at £159 until 2024 before rising slightly for the following three years.

She said this would be the end of the current licence fee funding model for the BBC, raising doubts about the long-term financial future and editorial independence of the public service broadcaster under a Conservative government.

Dorries said: “This licence fee announcement will be the last. The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors are over. Time now to discuss and debate new ways of funding, supporting and selling great British content.”

The decision, confirmed by government sources, was briefed to the media as part of a range of measures designed to shore up public support for Boris Johnson after he has faced calls to resign as prime minister.

The BBC will have to negotiate with the government over an entirely new funding model when the final licence fee funding deal expires in 2027 – with potential options including a subscription service, part-privatisation, or direct government funding.

The new licence fee deal will cover a five-year period to 2027, with the cost to the public likely to rise in the final three years – although this increase could also be at a below-inflation rate, meaning further cuts to BBC output could be required.

Dorries’ allies said there would be no further licence fee deal under a Johnson government and they would start negotiations on an entirely new funding model for the corporation. The BBC’s existence and ability to raise money is underpinned by a royal charter that expires at the end of 2027.

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Re: "BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen"

Postby dutchman » Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:23 pm

Dorries’ allies said there would be no further licence fee deal under a Johnson government

Somehow I don't think the BBC needs to worry about that? :roll:
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Re: "BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen"

Postby rebbonk » Sun Jan 16, 2022 11:32 pm

Dorries said: “... The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors are over. ...”


The woman is talking out of her backside. You don't go to prison for not having a licence, nor do bailiffs visit you for it; you go to prison for not paying the court fine you got for not having a licence!
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Re: "BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen"

Postby dutchman » Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:08 pm

She's backtracked already...

BBC funding ‘up for discussion’, says Nadine Dorries, as licence fee frozen

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The culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, has confirmed that the BBC’s funding will be frozen for the next two years – but has softened her stance on the permanent abolition of the television licence fee.

The annual levy on television usage will remain at £159 until April 2024, requiring cuts to the BBC’s output. However, it will then rise in line with inflation for the next four years – a better deal than had been proposed in some press briefings from the government.

Dorries also watered down her own suggestion that the licence fee would be abolished from 2028 onwards, raising suspicions that the focus of her provocative intervention on Sunday was to distract from Boris Johnson’s woes.

On Sunday Dorries tweeted that the current licence fee settlement “will be the last” and the “days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors are over”.

Yet when formally announcing the BBC funding settlement in parliament on Monday afternoon, her language was notably softer. She insisted that no final decision had been made on the future of the licence fee: “It is not a policy – we are announcing a debate and a discussion. The decision as to what the future funding model looks like is up for discussion.”

Dorries told parliament that the BBC was a “beacon” of British culture that needed to survive, but there should be a debate about how it should be funded in the future.

She said she could not envisage a world where households in 2028 were still paying a fee based on ownership of a television, but did not have any preference as to what funding model could replace the licence fee. Dorries repeatedly emphasised that she was unlikely to be in her current job when the decision was made: “We haven’t even begun the discussions yet … There are a number of ways I have been told already that we could fund the BBC going forward. It’s not for me to decide until we have all the information and all the evidence.”

The House of Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, earlier reprimanded Dorries for tweeting out the licence fee announcement rather than announcing it in parliament. He suggested there was a “major colander right across government” and that there might need to be a leak inquiry to find out who briefed her policy to Sunday newspapers.

Dorries apologised and said she had “refused every invitation for media yesterday and today”.

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Re: "BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen"

Postby rebbonk » Mon Jan 17, 2022 11:44 pm

If that woman had a brain, she'd be dangerous.
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Re: "BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen"

Postby dutchman » Mon Jan 24, 2022 6:18 am

David Dimbleby suggests BBC licence fee could be linked to council tax

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The veteran TV presenter David Dimbleby has suggested the BBC licence fee could be linked to council tax to make it fairer as the government questions future funding of the broadcaster.

Dimbleby, who presented Question Time on the BBC for 25 years, said: “The licence fee is something that I absolutely believe in. I don’t think you can have public service broadcasting without paying for it through the public purse in that way.

“But what I do think is the BBC should acknowledge that £159 paid by the poorest as well the richest is just unfair, it’s inequitable,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One.

“And there’s a simple way in which the BBC can get on the front foot, which is by suggesting the licence fee figure, the gross figure of £159, should not be paid flat-rate by everybody, but the richest should pay more and the poorest less. And the simple way of doing it would be to attach an element of the licence fee to the council tax band.”

Asked if this could mean a sharp price rise for wealthier users, he replied: “Some people might pay double, some people might pay half.”

He added: “Why should the poorest pay the same as I pay? It’s just not fair.”

Asked that if cuts were needed, what should be cut, Dimbleby said: “If you stick with everything you’ve got and you have less money, then inevitably the quality deteriorates. So maybe you do have to make cuts and I don’t know where they would lie. Maybe you have to have some services that are subscription, some specialised services.”

Dimbleby also said the BBC must do more to keep in “lockstep” with public opinion, saying it has strayed “a bit”, on issues such as immigration. “Over the years the BBC has not been strong on looking at the reasons that people in some parts of Britain were uneasy about the scale of immigration,” he said.

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Re: "BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen"

Postby dutchman » Mon Jan 24, 2022 6:19 am

Sounds good to me?

(Since I won't have to pay it! :jester: )
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Re: "BBC licence fee to be abolished in 2027 and funding frozen"

Postby rebbonk » Mon Jan 24, 2022 2:47 pm

dutchman wrote:Sounds good to me?

(Since I won't have to pay it! :jester: )


I suggest Dimbleby gets stuffed! :fuming: :fuming: :fuming:
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