A recent report by the House of Lords has recommended that the Government should introduce a new universal council tax levy. According to the review, this additional council tax would be difficult for people to avoid and could be means-tested. This means that those on low incomes would pay less towards the BBC and the Government would be able to easily collect the cash.
A television licence is needed to watch programmes as they are being broadcast live across the UK.
In the age of streaming, the licence fee is required to stream live content on services like BBC iPlayer.
Recently, the Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries froze the licence fee for two years as part of the Government’s consultation into BBC funding.
As a result, the TV licence will remain at £159 per household for the foreseeable future until a brand new funding model is introduced.
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While the Lords’ Communications and Digital Committee did not give its full backing to a universal council tax levy, it did cite how such a policy has been beneficial in countries such as Germany.
A public investigation into how the BBC will be paid has been promised by Ms Dorries but will likely be delayed until Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves office.
The Committee sounded the alarm that the BBC is at risk of “stagnation and decline” if it does not lay out a clear funding plan.
As part of its report, the group warned the public broadcaster “must do a better job of representing the full range of perspectives and communities that make up our diverse society”.
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Baroness Stowell of Beeston, the chair of the Committee, shared what the latest proposals mean for the television licence.
On the potential changes, Baroness Stowell said: “The greatest threat to the BBC’s future isn’t a battle amongst politicians about the licence fee – though decisions about how it is funded are important to get right and becoming increasingly urgent.
“The real danger is if the BBC doesn’t seize this opportunity to reform and demonstrate why it’s of value to audiences in this new world of endless choice.
“That’s why the Committee concluded that, when it comes to what the BBC does, the status quo is not an option.”
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One of the funding options which was being discussed in Government was a Netflix-style subscription model to pay for the BBC.
However, this report warns that such a model would not be financially viable due to continuing popularity of traditional television and radio platforms.
Other options such as an advertising-funded model and a monthly BBC levy on broadband contracts were also dismissed due to the impact it would have on other commercial broadcasters and the difficulty in means-testing it, respectively.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, a BBC spokesperson, said: “We welcome the Lord’s report. We agree we need to keep reforming which is what we have been doing at pace.
“Clearly the BBC needs to keep relevant and we welcome the report’s finding that a market failure BBC wouldn’t be a good outcome. Beyond that, we are open minded about the future and it is right there is a debate on whether the licence fee needs to evolve and if so, what comes next.”
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