BBC to consult on reform of the licence fee

km1500

they still want universal obligation to pay it with some progressive elements for those on lower income

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68654318

Cornucopia

They really need to get their heads around two basic questions - 

- The BBC isn't a universal service because some people choose not to pay for it and are therefore either opting-out or viewing illegally.  

- Would the TV Licence system remain viable(ish) if it were to be operated in the completely transparent way that it ought to be, or would that simply make it even less effective?   Or to put it another way - is the dishonesty of the TV Licensing enforcement regime necessary or hateful?

brewerdave

As far as I can see , the idea that "rich folks" should pay more to subsidise the "poor and needy" is already dead in the water. There is no way that the MPs are going to allow the BBC/their representatives access to tax records.

wild666

IMO universal mean they offer the content to every country not just the UK for the same price. I would rather the licence fee be scrapped from 1/1/2028 than have a fee for watching live as shown TV or using iPlayer. They could then get the same content out in not only the UK but many other country's, they already have BBC.co.uk and BBC.com version, if I use my VPN with a non UK address the site revert to the .com version but inside the UK it's .co.uk, I would think it would be the same for someone outside the UK using a UK VPN address they would get the .co.uk version and be able to watch the iPlayer and sounds app.

Cornucopia

In theory, there is an international market that the BBC could play in, but in practice its previous ventures have not proven that successful.   Generally, being a commercial-scale streamer involves massive costs and thin margins.

OTOH, I doubt that UK viewers would notice much difference between BBC1 now, and under such a model.   More parochial content of the BBC4 kind is more than fully catered to by Youtube, which has orders of magnitude more such content now being produced across a vast range of topic areas.