BBC Should Axe Licence Fee, Think-Tank Says

[Treffie]

The BBC should scrap the licence fee and become a subscription service, a report by a free-market think-tank has suggested.

The corporation would be able to compete better as a business if it customers paid to opt in to parts of its programming, the research by the Adam Smith Institute concluded.

Written by David Graham, a former BBC producer, the report says replacing the mandatory fee with voluntary subscriptions would allow the organisation to become a bigger global player.

He suggests some BBC output should be free, such as news, but customers would pay to receive entertainment programmes and documentaries.

"Today, it is not unfair to describe the BBC as a subsidised entertainment firm with some non-commercial obligations.

"Some public service messages need to reach wide audiences and an entertainment medium can provide them. However, subsidising the entertainment itself is a different matter," he said.

The report comes as the Government moots cutting the cost of the licence fee.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt recently told the Daily Telegraph he could "absolutely" imagine viewers paying less than the current amount of £145.50.

Mr Graham's report, Global Player or Subsidy Junkie? Decision Time for the BBC, suggests scrapping the fee altogether could free the corporation from "scaling back... diminishing its potential contribution".

A spokesperson for the BBC Trust said: "The funding of the BBC is a matter for Government.

"The Trust welcomes the fact that the current government has expressed its support for the continued existence of multi-year licence fee settlements.

"The Trust remains focused on ensuring that licence fee payers are getting value for money."

Source

[Beorn]

He suggests some BBC output should be free, such as news, but customers would pay to receive entertainment programmes and documentaries.

If the choice was ever given to the British public on whether they wished to fund the BBC, the BBC would overnight become a minor television station.

I for one would never willingly pay anything towards the Bloody Bastard Cunts

[hereward]

The BBC is an organ for social engineering, it should not be funded. I will be surprised if the Tories do not make changes to this wretched outfit, if they do not, their chances of forming a future government look rather slim.

[RoyBatty]

I for one would never willingly pay anything towards the Bloody Bastard Cunts

It would be even better if the BBC fell on its axe (as opposed to only the license fees being axed).

I quite like the term "British Bolshevik Corporation". It neatly sums up what they stand for.

I would be somewhat surprised if anything concrete came from these proposals. Surely the Conservatives are not going to gut a propaganda machine which, after a little internal re-organisation, can be made to reflect their agendas.

[hereward]

It would be even better if the BBC fell on its axe (as opposed to only the license fees being axed).

I quite like the term "British Bolshevik Corporation". It neatly sums up what they stand for.

I would be somewhat surprised if anything concrete came from these proposals. Surely the Conservatives are not going to gut a propaganda machine which, after a little internal re-organisation, can be made to reflect their agendas.

They would have to sack every last freak, the intelligentsia would take to the barricades in their 'vibrant' masses. No, it would be best to set light to the lot of them

[RoyBatty]

They would have to sack every last freak,

Indeed, the BBC is thoroughly saturated with the nastiest human diseases.

the intelligentsia would take to the barricades in their 'vibrant' masses. No, it would be best to set light to the lot of them

By jove, I believe you're right sir!