The BBC Trust could be scrapped and replaced by Ofcom within two years, according to plans being considered by the Government.
The Trust, which is tasked with overseeing editorial standards and value for money, has haplessly lurched from one crisis to another over recent years.
Setting aside sexual abuse scandals for a moment, the BBC has faced particularly swingeing criticism over bumper executive pay-offs, gold-plated pensions and general frivolity in the way it spends public money.
In recent months the Trust has faced increasingly probing questions over the manner in which it has apparently suppressed the release of the much-anticipated Dame Janet Smith Review into historic cases of sexual abuse within the BBC.
In its recent report on the Future of the BBC, the influencial House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee raised concerns about a lack of transparency, nepotism and cronyism at the top of the BBC.
Culture Secretary John Whittingdale MP, an outspoken critic of the BBC, is currently considering the future shape of the Corporation when its Royal Charter comes up for renewal on 31st December 2016.
Also on the table is the realistic prospect of decriminalisation of TV licence fee evasion.
4 comments:
Frankly I really couldn't careless who monitors the behaviour and content of the BBC as I will never watch or pay for it.The real focus of our attention should now be around the "Household Tax".
This punitive tax is a known favourite with smug Lord Marxist Hall,which in itself should ring serious alarm bells for everyone.It is also the probable favourite of cowardly politicians keen to maintain their propaganda outlet.
It is my understanding that in order to watch anything,BBC produced or not i will be required to pay this tax no matter the device i watch it on,utterly ridiculous!
So all that being true,why should the BBC profit from me watching content on say,YouTube where 99% of the content available is created on a "Not-for-profit" basis by home users?BBC gets paid for by viewers of crazy cat videos and Fail armies,hardly seems fair!
Parting shot,BB-subscription only or die!
Now's the time to put maximum pressure on - everyone who can should go 'catch-up' only and legally deprive the BBC of their ill-gotten gains. Despite all their fine talk, it's the easy money that obsesses the BBC as it gives them a privileged position. Reducing Licence sales will also send a message to the politicians that plenty of people don't want to be forced to pay for something they don't use.
It is my understanding that in order to watch anything,BBC produced or not I will be required to pay this tax no matter the device I watch it on,utterly ridiculous!
Nope, it's worse than even that. Under Lord Hall's household tax you will pay whether you watch it or not. This is in line with the way our EU 'partners' charge for their Marxist propaganda outfits.
On the basis of 26.7 million households and assuming a collection rate of 95%, then a TV Household Tax would bring in about £3.7 billion, which is about the current rate of collection, but the letters and the Goon Squad of Crapita TV License collection folks would go, as it would (presumably) become part of the Council Tax collections and recovery process.
This also means it would be covered by the same draconian rules for non-payment and the existing scoff-laws on welfare would be paid for by the government, so a win-win for the BBC, provided they can escape actual government control.
I shouldn't worry about the TV Household Tax - there's a good chance it won't happen - certainly not in this Parliament. There will be pressure from the BBC to make watching catch-up TV licensable, however, and I can see this happening if only to stop the BBC going bust. The BBC's annual report will be published later this month and should show how much they are losing as people cotton on that they can legally watch TV for free as long as it's catch-up. It may be that the number of license sold in the year have dropped with respect to the previous year, which would be a first.
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