BBC On Collision Course With Over-75 Viewers

The BBC is on a direct collision course with over-75 viewers, many of whom will lose their entitlement to a "free" TV licence from mid-2020.

Sticking my head above the parapet here, but my own experience is that many of the over-75s I know could afford to pay for a TV licence. Indeed there is a valid train of thought that many pensioners have greater financial security than millennials struggling to reach the first rung of the property ladder. That being the case, was the introduction of the over-75 TV licence a fiscally responsible idea in the first place? Or was it just another New Labour gimmick designed to steal away some of the Conservative Party's traditional grey vote?

Whatever the answer, it now seems plain wrong for the BBC to remove a concession that over-75s have been eligible for since the year 2000. It's a bit like an unscrupulous landlord telling their tenant "you can live here for as long as you want" and then kicking them out in the street the moment their guard is down.

Over the past fortnight TV Licensing has been writing to every over-75 TV licence holder to inform them of the new eligibility criteria that come into force on 1st June 2020. From that date, only those over-75 households with an occupant in receipt of Pension Credit will be entitled to a concessionary TV licence.

Under the new rules around 3.7 million households that currently receive a "free" over-75 TV licence will have to pay the full licence fee if they wish to continue viewing TV programmes (or BBC on-demand programmes via the iPlayer). Unsurprisingly, many over-75s are outraged at the idea of having to pay for a perk they now view as an automatic entitlement.

In a recent poll more than three-quarters of current over-75 TV licence holders said they would refuse to pay the annual fee when the rules change next year. If true to their word, the BBC will have insurmountable enforcement difficulties. It is not practical, nor in the public interest, to criminalise the millions of over-75s who have pledged not to pay.

If the BBC did get tough it would lead to tabloid front pages emblazoned with damning images of medal-wearing pensioners being hauled into court by TV Licensing. YouTube would be awash with videos of dishonest Capita TV Licensing goons telling bare-faced lies to little old ladies and threatening war veterans with imaginary search warrants and detector vans. Groups of placard-waving pensioners would be huddled around burning oil drums outside BBC offices, comparing notes on the most effective way of foil-baking potatoes. The relationship between TV Licensing and the BBC would be thrust firmly into the public spotlight and the BBC brand, which has already taken quite a kicking over the years, would be irreparably damaged as a result.

There is little doubt that Tony Hall, the BBC Director General, must be absolutely shitting himself at the prospect of widespread over-75 disobedience when the new rules come into force.

We hope that every day between now and then becomes increasingly uncomfortable for him.

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