Three-quarters of Britons want the TV licence to be axed, according to a new poll for BBC Radio 4's Today on Saturday programme.
The Public First survey of 1,000 people also showed that more than 60 percent would support decriminalisation of TV licence fee evasion.
Under current rules, it is a criminal offence to receive TV programmes (or BBC on-demand programmes) unless covered by a valid TV licence.
In 2018 around 130,000 people were prosecuted for TV licence evasion, with those convicted facing a theoretical maximum penalty of £1,000 fine (although, in reality, the fine is rarely half that amount). TV licence offences accounted for 1-in-10 of all those before the Magistrates' Courts in England and Wales.
The poll also confirms that younger people, those aged 18 to 24 who are abandoning the BBC in favour of on-demand viewing, support abolition of the TV licence more strongly than their elder peers. Just under 80 percent of those aged 18 to 24 wanted to see the end of the TV licence, compared to 64 percent of those aged 65 or older.
The Government is currently conducting a review into how the BBC is funded, with the Prime Minister exploring the possibility of either decriminalising or abolishing the TV licence fee.
Dame Patricia Hodgson, who chaired the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom from 2014 to 2017, called for a change of funding model.
"We should start to either freeze or reduce the licence fee to incentivise the BBC into using broadband technology for subscription top-ups, so we’re progressing to a new funding base after 2027," she said.
Yesterday we published details of a separate Savanta ComRes poll, which showed more than two-thirds of Britons were in favour of the abolition of the TV licence fee.
The BBC maintains that the TV licence fee is the most popular and effective method of funding its output, but then again it would say that - under current arrangements it receives £3.8bn a year as of divine right, however woeful its output or sordid its scandal. The BBC knows fine well that if people were given the option of paying for its services, many of them would take their money elsewhere.
You can be fairly sure that BBC would say almost anything, however insincere or dishonest, in order to protect its beloved TV licence fee.
If you've found this article useful please consider liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter or downloading our free ebook.
BBC licensing should be scrapped
ReplyDeleteAnd pay to view
I for one would not pay to watch BBC
BBC should be privatised like everything else,most efficent way of doing things
ReplyDeletePay a licence fee or pay-to-view charge for the Josef (Boris) Goebbels state propaganda channel, aka the BBC?! You must be joking!
ReplyDeleteTake it you don't watch the BBC then . Or your comment might have had some substance .
DeleteAre you being mischievous? The BBC is anti Brexit left wing liberal - I can’t believe you think otherwise! Watch Graham Norton or Lineker!
DeleteYes, yet another survey proving that people want an end to BBC's absurd and outdated TV licence fee. Of course, as your blog and many others regularly point out, there's actually no duty for anyone to assist the BBC to make TV licence fee administration and enforcement workable and/or sustainable.
ReplyDeleteLast time I paid the TV licence was the same year the BBC became famous for protecting pedophiles. Never again.
ReplyDeleteDo not pay for this Tory mouthpiece crap !!
ReplyDeleteThey're saying it's the most popular because to watch just one program on TV you have to have a licence! I know of ways to watch live as shown tv without a licence, but haven't used it in years.
ReplyDeleteIf the BBC went from house to house and asked they would get a shock at how many don't pay or wouldn't pay if you only had to pay to watch TV with no adverts but were free to watch any channel that showed adverts
BBC should be made to advertise and generate it's own revenue.
ReplyDeleteIt has become a corporation that propagates
Lies and decives the British public.
While using illegal procedures to collect it's so called licence fee.
Let's retire it .
Get rid of the corruption from the core.
Do away with the high paid celebs.
No not in my name and not with my money.
I don't and never will use any BBC service
And will not buy a licence imposed by down right thuggery.
Good riddens BBC.
We'll stand by and watch your death throws.
You clearly do not watch the left wing liberal pro EU Brussels Broadcaster
ReplyDelete