More than 500,000 British households have stopped paying the BBC licence fee in the past year – as its Chairman admitted major “broadcasting errors” are eroding public trust. The Mail has more.
The falling number of people paying the £180-a-year levy, which rose by £5.50 in April, has been identified as the BBC’s biggest funding risk in its annual report released today.
There are now 23.3 million TV licences in force across the UK – down by 540,000 over the past 12 months – with the decline accelerating, according to figures published by the broadcaster.
The annual fall is almost double that recorded a year earlier, when around 300,000 licences were lost. The report warned of a “steeper projected decline” in the years ahead.
While 94% of adults use BBC services per month, fewer than 80% of households pay the licence fee.
With the BBC’s licence fee income down by around £1.2 billion since 2017, Chairman Samir Shah has admitted that major broadcasting errors, including those at Glastonbury and the BAFTA Film Awards, “affect confidence in our journalism, trust in the BBC as a public institution and perceptions of how effectively we are held to account”.
President Trump is suing the BBC for at least $10 billion in damages after Panorama edited a speech to make it look like he encouraged supporters to storm the Capitol.
It came weeks after a Labour plot to extend the licence fee to households who only watch streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and Apple TV was branded “outrageous” by critics as the BBC’s current Royal Charter is due to expire at the end of 2027.
New Director-General Matt Brittin has described the broadcaster as facing a “moment of real jeopardy”. Suggesting reform is needed, he said the current licence fee model “ties us to the past”.
He added: “The BBC has proved throughout its history how quickly it can reinvent itself to serve the needs of audiences. We need, collectively, to call on that sense of urgency now.”
The sharp decline comes as Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy signalled her support for extending the licence fee to people who only use streaming services.
The BBC’s income has fallen by around a quarter over the past decade. The licence fee currently generates roughly two-thirds of the corporation’s £5.9 billion annual income.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: New BBC boss Matt Brittin has said he is pushing for a mandatory “household levy” to replace the optional TV licence, which Brits would have to pay whether they watch TV or not. It looks like someone needs to introduce Brittin to the concept of a subscription.
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Very encouraging that so many refuse to pay to prop up British Pravda Corporation.
I had to laugh at their pathetic inclusion of a QR code at half time at every World Cup game to buy a TV licence.
Imagine Netflix imposing a mandatory household levy because no-one wanted to watch its output ……
The BBC could not have demonstrated more clearly that it is incapable of surviving in the 21st century based on merit.
This is what I feared, the TV tax will become want of general taxation. I disgraceful move that proves the BBC is rubbish. It’s so bad it cannot generate revenue from providing what people want.
The BBC gets £4.2 billion from the licence fee plus other external funding from organisations that encourage it to pump out lefty, green, pro EU, and still demands more.
Like all publicly funded bodies the BBC has a sense of entitlement and believes it can waste public money with impunity.
If the BBC is as good as its supporters claim it should have no problem with a subscription service.
And that is why they have a problem…..
I hope you all enjoyed the football even though England did not win.
Just watched the footy on the BBC, and like most other stuff on there, it was a load of old shite.
“While 94% of adults use BBC services per month” how the f… do they know?
Mandatory household levy = tax
They believe they have a right to exist. F’kem
They do give away free stuff. e.g. They have news on their website and they put stuff on YouTube. So the BBC shouldn’t whine when it’s not behind a paywall.
I wonder how they obtained those “statistics”. If I watched the BBC or live TV and didn’t have a licence, I certainly wouldn’t be admitting to it.
If the Licence was a BBC subscription, I wouldn’t object to it (and I wouldn’t have one either). But the real iniquity of the licence fee is that I must pay the BBC for permission to watch live TV from any broadcaster (none of whom get a penny of the fee). The idea of making me pay the BBC to watch Youtube shows an almost unbelievable sense of entitlement.
New BBC boss pushes for new ‘household levy’ to replace licence fee: All would have to pay https://mol.im/a/15979679 via https://dailym.ai/android Just to show us how out of touch all of these broadcasting luvvies are, we have this report that they want a levy from every house, TV or not. For years they have used the fig leaf that the BBC is not government funded because it is a licence fee, but a tax on every house is just that, Government funding, so they become the state broadcaster and can no longer deny it. Biased, woke, government funded and absolutely not independent. Can’t wait for a centre right Government using the power of the state broadcaster and if they don’t play ball, sack every one of the leaches sucking on our financial blood.
My viewing of bbc output is counted in minutes a month and only that because I am forced to buy a licence to watch Sky’s coverage of The Open. The sooner the licence requirement ceases the better.
We have a TV licence because Mrs ToF likes to watch live TV. Left to my own devices I would not, even if the BBC was the most wonderful channel ever, because I object to it on principle. The state has no business running a media empire or forcing people to pay for it. It’s nothing to do with so called “errors”. I’m sure I am not the only one who takes this view.
My other half and I are in the process of splitting up. When we moved in together, I told her that she was not to use our joint account to pay for the tv licence she was determined to have. There is no way I am sending a penny to those Marxists.
Once we go our separate ways, I am looking forward to continuing not to pay those Lefties a penny.
I used to receive regular monthly threatening-looking letters over the 6 years I didn’t have a licence. They went straight in the bin.
A tv licence monkey called around once, but I wasn’t in. I know the general advice is to just close the door, but I might ask them WHY they are there. I have a jemmy in the shed, but the police don’t knock to check I’m not committing burglaries. I have change in my pocket, but HMRC don’t knock to check I’ve paid tax on it. I have knives in my kitchen drawer, but the murder squad don’t knock to check I’m not killing anyone. So why do tv licensing come to check what I’m doing with my tv set?
Ah well I am stuffed as Mrs ToF is what used to be called a housewife….
Last time I had a TV licence was 1986 – harassment notices straight in the bin too. Seems they’d like me to get a licence not to have a licence.
But lots of people believe these ‘errors’ were intentional, or at least the result of group think.
At least the Post Office is making money out the fact that licenses are no longer being bought. I get at least two letters a month warning me to buy one.
Not broadcasting errors, but deliberate Left-wing so -called progressive culture that cannot be wrong about anything.
Successful companies are consumer led, unsuccessful companies are self-serving. The BBC is the latter. It’s not error, it’s corporate culture.
To fix it, privatise it: abolish the licence fee, take it to the stock market so that nasty profit motive dictates policy and how best to fund it and how best serve those upon whom it relies for its revenues.