Forum for former BBC staff

Forum for former BBC staff
http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl >> News and Comment >> Over 75 TV Licence update. http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1566897165 Message started by WG on Aug 27^th, 2019, 9:13am

Title: Over 75 TV Licence update.
Post by WG on Aug 27^th, 2019, 9:13am

According to the weekend press( 25/8 & 26/8) it looks as though this is turning into a big political row. Boris saying the BBC has plenty of money to pay the over 75 licence fee with the BBC denying their commitment to shoulder it ,following the last licence fee increase.
Thus-with the Government committed via manifesto to retaining responsibility for the benefit and the BBC denying it had "agreed" to carry the extra costs-it is going to be interesting seeing what'll happen.

Title: Re: Over 75 TV Licence update.
Post by Administrator on Oct 11^th, 2019, 12:32pm

"Government must help BBC fund TV licences for over-75s, say MPs"

So says The Guardian's report on "The House of Commons digital, culture, media and sport select committee"

More, here.

Title: Re: Over 75 TV Licence update.
Post by JohnW on Oct 17^th, 2019, 11:13am

Wonder how this will sit with Nicky Morgan's response to the DCMS Select Committee ...?

Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan has said she is “open minded” about scrapping the BBC’s licence fee and turning it into a subscription service.

Speaking at a DCMS Select Committee meeting, Morgan was asked if she would consider scrapping the licence fee and turning the BBC in to a subscription service as a possible policy for the party’s election manifesto.
Morgan replied: “I’m open minded and I will have decisions and listen to evidence on all sides. What I haven’t seen is any evidence, either way, what a subscription-based system would do in terms of the revenue. The license fee last year raised £3.7 billion for the BBC,” continued Morgan. “They obviously have other sources of income as well ... so I would need to understand, if anything were going to change, what that would do to their income. The UK broadcasting sector is undoubtedly changing. I think we all know from streaming services and everything else, the way the younger generation consumes services, it is going to change.”