Midst rumours of an increase the the BBC licence fee, we asked the people of Lancashire what they made of the proposal and if they believed the licence fee in general was value for money
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00:00 For the past two years, everyone reading, watching, listening to or using any number
00:07 of the BBC's TV channels, radio stations, iPlayer platform, BBC Sound Service or online
00:14 websites will have been able to do so for the reasonable price of just £13.25 per month,
00:21 but that could be set to change. Rumours are circulating that the licence fee, frozen for
00:26 the past 24 months, could rise by £15 in April from £159 to £173.30. The rise, which
00:36 is in line with inflation, comes amidst widespread BBC cost cutting, with the broadcaster looking
00:41 to shear £500 million off its budget due to the impacts of inflation and the relative
00:47 shortfall caused by the aforementioned licence fee freeze. With the Culture Secretary, Lucy
00:53 Fraser, branding the proposed rise 'unsustainable', while others decry the underfunding of a service
00:59 which brings unbiased and well-researched news to millions, we went out to ask a local
01:04 Lancastrian what he made of the proposed price hike.
01:07 So, the BBC apparently are going to increase the licence fee annually to about £173.59,
01:16 about a £15 increase. Do you think it's worth it?
01:20 No, not really. All the good stuff that was on the BBC was on BBC3 and they scrapped that
01:25 years ago, so no point really buying it really.
01:28 Do you have a TV licence yourself?
01:30 No, no, I don't watch any TV.
01:32 Is it all just streaming?
01:33 Yeah, everything's on streaming now, so might as well just pay for that.
01:37 So you've got no plans to start paying licence fee?
01:40 No.
01:41 Don't think you'll ever do it?
01:42 No, I don't watch TV. Nothing good on anymore.
01:45 What about stuff like BBC News coverage, stuff like that, supporting coverage for things
01:50 like democracy?
01:51 I don't really watch the news either, so I'm not too bothered myself. Other people will
01:57 be, but not me.
02:00 I know it's hard for you to judge specifically yourself, but generally the BBC serves quite
02:05 a lot of people, obviously, like everyone in the country. Well, lots of people in the
02:08 country, but people like yourself, a lot of people watch it. So do you think it's worth
02:13 the money? If you're paying about £160 a year for that kind of service, it's weather,
02:18 sports, news, everything, radio. Do you think it's worth it? Is it quite good value?
02:23 I'm not really in a position to comment on if it's worth it, if it's any value or not,
02:29 because I don't watch it.
02:30 You don't even use it, yeah.
02:31 So I wouldn't know if it's any good or not.
02:34 Fair enough. How many other TV subscriptions do you subscribe to? Do you have Netflix,
02:38 Disney, that kind of stuff?
02:40 Yeah, there's Netflix, Disney, Amazon.
02:42 Quite a few?
02:43 Yeah, quite a few streaming services.
02:45 So it's more about the entertainment side of things rather than the news?
02:48 Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that gets put on YouTube now for free anyway, like old telly
02:52 and stuff. You can watch full episodes of that on there. So there's not, I don't know,
02:59 I don't really feel the need to pay a TV licence fee to get the entertainment I want.
03:02 Fair enough. Great stuff, thanks a lot.