TV Licence fee rise: Taxpayers’ Alliance believe the fee should be scrapped
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said "We recognise bill rises are never welcome and family budgets remain under pressure." Adding the fee was being "kept as low as possible". In a statement, the BBC said it was "focussed on providing great value, as well as programmes and services that audiences love".
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00:00 We've seen inflation lead to energy prices, house prices, food prices go through the roof.
00:05 We've seen frozen thresholds drag more and more people into higher tax bands.
00:10 We've seen counter-tax go up by 5% for most of the country and for more for parts of the
00:15 country.
00:16 And now we're seeing additional £10 on the licence fee.
00:19 BBC supporters argue the money goes towards making sure both a UK and global audience
00:23 has access to unbiased news and public programming.
00:27 Another commonly cited benefit is that of an advertisement-free service.
00:31 But critics believe there's another way.
00:33 First introduced back in 1923 as a radio licence, they claim the current system is overdue a
00:38 change to keep up with the likes of streaming platforms.
00:42 The licence fee is ultimately an outdated system.
00:44 It's a system that was built for the television network and the broadcasting systems of the
00:50 1930s, 40s and 50s.
00:53 Now that we have Netflix, Amazon Prime and all the other variety of entertainment services,
00:57 it's completely unnecessary and the BBC should be moving to a subscription-style service.
01:02 Yeah, absolutely.
01:03 But look, we've got to look on the other hand, the BBC, it's a huge employer, as you say.
01:07 It's one of those things that we've had going for a long, long time.
01:10 People are quite nostalgic for it as well.
01:12 If they are struggling to keep up with that spending because of inflation and other factors,
01:17 you know, people have already lost their job.
01:19 Is a rise perhaps justified?
01:21 No, I don't think a rise is justified.
01:24 The BBC likes to claim that it produces fantastic output, fantastic variety.
01:29 And critically, the BBC likes to claim that it's excellent value for money.
01:32 Well, if all of those things are true, then people frankly will stump up the money for
01:36 it.
01:37 People will stump up the cash.
01:39 They will pay for the services that they want and that they value.
01:42 And if they really do value the BBC as the BBC claims they do, then they will potentially
01:46 pay even more than the advertised price.
01:48 But what is absolutely wrong is for people that may not even like the BBC, maybe deeply
01:52 opposed to some of the BBC's content, they're being forced to pay for it under pain of potentially
01:57 prosecution, but even imprisonment.