TV licence fees could increase with the value of your home, as proposed by the BBC. Chairman Samir Shah suggested the £174.50 fee should be scrapped in favour of a progressive payment structure that depends on assets.
Speaking in an interview earlier this year, he said the fee would be linked to property bands and collected at the same time as council tax, which would mark his first major shake-up since taking over from Richard Sharp. He also dismissed the idea that the TV license would be scrapped for a Netflix subscription-style service, saying that it would “not meet the BBC’s key role to offer something for everyone in the country.”
Households in higher council tax bands would pay more for BBC services, while those in lower bands could end up paying less than the current rate. Those who opt out of paying a TV license would no longer be able to do so.
He believed it would reduce the need to prosecute people for not paying, having told The Sunday Times: “It gets rid of the enforcement issue, which is a problem. The idea that not paying the licence fee is a criminal offence seems too harsh.”
In Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands, where there is no Council Tax, an alternative would need to be implemented.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy may be open to it, having described the current model as “harder for poorer households to pay”.
In the interview, he addressed questions about changing the model of the BBC, and denied the suggestion of a hybrid structure, which would see the BBC offering its basic services like news for free, and charging for content such as drama or comedy series.
He added that advertising on the BBC would “kill off ITV”, and refuted that the BBC should be funded solely by general taxation because it would “leave the BBC open to influence from the government of the day”.
Currently, while concessions or free licenses are available for some, such as those aged 75 or over who receive Pension Credit, the license fee does not consider assets.
The standard fee is charged at £174.50 yearly, or £58.50 for black and white subscriptions, and for those who are blind or severely sight-impaired, a 50% discount is available, reducing the cost to £87.25.