A growing public revolt against the BBC could see the licence fee scrapped within years, it has been claimed. A review into the broadcaster’s current taxpayer-subsidised funding model – based on the £174.50 annual tax – is set to suggest some parts become available via subscription.
It comes after a series of major scandals the latest of which saw a member of rap duo Bobby Vylan spew vile antisemitic chants during the BBC’s coverage of Glastonbury. In future, events like that could be available on a pay-to-watch service.
Former Culture Secretary Sir John Whittingdale told the Daily Express: “Is it possible to sustain the existing licence fee model? I have long believed no.
“There is a growing rebellion against a compulsory flat-rate licence fee and every year more and more people are arguing they don’t use the BBC and are not purchasing a TV licence.
“If that continues, financial pressure will grow and the BBC will have less to invest. On one hand it is trying to justify the licence fee by remaining popular, but at the same time the cost of doing so is going up and, arguably, the need for it is much less.”
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who is leading the Government’s review into the BBC’s royal charter, has demanded “accountability at the highest level” for the “absolute shocking” impact rapper Bobby Vylan’s comments had on the Jewish community.
During a hate-filled performance the group’s frontman – who goes by the stage name Bobby Vylan – led the crowd in chants of “death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]”. He also chanted “free, free Palestine” and used the expression “from the river to sea, Palestine will be free” – used as a call for Palestinian control of all land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, including Israel.
The BBC said it “deeply regrets such offensive and deplorable behaviour” was broadcast and issued a grovelling apology “in particular to the Jewish community”. It added: “We are unequivocal that there can be no place for antisemitism at, or on, the BBC.”
Yet the crisis – the latest in a long line of scandals to rock the corporation – is now likely to form the basis of a review into the way it is funded.
The BBC charter is an agreement between the broadcaster and the Government that sets out the terms and purposes of the corporation – including the licence fee. The current charter started on January 1, 2017, and runs until December 31, 2027.
The BBC pockets most of its income – around £3.7bn – from the annual tax. Just 80% of households currently pay the licence fee with the number falling each year.
Experts think the Glastonbury controversy, which came just months after the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, was pulled from iPlayer after it emerged its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official, might be the final straw. Bobby Vylan was one of several acts to make inflammatory statements in support of Palestine during performances at the festival, alongside CMAT, Inhaler and Kneecap.
Sir John, 65, added: “The sad fact is the things people consider most important, traditional public service broadcasting like news, current affairs, education and the arts, are not ones likely to be capable of being maintained on a subscription basis.
“If you look at the number of licence fee payers, it’s going down each year and that for the BBC is a very serious threat. The question is what content does the BBC provide which, arguably, only the BBC can only provide?”
One suggestion being mooted is programmes being available on a voluntary subscription basis, but that would require universal access via broadband.
The BBC’s controversial Glastonbury broadcast came less than one month after Director-General Tim Davie, 58, warned the UK faced a profound crisis of trust, which risks significant implications for cohesion.
In a major speech in Manchester in May, he said: “I don’t want to catastrophise; we have so much to be proud of as the UK: our tolerance, our innovative spirit, our creativity, our humour, our sense of fairness but I think that unless we act we will drift. The future of our cohesive, democratic society feels, for the first time in my life, at risk.
“With that in mind, we have been thinking how we can harness a precious national asset, the BBC. How can it have maximum catalytic effect on the UK? How can we help families and the UK as a whole?
“With courage, collaboration, investment and imagination, we can create a UK that is more inclusive, more secure, and more successful.”
Defund the BBC has called for the broadcaster to be treated like a failing school and placed into special measures after the Glastonbury fiasco.
Rebecca Ryan, who heads the campaign group, said: “We must now ask if this is deliberate. The sheer number of similar mistakes or problems with bias, perceived or otherwise, can no longer be explained away by simple error.
“The BBC is proving itself to be fundamentally untrustworthy and can no longer be trusted to maintain the standards it is meant to uphold.
“It must be put into special measures to ensure its failings are not continued.”
Independent MP Rupert Lowe, who last week launched a new movement called Restore Britain in an effort to “carpet-bomb wokery”, said: “The BBC is a foul stench, emanating across public discourse – it must now be immediately defunded and turned into a subscription service.
“It simply cannot be trusted to represent the interests and opinions of a large majority of patriotic Brits.
“If it’s as brilliant as we’re all told, the organisation should thrive under that model. I will not be signing up.
“Once a proud symbol of national identity, the BBC now arrogantly lectures its audience, treating traditional British culture with contempt. It must be defunded.”
The Department for Culture Media and Sport said: “We have not discussed charter renewal with the BBC in the context of the events at Glastonbury. We have, of course, discussed charter renewal more broadly, and it is absolutely right to say the BBC’s editorial standards will form part of that discussion.”
The BBC said: “The suspension of the licence fee is a matter for the Government.”