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MPs recommend keeping Licence Fee but abolishing BBC Trust
Surferman1
Posts: 920 Forum Member
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Influential House of Commons culture, media and sport select committee reports on future of the BBC.
Key features:
-Abolition of BBC Trust to be replaced with 'public service broadcasting commission'
-Continuation of Licence Fee for 10 year duration of next charter, although decriminalised
-Licence Fee to cover recorded as well as live broadcasts, i.e. BBC iplayer.
-Full transparency to the NAO
From Media Guardian Today:
"Financial and editorial “mistakes” made by the BBC have prompted an influential cross-party group of MPs to call for the abolition of the broadcaster’s governing body in a wide-ranging report into the funding and future of the corporation to be published in the Commons on Thursday.
The culture, media and sport select committee recommends that the BBC should be subject to much more rigorous oversight and criticises the broadcaster for its handling of executive pay and payoffs, the Jimmy Savile affair and the false allegations made against the late Lord Macalpine.
In an 166-page report, the MPs recommend replacing the BBC Trust, currently responsible for regulation and oversight, with a single board while creating a more rigorous public service broadcasting commission to act as an external watchdog.
Additionally, the MPs recommend giving unrestricted access to the National Audit Office, the government auditor, to check the BBC’s financial accounts – access that the corporation has long resisted.
The report by the committee said there was no realistic alternative to licence fee funding in the short term, although it should be extended to cover the iPlayer “as soon as possible”. The report also called for non-payment of the £145.50 licence fee to be decriminalised."
".....A majority of the MPs voted to continue with the the licence fee funding system at least until 2026, when the BBC’s next royal charter expires. Only one Tory MP voted against the recommendation regarding funding, in a show of cross-party support for the fee which has been criticised"
Bonus prize: Anyone care to guess who the lone Tory MP was?!
Key features:
-Abolition of BBC Trust to be replaced with 'public service broadcasting commission'
-Continuation of Licence Fee for 10 year duration of next charter, although decriminalised
-Licence Fee to cover recorded as well as live broadcasts, i.e. BBC iplayer.
-Full transparency to the NAO
From Media Guardian Today:
"Financial and editorial “mistakes” made by the BBC have prompted an influential cross-party group of MPs to call for the abolition of the broadcaster’s governing body in a wide-ranging report into the funding and future of the corporation to be published in the Commons on Thursday.
The culture, media and sport select committee recommends that the BBC should be subject to much more rigorous oversight and criticises the broadcaster for its handling of executive pay and payoffs, the Jimmy Savile affair and the false allegations made against the late Lord Macalpine.
In an 166-page report, the MPs recommend replacing the BBC Trust, currently responsible for regulation and oversight, with a single board while creating a more rigorous public service broadcasting commission to act as an external watchdog.
Additionally, the MPs recommend giving unrestricted access to the National Audit Office, the government auditor, to check the BBC’s financial accounts – access that the corporation has long resisted.
The report by the committee said there was no realistic alternative to licence fee funding in the short term, although it should be extended to cover the iPlayer “as soon as possible”. The report also called for non-payment of the £145.50 licence fee to be decriminalised."
".....A majority of the MPs voted to continue with the the licence fee funding system at least until 2026, when the BBC’s next royal charter expires. Only one Tory MP voted against the recommendation regarding funding, in a show of cross-party support for the fee which has been criticised"
Bonus prize: Anyone care to guess who the lone Tory MP was?!
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Good idea and while they are at it how about scrapping the pathetic audience councils populated by folk you know won't watch TV due to their elitist backgrounds.
Not only that but in a criminal trial the case against you has to be proved "beyond reasonable doubt" while in a civil case, such as the BBC suing someone for evasion, the case only has to be proved "on the balance of probabilities", a far lower standard.
Those cheering when de-criminalisation was announced may soon be in for a shock. The BBC, if it chooses, will be able to sue you and it will be far easier for them to win. They no longer have to "prove" you were evading, they will only have to show that you "were probably" evading.
My preference would have been to follow Ireland and Germany and make it a mandatory fee for every business and household, preferably included in business rates and council tax. That would have done away with letters, visits, inspectors, detector vans etc (saving millions) and allowed the cost to be proportionate rather than the same price for everyone now.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31623659
I would be interested to see the public reaction to a household levy. All though people moan about the Licence Fee its never been to the extent of formal protest, but the very action of changing it just might bring it in to sharp focus. People might find a much stronger reason to dislike a levy than they do the fee even if the fee is very "in your face" so to speak.
The levy? Just the same tax to cover on demand aswell. The easy option rather than go subscription.
Nothing new households continue to pay. People still forced to take the BBC channels. Hardly reform is it?
Who knows? The poll tax seemed fairer to me but it was blown up into a huge storm.
Paying for the TV licence in your council tax? Who now complains about being forced to pay for schools if they don't have kids, sports centres they don't use, bus subsidies they don't use, theatre and arts subsidies they don't use etc etc.
We pay for lots of things whether we personally use them or not. I don't complain, just as I don't complain about being forced to fund Eastenders which I hate. Lots of people enjoy it so I don't mind. They help fund lots of programs that they might not watch but I like. Seems fair.
The BBC is one of our finest institutions. It plays a vital role in our national and cultural life. It is the only broadcaster I value and trust because it is commercially and politically independent.
The BBC must ALWAYS remain out of the hands of the private and state sectors. It is far to important to let go. The licence fee / broadcasting levy is the only way to fund the BBC to safe guard it's independence.
I am pleased that the iPlayer is going to be included in the licence fee. It isn't right that some are consuming BBC services without contributing to them financially.
I am also pleased that the BBC1+1 idea seems to have had scorn poured over it. I made the same point when I contributed to the consultation process. Here's hoping this strengthens the case for saving BBC3.
#SaveBBC3
My only concern here would be this...would it threaten the independence of the BBC?
I quite like the idea of a flat Broadcasting Levy...taking in all devices (and interestingly) none.
Apparently the government proposed the HMRC be given powers to seize debts of 'recalcitrant debtors' directly from their bank accounts.
The Government is currently spending millions on promoting 'superfast broadband' from which it believes the entire country will benefit economically, so they would argue everyone should contribute?
Actually, I should confess that I don't know the answer, but I would put a very large amount of money on it being this jumped up hypocrite who claimed £180,000 in expenses last year, but wants to lecture on wasting tax payers money. Odious little creep. Sorry...very unprofessional! But, I think you win the bonus!
Couldn't have put any of your points any better. I'll leave it at that. Thank you.
Personally I think the levy should be set at £104 - £2 a week. If this results in less payment than the BBC should just cut its' cloth. It could be bundled with the council tax to reduce collection costs.
You would never get the general public to agree to a general levy on homes. This generation don't value the BBC enough to agree to that.
Also the de-criminalising thing would tend to be quite horrific. These mighty private collection firms would love it if the TVL were simply a civil matter. They will hound people into the ground.
I doubt the general public would really care. There aren't enough households who don't pay the TVL to make a fuss.
Personally I would go further and say that every adult should pay a levy, but i'm sure that wouldn't survive the court of public opinion.
I don't have anything to add ... Just wanted to say I wholeheartedly agree with this.
Yes, that's a very important point. The BBC relies on the consent and goodwill of the public for both its popularity and payment of its services. The 'universality' of the BBC requires that it produces something for everyone, anything else destroys the relationship it has with sections of the public. This comment was made by John Whittingdale, Tory chair of the committee on his usual hobby horse about the BBC broadcasting The Voice, mainly because it airs music which he would never dream of touching with a barge pole. The last thing we should allow is out-of-touch Tory MPs in their 60's telling the BBC what kind of programmes it should make. It was disappointing that the new so-called 'culture' secretary, Javid, could only name one programme he watches on tv (predictably Dr Who -although I question if he's actually watched an episode) and one news programme he used to watch. How do such people get into jobs in government for which the vast majority of the rest of the population are far more qualified than them?
The German TVL became compulsory for every household in 2013. Granted the German population is arguably more tolerant of goverment regulation than in Britain, but it was generally accepted. The biggest protest seems to have been a petition - signed by 0.4% of the population.
If we continue down the path of increasing numbers of people saying "Oh, I don't need a TV license, I just watch TV on iPlayer and Youtube" I think the same thing will eventually happen here.
Save the license fee, you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.
The BBC should balance popularity with Public Service - "To enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain." as they say in the mission statement.
On Radio 5 this morning John Whittingdale said the BBC shouldn't do things that the commercial sector do "well" but when pressed would not give a single program he thought the BBC should not make. He did offer "game shows" as a genre but I think the sort of shows that the BBC make, such as Pointless, fall very firmly into the educate category.
As for the levy I have long thought the Licence Fee should be bundled in with Council Tax and the cost of collection split 3 ways between the BBC, the Licence Fee Payer and the Council.
And yet they are down-grading it. Voluntarily.
There really is no need for BBC-Bashing Tories to do anything, just sit back and let BBC executives destroy the BBC for them.
It's that same pandering to an older generation that the Conservatives themselves are increasingly specialising in, with detrimental results to their longevity in my opinion.
However, someone within each Council will have to oversee the processes & procedures that would split off that money and forward it onto the appropriate account (within the Treasury isn't it?) prior to it being passed on to the BBC. Thus reducing any apparent savings.
In Australia the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is funded from taxation revenue.