Time To Scrap It And Fund The BBC Through Income Tax (TV Licence)

Member Name: eyedo6789

Product:	TV Licence
Date:	17/03/09 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It Funds The BBC

Disadvantages: It Is Not Means Tested

The Television Licence fee is levied by the government in order to help fund the British Broadcasting Corporation's television, radio and Internet channels.

It currently costs £139.50 per year to purchase or £47 if you are genuinely only watching a Black & White television set. The charge is per household and not per television set within a household. People over 75 get their licence for free and blind people get a 50% discount or get it totally free if their TV has been adapted to only receive audio.

The total revenue from the licence fee only 75% funds the BBC. The other 25% comes from the BBC's commercial interests such as selling programmes they make to overseas broadcasters and from their publishing activities.

Is the licence fee value for money?

Taken at face value you would have to say yes because of the amount of content that the BBC produces over the course of a year. However, you could argue that there are a multitude of totally free to view channels that are not operated by the BBC and that in practice you do not need a licence to listen to BBC radio channels or to look at their Internet based content and channels.

Should the BBC be funded in a different way, for example by advertising revenue?

I would say a definite no to advertising on the BBC because it would be the thin end of the wedge and ultimately completely erode the BBC's core values.

But I would suggest the TV licence is scrapped and that its funding is just added on to income tax. This way it will become more close to being a means tested charge than it currently is.

For poor people under the age of 75 the licence fee burden is significant and therefore unfair in my opinion.

Summary: Its Just An Odd Way Of Raising Revenue In Today's World