Funding the BBC

A leaked story reveal that the government is considering making Netflix and Disney+ users pay the licence fee to fund the BBC. It is allegedly one of the options under consideration as Labour looks at how it will fund the BBC when its charter ends in 2027.

Daniel Martin of the Telegraph writes that

“One option for the future funding of the corporation is to make households who only use streaming services pay the annual charge, it was reported on Tuesday. Bloomberg said the plan has been discussed by the Prime Minister’s office, as well as the Treasury and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.”

The idea that successful services that finance themselves by producing an output that people are ready to pay for should be taxed to support one that does not is an idea so weird that only a government department could have thought it up. 

Should popular restaurants that fill their tables nightly pay an extra levy to support the ones down the street with empty tables? Most people would say no. Should profitable airlines be taxed to give money to support unprofitable ones? Again, most people would oppose this.

The current situation is that everyone who owns a TV, or a device capable of watching BBC online, has to pay a tax to the BBC even if they never watch it. Netflix and Disney+ are financed from subscriptions or advertising or from sale of programmes to outside buyers. The most sensible way to finance the BBC is to have it do the same. It already sells its programmes worldwide, and has a huge potential to attract subscriptions from those who want to watch its programmes. 

If people stop paying their subscriptions to streaming services, they have their service withdrawn; they are not imprisoned. It should be the same with the BBC.

It could be argued that public service programming should be given taxpayer money in support. If this is the case, the BBC could bid alongside other streaming services to win contracts to provide this. The notion that the BBC is a vital national treasure that must be supported disappeared when it started relying on soap operas and popular entertainment to achieve mass audience figures. 

The BBC produces some excellent programmes that ought to attract people willing to pay for them via subscription rather than taxation. The time is long overdue to have it brought into the modern world.