Sunday, January 07, 2007
Licence with your TV viewing
I fully support the government in renewing the BBC charter. I believe it is the right thing to do. The BBC is an important part of our national life. Though it would be a wrong to grant everthing that the Corporation wants. The £18 million deal to get Jonathan Ross shows that the Beeb is not exactly strapped for cash. It is a compulsory tax lets remember for anyone wanting a TV which is most people.
There is an interesting graph in the Economist which is sourced from Ofcom it shows that support for the licence fee increases with age but is only supported by a majority amongst the over 55's and the 65+'s. Amongst the 16- 24's the level of support is around 35% hardly a ringing endorsement of public service broadcasting. Support is also divided on class lines. Majorites in favour of the Beeb in the AB's and the C1's but falls for the C2's to just over 40% and for the DE's a meagre 35%
It does rasie questions over what should happen in 10 years time when the charter is up for renewal again. Is it sustainable when BBC1 and to be fair ITV1 have been losing audience share for decades to have the licence fee continued indefinatley. I think so at the moment but it would be wrong to give the BBC carte blanche. Perhaps we could think of ways that the licence could be made less regressive. For instance exempting students like they are for council tax. More radically it could be based on the wealth of your neighbourhood with people who live in rich areas paying a bit more. ¶ 6:49 pm
There is an interesting graph in the Economist which is sourced from Ofcom it shows that support for the licence fee increases with age but is only supported by a majority amongst the over 55's and the 65+'s. Amongst the 16- 24's the level of support is around 35% hardly a ringing endorsement of public service broadcasting. Support is also divided on class lines. Majorites in favour of the Beeb in the AB's and the C1's but falls for the C2's to just over 40% and for the DE's a meagre 35%
It does rasie questions over what should happen in 10 years time when the charter is up for renewal again. Is it sustainable when BBC1 and to be fair ITV1 have been losing audience share for decades to have the licence fee continued indefinatley. I think so at the moment but it would be wrong to give the BBC carte blanche. Perhaps we could think of ways that the licence could be made less regressive. For instance exempting students like they are for council tax. More radically it could be based on the wealth of your neighbourhood with people who live in rich areas paying a bit more. ¶ 6:49 pm
