A newspaper outlet understands that the BBC licence fee would be cut in real terms under planning being considered by Ministers to reduce the cost of living crisis for households.
The £159 fee is expected to rise in line with soaring inflation next April, meaning viewers are facing a near double-digit growth in the charge.
Now Ministers have told MPs that they’re looking at removing the link between the fee and the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), which is presently running at 8.7 per cent.
A source said that ministers realise a near ten per cent rise isn’t exactly going to go down well, so they’re looking at moving from the standard annualised inflation figure to a different, lower measure.
Former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries announced in 2022 that the fee would be frozen for two years, before increasing in 2024.
However, the Government is considering options for replacing the fee with a different funding model after the BBC’s charter runs out in 2027.
The actual rise in April would be calculated by using the annualised CPI rate between October 2022 and September 2023 and the projected rate of 8.2 per cent would increase the licence fee by £13 to £172.
The move comes as the Corporation’s former chairman Richard Sharp suggested that more affluent households should pay more towards the cost of running the BBC and that the licence fee should be replaced by a tax on broadband bills or a household levy based on the value of the viewer’s property.
Richard Sharp argued in an interview with The Daily Telegraph that it was regressive to ask those on lower incomes to pay the same for their TV licences as wealthier households.
He said that he would be in favour of a form of mandatory payment, but there was one issue, which is it’s regressive, and that you could look at models around the world, there’s broadband tax, there’s household tax and there’s the licence fee.
Labour has said that it would consider means testing the fee if it forms the next government.
When she was in post, Ms Dorries warned the BBC that the licence fee needed to be reformed because the days of state-run television were over.
She published a White Paper, which declared that the Government planned to put in place a new funding model when the £3.2 billion a year licence fee deal expires in 2027, as part of plans to make the British broadcasting system fit for the streaming age.
Really, what should happen is that it should be scaled back to nothing, that would be a good start. The BBC earns enough profits without taxing the common people, but the only way to force that change is if everyone stands together and doesn’t pay it.
Every time a new home is built, the BBC gains an extra £159 a year for absolutely nothing. Consider how many homes are being built every year and then add it all up, that’s a lot of money the BBC gain for doing nothing extra.
You’ll be frothing at the mouth when they add it to your council tax, rather than discarding it for a choice-based system.
Cut all public funding for the BBC now. If the BBC are as good as they keep telling us, then they should go out into the real world and stand on their own two feet.
In this day and age, there’s no reason for a licence fee. The BBC is no longer the only provider of programmes or news and hasn’t been for an extremely long time.
It should be a choice. Those that want to pay for it can, and those that don’t want to can opt-out.
This government’s adding a further tax on top of taxes we already pay and this is immoral.
Let the BBC fund themselves – sink or swim and let everyone have a choice.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 