The contentious new ideas being considered by BBC executives would compel British citizens to pay a license fee to access its news website or listen to its radio programs.
With fewer customers paying the charge annually, the company is presently considering other methods to finance its operations.
Another possibility being considered is extending the fee so viewers would be charged to stream shows on external services such as Netflix or ITV.
A third change could involve introducing a model where wealthier households pay more, in turn subsidising the licence fee for lower-income families.
The Daily Mail reported in November that one in eight households now say they do not need a TV licence, leading to losses estimated at up to £550 million.
Over the past decade, the cost of the licence fee, which must be paid to watch ‘live’ television or iPlayer, has soared to £174.50.
However, some BBC bosses have complained that below-inflation increases in recent years have held them back.
They are lobbying for a new deal before 2027, when the royal charter that governs the BBC is due to renew.
It is understood that one possibility discussed at a board meeting on Wednesday was to spread out the cost of the licence fee by increasing the number of people who need to pay it.
This is intended to reduce the average cost per family while raising more money overall.
An insider told The Times: ‘Our priority is ensuring the BBC is sustainable as a universal public service beyond just the next few years.
‘That shouldn’t mean the price for ordinary households goes up. We’re very sensitive to that pressure.
‘Ministers have set out an ambitious agenda of what the BBC should be, and we are open to all ideas that, as the consultation says, ensure the organisation “not just survives, but thrives” in this competitive media landscape.’
At the moment, British citizens who watch ‘live’ television or any show on BBC iPlayer are required to pay the license fee.
It is not necessary, however, to visit the BBC’s website, listen to podcasts, or tune in to any of its radio channels.
Last year, angry Brits spoke to the Daily Mail about why they are no longer paying their licence fees amid a series of scandals at the broadcaster.
Former Tory MP and ex-BBC staffer Matthew Offord revealed that he quit paying his licence fee after standing down from his post.
Many people now won’t pay for a scandal-plagued, woke, anti-Semitic organisation.
Your TV licence is not a contract, but it is still a legal requirement in the UK to have one if you watch or record television broadcasts, even though you have not entered into a contract with the company.
However, they are extremely crafty because, if you watch the channels on your TV for which you have entered a contract, they take advantage of you in that way.
I believe that the BBC are going to lose more money this way because people will simply not watch these channels. Why don’t the BBC make it subscription-based like Netflix and Amazon Prime? Let the population decide rather than forcing people to pay for the old boys’ brigade who are riding the gravy train.
In all honesty, I find it impossible to watch any terrestrial TV these days due to the mind-numbing amount of garbage they produce.
If you want to watch it, then by all means pay for it. If you don’t want to watch, then don’t, and the same applies to radio.
The TV licence fee was originally intended to pay for infrastructure and programmes. This was back in the day when you only had a couple of channels, now we have all kinds of subscription services, and private companies that deliver the infrastructure, but generally when a tax is introduced people just get used to paying for it and that is seen as money forever, and it’s simply never taken away, even if it ceases to be functional.
The BBC doesn’t really deliver the infrastructure anymore, and it now has competitors. The reason was that it was about ‘live’ TV because of the infrastructure, mostly, the means by which it was transmitted.
When it was created, there were none of these streaming services, and so it’s impossible that they can be deemed to come under the licence requirement, ‘live’ or not.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 