BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Up to 3.7 million pensioners who previously received a free TV licence will now have to pay for it.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertain...eporting-story

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Fair enough imo

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Agreed. Otherwise, you cut the service back so it's unattractive or get the young to pay even more.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

This was inevitable as the population grew.

This is why the Government dumped the reasonability for funding this policy onto the BBC itself, so that when it finally happened they hoped it would be the BBC taking the blame rather than them.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

so, around 87,000 were the deciding factor in the Beebs decision concerning over 3 million others?

Seems like a 52-48 majority suits where applicable ;)

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

The minority deciding for the majority you could say.;)

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Seems fair - those that can't afford it still get it free.

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I wonder how many forgetful over 75's will be harrassed by TVL heavies into an early grave? :scratch:

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Well, it's just another bill, so if they are not being harassed into an early grave by electricity, gas, or water bills, it's highly unlikely they will be by the TV Licence - they get the bill, they pay it (or have a monthly direct debit, like gas, water, electricity, council tax).

Simples...

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

You would hope so but how long before they wriggle out of that..

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Indeed. It is convenient to forget that free licences for over 75s was introduced in 2000 as a labour policy and the funding has been pulled by the current government, leaving the BBC to pick up the bill. See also picking up the bill for the World Service and BBC Monitoring

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Yup: https://twitter.com/christopherhope/...06242889596929

If the Government want and expected the concession to continue they would have kept it themselves instead of handing over this liability to the BBC without an increase in funding and tell them it's 'up to them' what they do with it. They're now disappointed they chose not to fund it in its entirety as the cost of the policy increases year-on-year.

Typical government cowardice. They love to 'take the politics out' of something by moving it an arms-length body or privisating it and then slamming the consequences as if it were nothing to do with them. See rail franchising for another example.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

And of course, pensioners are the new wealthy, according to some.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Not many wealthy pensioners down here in our part of the woods.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Pensioners aren't the new wealthy, although some certainly are with how property has increased over the years, but they are a demographic largely isolated from austerity whilst the young have been disproportionately hit. You can get away with that for a while but eventually that portion of the electorate gets bigger.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

So what makes them poorer once they hit 75?

75 will have been chosen to yield a seemingly affordable cost to the taxpayer. There will have been no other reasoning to the selected age. It was just another unjustified freebie handed out.

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Why are we, in some cases subsidising multi millionaires tv licences anyway? Seems to me the only fair way to do it is to make everyone's licence free by steping into the 21st century and scrapping it.

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Something Gordon Brown excelled in. This was a relatively low-cost, eye-catching initiative that was supposed to help distract from his failure to ensure the state pension retained its value when compared with both inflation and wages. The licences were never truly free however; the government paid the BBC to make up what it would have lost. Gordon is of course now long gone from the treasury and a somewhat more pragmatic Tory government has refused to cover the cost and told the BBC it was up to them to decide what they wanted to do about it. Making use of pre-existing means testing procedures is the BBC’s reasonably creative solution to the poison chalice they were handed.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

The multi millionaires will have paid a fortune in tax. The undeserved subsidised were and still will be to some extent, the under-75s who live in the same household.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Get rid of the BBC and its licence fee, simples.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

My Dad has only just got it free.


They should be paying us to watch their brexit based carbage, and constant quiz shows.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

And you get rid of most the quality home grown original drama on tv, and content which other channels just repeat.

Can see this thread descending into the same arguments as the other 200 BBC threads !

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

You can bet your bottom dollar on it Mr K.

---------- Post added at 18:32 ---------- Previous post was at 18:31 ----------

Absolutely.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

How many of them are actually made by outside production companies? The same writers, producers, directors will still exist.

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If they aren't 'profitable' don't attract advertisers they won't get made. You'd get the same rubbish as Sky/ITV, inc. 20 mins of ads an hour. Could go on about its public service remit, local/national radio etc, but its all been said before.

Thing is people whinge about £13 a month to the BBC, but happily stump figures like £1,000 a year for Sky/Virgin, who mostly have channels like Crap, Crap+1, Crap+2 etc.......

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Simples is make it a subscription chnl. Then if you want it you pay for it.

---------- Post added at 18:49 ---------- Previous post was at 18:47 ----------

They tell you how many new over 75's get tv licenses, but not how many brand new tv licenses are taken out. I bet one will even out the other.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

• Don't watch Live TV, on any channel or streaming service.
  
• Don't watch anything on iPlayer.
  
• Don't record anything from Live TV, to watch later.
  
• If you do not do any of the above, you do not need a license.
  
• Don't grant entry permission to TV License People when they come to visit and they will visit and send threatening letters. If they're persistent, they will try to get court order to gain entry.
  
• You can watch Netflix, Amazon Prime on your TV without a license. You can watch DVDs on your TV without a license.
  
• If you grant entry and a TV License Inspector, asks you to demonstrate that you can get live TV on your telly, DON'T!!!

Here is how to handle them at your door:-

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

You can get sky for £22 a month not much more than BBC but with plenty more chnls. I do not have sky, Netflix & Amazon prime which is my choice to pay for. Not my choice to pay for BBC which had more repeat than new shows.

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Yep bye bye :wavey:

Aren't profitable because no one wants to watch them or in the case of local radio because no one is listening, literally in some cases no one

Yes whinge about the most hated of taxes, to be more hated than council tax or road tax is quite an achievement but the bbc managed it, all about being number 1 for them

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

i think you’re being optimistic there...

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Tories have got rid of all other nationalised businesses why not this one?

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For soft global influence.

Anyway, this thread; as Mr K predicted; is just becoming one of those tedious BBC threads which go around in circles. :sleep:

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

This thread is about the decision of the BBC to scrap the free licence fee for over-75s as Nationalisation has nothing to do with this thread.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

:confused:

It's already nationalised, if it wasn't there's no way the people that use it most would be getting it for free, subsidised by people that use it least

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Exactly but people are using the thread otherwise.

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Good drama is good drama, and if it’s good it will stand up on it’s own and not need to be propped by a state financed channel.

Probably, but we now live in a world of choice, TV ( Sky/cable) as most of us regard it is mainly watched by us oldies and terrestrial tv by even older Es. Kids aged from 5/6 upwards don’t watch tv, they watch YouTube.

Broadcast TV will possibly be gone in 10/20 years, on demand for everything will be the format.

The BBC will continue to become less and less relevant.

Fleabag, Gentleman Jack would still get made on the likes of HBO, Netflix or Amazon.

Graham Norton would happily live on HBO.

The BBC should just leave TV and concentrate on radio, and by radio I mean Radio 4, and possibly 5. I would happily pay a licence to finance Radio 4 & 5. £2 a year?

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I am not sure they necessarily would. Especially since these organisations are primarily US-based. I think some might be made, especially from already established creators, but to commission a TV show based on a one-woman show from the Soho theatre as was the case with Fleabag? I am not convinced.

Netflix are making Black Mirror but that was originally on Channel 4 and Charlie Brooker had gone though the BBC treadmill before that.

Britain has quite a lot of talented writers, actors and directors working in Hollywood. We're overrepresented there. So many top films and TV shows have some British talent behind them. However so many of those people got their start on the BBC and/or the National Theatre, two organisations backed up by the state to find and nurture British work.

If these things went away then Sky would fill some of the void but commercial concerns would favor importing mass-market American TV shows where one show can appeal to North America and Britain rather than risk any specific British-targeted TV audience whose reach would be limited. The BBC doesn't have to worry about that. I also think the existence of the BBC and it spitting out programs like Fleabag makes Britain a harder market for North American companies to break into and as a result it forces them to up their game.

That may not be an argument to keep the BBC of course, some might say it's not the taxpayers' job to promote and find British artists, but I think it's wrong to suggest we wouldn't lose something as a result.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

:clap:

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Gentleman Jack was produced in association with HBO. It was broadcast in the US before the UK. HBO produced Chernobyl and Game of Thrones along with many other top-rated TV series. Amazon was involved in bringing Fleabag to the screens. Not as cut and dried as people claim.


There was and still is, no real justification for the 75 age limit. State pension age would be understandable and based upon principle. Nothing at age 74 makes them any more likely to afford it, than at age 75.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Most of the BBC’s top quality dramas are international co-productions. This is nothing new and has been increasingly common over more than 20 years. The earlier, unsuccessful attempt to revive Doctor Who in the mid 90s failed because while it did well with UK audiences, it didn’t in the USA, where a significant chunk of the money was coming from. Hence the pilot/movie wasn’t picked up for a series.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Oh yes let's scrap it.Why should those veterans in their 90's get anything free? Why should the generation that stood firm get anything for free?

In case anyone missed it irony alert.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Next they will be trying to get rid of the free bus passes for pensioners..:rolleyes:

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

But the limit is 75, not 95. So your comment is irrelevant.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

How is it irrelevant as many veterans fought for Queen and Country and if we cannot look after them then this country really should be ashamed of itself.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Technically it was "King and Country". The vast majority are, and will be, not WW2 veterans.


The key stage of financial change is State Pension Age. Going from aged 74 to 75, or 94 to 95, makes little difference. My issue is that the age limit chosen was arbitrary and has no underlying foundation, other than to hand out freebies.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

They are still veterans who fought for this country no matter what war it is and its our duty as a country to look after them..

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Korea?

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Make an exemption for veterans then. I don't really see the argument for deciding benefits based on if some members of the cohort to receive them are veterans or not.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

So what age limit wouldn't exclude veterans of one sort or another? Theoretically you would have to include everybody in getting a free TV Licence and free everything else.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

The age limit was imposed by Brown to limit numbers and therefore the cost.

My opinion is the license fee should be scrapped. If the BBC cannot stand on its own 2 feet then tough.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

That gets my vote ,it should sink or swim all on it's own.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Many from this age group also have final salary pensions which the current near retirees would only dream of. They also retired earlier on these better pensions.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

the discussion shouldn't be about who gets what for free.

The issue is a state financed broadcaster were the population are forced to pay for whether they watch it or not.

It might have been a good idea 60 odd years ago, but time has most definitely moved on, and now is moving even quicker in regards to how the population consume their entertainment and news.

The licence fee model is outdated and not fit for purpose in this age.

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The problem is that the BBC’s size and reach is such that disrupting it in any way is not a trivial business. Putting it behind a paywall would reduce its income substantially with implications for those directly employed by the Beeb and also by the creative agencies it engages to make content for it. Making it a commercial PSB on the same model as ITV would disrupt the entire broadcasting landscape in the UK by creating a lot more advert space and driving down its value. Changing the BBC’s funding model is also politically difficult as the BBC enjoys widespread public support.

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A problem with the Licence fee model of funding is they have a relatively reliable known income and will spend ALL of it. They don't say, "this is how much we need" and adjust the fee accordingly.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

There are plenty of freeview channels other than the BBC.

---------- Post added at 18:43 ---------- Previous post was at 18:38 ----------

And how many World War II veterans are there left now? Are they all poor? Of course they are not.

If those veterans were to have a free licence, that would be much more affordable than making it available to all over 75s.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

l am talking about all veterans..

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

So you are proposing that all veterans, regardless of wealth, should have a free TV licence?
Free food for the poor ones would do more good.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

They have put their life on ther line for King and Country so its not much to ask is it..

---------- Post added at 19:26 ---------- Previous post was at 19:24 ----------

That is for another thread but for some to be starving is a scandal in itself seeing we are one of the richest countries in the world.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

So, should are current serving forces or those such as the police, firefighters, paramedics also be issued with a free license ? Where exactly do we draw the line?

We have to have a bit of a reality check here, things such as free TV licenses and the winter fuel allowance need to move to being means tested.

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Agreed, but the cost of means testing shouldn’t exceed the value of the benefit (which is why using Pension Credit or info available from HMRC (annual income below a certain level) may be the basis for eligibility).

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l am not against mean testing but it has to be a fair and reasonable system.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Does such a thing exist?

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

That is the vexed question as one would hope the system they deployed was fair and reasonable but that is not always the case.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

You seem to be ignoring the thread title - it's about scrapping the free TV licence for everyone aged over 75.
Whether the BBC should be funded by the licence fee had been done to death on many threads before this one.

---------- Post added at 20:04 ---------- Previous post was at 20:03 ----------

Agreed. No point in reinventing the wheel.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

What if they haven't put their lives on the line, there's a whole swathe that never set foot out of Germany their entire careers, I see more action on a friday night than most of them did, like most knee jerk populist proposals this doesn't stand up to any sort of scrutiny

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Fair enough on that point of the thread, it’s a false issue. The free TV licences were a freebie thrown in by Brown for no reason, set at an arbitrary age figure. There is no basis for such a universal benefit, and if anything it should have been means tested when introduced.

I have no issue with it being removed.

On the second point, it may have been done to death but it needs to be addressed, and putting it in the file as “too difficult to bother with” doesn’t cut it.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

No one says it's too difficult to bother with - it's just not this thread's topic.

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Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Since the limit is 75, its not aimed at veterans, or any other profession, its just a completely random age.
Someone who is 75 tomorrow was born in 1944, so not really a WW2 veteran, unless they enlisted babies.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Blind people only get 50% off! So why are the affluent never had it so good, current crop of pensioners whinging? All these freebies (bus passes, TV licences, concessions everywhere) are great if those paying for them atm will get them at that age. They won't.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Well we will see what everyone feels when the retirement age reaches 70 or 80 as to whom is being unfairly treated. ;)

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Oh yes, these insanely jealous young un's will get to know first hand what being treated unfairly is like,and what a disadvantage old age actually is.:tu:

---------- Post added at 08:57 ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 ----------

You're jealous of pensioners that's quite sickening.

---------- Post added at 09:00 ---------- Previous post was at 08:57 ----------

The Nazi's still bombed them it wasn't all sunshine and lollipops.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

If it had been based upon State Pension age, there would have been some sort of logic to the original decision.

The cost of the TV Licence will have already been factored into the Pension amount before the age of 75. As with other benefits/credits(especially child related) the cost of certain things has already been included in the amount they receive. Things like travel costs are much more variable between circumstances and are less easy to build into the benefit amount.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Pretty sure Im not classed as "young".

In June 1944 ? Nope.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

There is uproar following the withdrawal of free TVL's for some pensioners and it wouldn't surprise me if one of the Tory leadership contenders (or the new PM if/when a general election is called) announces that the scheme will stay as it is in order to court votes.

This is particularly relevant as it was in the Tory manifesto that this benefit would remain in it's current form for the lifetime of this Parliament (expected to be 2022 at the latest) and older voters are more likely to vote and to vote Conservative.

They won't want to pay for it though, so I can see the BBC having to fund it through a combination of above inflation TVL increases and having to slash TV, radio and online services too.

In order to protect core services, I can see channels such as BBC Scotland, BBC4 etc being the first to go, CBBC/Cbeebies may go online only, Radio 1/2 closing or being sold off to the private sector and Radio 3 following the practice of Scala and Classic FM by playing prerecorded music without orchestras.

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The BBC Scotland channel has mostly been paid for by closing BBC2 Scotland. During most of its broadcast hours it still simulcasts the network BBC2 output from London. All it really is is BBC2 Scotland with a bit of enhanced programming over and above the network opt-outs it already had, and some politically expedient branding. Its viewing figures are tiny but what it’s achieved politically in Scotland isn’t measurable in ratings. I suspect it’s here for the long haul.

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I'm wondering if this will backfire on the Government as 40% of pensioners who are entitled to Pension Credit don't claim it.

Reasons are varied, ranging from not bothering to claim small entitlements, to pride to ignorance of the scheme eg a lot think that there is a capital limit like other means tested benefits, which there isn't. Savings of up to £10,000 are ignored and people are deemed to be receiving £1 a week notional income for every £500 above £10,000.

If realising that they have to claim it in order to continue receiving a free TVL, it prompts them to swallow their pride, check to see if they are entitled or it becomes worth claiming a small amount that they were entitled to, the welfare bill and associated administrative costs will increase, possibly by more than they hoped to save by passing on the cost to the BBC (£2.97 per week per pensioner over 75).

The average amount of each successful claim is £58.

Of course, if more people become eligible for a free TVL than the BBC estimated under their new scheme, it will result in a further financial shortfall.

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Ironically, last year 53 MP's claimed back £8,855 back that they had paid in TVL fees...

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Probably their second homes, but MPs are hypocrites, we all know that.

You're correct though, everyone is blaming the BBC, but it's the Govt. who have withdrawn funding for free TV licences, which seems to be ignored by certain media outlets in their anti BBC rants..

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Convienent memory loss as usual..

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The bbc agreed to its withdrawl, they even said they came out on top of the negotiations

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What gets up my nose is you don't even get a chance to get near to 75 before they take it away,it was in my grasp only 12 years away ,i could smell the freebeeness on the wind,they won't win i'll get my revenge haaa haaa haa [strokes the cat] and snarls at the TV like a rabid dog.

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It was a condition of the Royal charter renewal. They knew they wouldn't be able to afford it obviously which is why 'it was up to them' if they continue it. They essentially decided to take the blame for the cut rather than the government as the price of charter renewal. The Government and the BBC knew what has happening.

---------- Post added at 15:05 ---------- Previous post was at 14:55 ----------

Same with students who missed the cut before the fees increased to £3,000 or a few years later the next batch of students who missed out on the fees before they increased to £9,000. :shocked:

(In case anyone was wondering I was in the last year in which fees were £1,300 :D )

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

They'll find a way to get you :shocked:

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

It is about time to end this licence fee crap BBC and go pay to view or do advertisements (I would bring a law in so that television advertisements must be shown between programs not during them).

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There isn't enough advertising revenue to go round (and it's currently in decline), if this was put forward as an idea, expect ITV etc to complain and for FTA channels to close.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

You mean demand the rubbish broadcast is reduced.

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Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Just been reading that the BBC said that BBC2 itself would be under threat had they continued with free licenses for all pensioners aged 75 or over.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

That sounds slightly hysterical. Or at least, designed to scare people into not complaining too much.

One of the unforeseen consequences of BBC Scotland, incidentally, is that a very long running gardening programme, called The Beechgrove Garden, has had its output cut. Originally it was made for BBC One Scotland, but it moved to BBC Two Scotland a number of years ago. Of course, Two Scotland no longer exists, so in order for The Beechgrove Garden to continue to be shown, it either has to go back to One (which it won’t, as its audience is far too small these days) or move onto BBC Two Scotland’s effective successor channel, the BBC Scotland Channel, which is what they have done.

But ... and here’s the kicker ... because they’re having to fund more new content to justify the channel’s existence, and to make it distinctive, The Beechgrove Garden is no longer competing for funds from what was previously available to make the relatively small number of opt-outs on BBC Two Scotland; it is instead competing for funding with everything being made for the BBC Scotland Channel. The result is that it will now only get 14 editions per series, where previously it had 26. And the show’s original presenter (who did it for 40 years) is complaining that they should have just left it on BBC Two, which simply demonstrates that a lot of people in Scotland still don’t understand the massive accounting trick the BBC has pulled off in order to make the BBC Scotland Channel happen.

BBC Two Scotland no longer exists, but nobody seems to have noticed...

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Doubt many would notice if BBC2 no longer existed or day time BBC1 for that matter, endless repeats of dross that wasn't much cop first time round

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Ah, so you must watch it then ;) Pay up old chap !

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Or I could read a tv guide every now and then

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

If the BBC has to economise there's always the test card.

Probably more entertaining than daytime TV.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Fully agree with both :Yes:

In fact I have no idea why TV stations pump out the huge amount of daytime dross that they do apart from the advertising revenue of course (hands up those who actually take an interest in the adverts at any time of day) :dozey:

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

Kind of ironic how so many keep saying how bad daytime TV is on the BBC when it's even worse on all the other channels..

Anyway it's time we got back on topic.

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

How can they be worse repeats but in the spirit of keeping things on topic who is actually watching this day time dross, it's the old people getting it for free!!

They should just drop it all together!!

Dont they show commercials????? -- They shouldnt also charge $$$$$$$$!!!

Re: BBC to scrap free licence fee for over-75s
 

I'd quite happily get rid of daytime TV, soaps, reality TV, any programmes about fecking property buying or antiques! However some want them and as the BBC has to appeal to everyone then that's the way it is if we want TV 24/7, unless we want to pay a lot higher fee.

But yes, OAPs do watch the TV more than anyone else, which is even more reason they should pay if they can afford to. Non earning, debt ridden Students are expected to pay the licence, subsidising the rich old folk, even though they rarely watch TV ! It's bonkers.