Thread: BBC licence fee to be reviewed by Conservatives
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Old 21-12-2019, 20:26   #23
OLD BOY
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Re: BBC licence fee to be reviewed by Conservatives
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris View Post
Your tunnel vision around the issue of IPTV is making it difficult for you to understand the issues that are actually at play here.

IP is just another means of delivering television. On-demand streaming is just another way of delivering television. There is no reason why the addition of a new delivery mechanism should alter the fundamental proposition behind the TV licence. The introduction of cable and satellite delivery didn’t, and arguably they should have because at a stroke there were about 20 times more channels available the day after Sky launched than the day before.

The very most that universal gigabit broadband might do is justify DTT switch-off, but even here complete switchover of the National free to air tv infrastructure operates on a very long lead time. Analogue switch-off occurred 14 years after the first DTT service launched. The final VHF broadcast was 20 years after the first UHF service.

The TV licence doesn’t exist to support TV delivered in any particular way. History shows that TV has moved every couple of decades to whatever broadcast standard best suited the medium at the time, with the number of channels and over-the-top services constantly increasing. The TV licence exists to ensure there is a universal news, arts and entertainment service, accessible to all, covering a broad range of interests, at a sustained, high quality.

Arguments about the abolition of the TV licence will have to address the market’s ability to adequately meet these needs without government intervention (which is in essence what the licence system is).
I think you misunderstand my point. If you currently receive all your channels via the TV transmitters on your unconnected TV set, the subscription model won't work. That's why I think we will have to wait until everyone accesses their TV channels via IPTV.

I understand perfectly that IPTV is just another method of delivering TV - I'm not sure why you thought I did not know this! Whether or not we still have the licence fee once that is fully rolled out will be a political decision, of course.

In terms of government funding, it would appear that money will be available from government for those channels broadcasting public service programming, so that is fairly straight forward.

I don't think it will take much time to switch off DTT - the spectrum will be needed desperately for other purposes.
Last edited by OLD BOY; 21-12-2019 at 20:30.
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