Thread: BBC licence fee to be reviewed by Conservatives
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Old 22-12-2019, 19:32   #27
OLD BOY
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Re: BBC licence fee to be reviewed by Conservatives
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris View Post
It would be immensely difficult to do that anyway, as the BBC’s funding arrangements are enshrined in a Royal charter that doesn’t expire until 2027. However what’s really happening here is the groundwork for a debate that will occur in earnest from about 2024 when discussion about the next charter begins.

Personally I think, when it comes to it, that a charter-mandated subscription paywall would be politically impossible to implement, because the charter also details the services the BBC must deliver. The draft charter would therefore lay bare just how far BBC services would have to be cut in order for the organisation to get by on its projected subscription income, which would inevitably be rather smaller than its present licence fee income. When confronted with the loss of a great deal of output that by itself is quite niche, a coalition of lovers of the BBC’s niche output, amounting to quite a large number of people, is likely to result in any such plan being sidelined.
I think what will happen is that the government will revise its definition of public service broadcasting and ensure that the appropriate range of programming is maintained. The channels will bid for that work and government grants will be available for those channels that agree to make those programmes. They will not necessarily go to the BBC, although I think the Beeb would, in fact, get the lion's share.

Incidentally, there is plenty of room for cost savings. If the BBC displayed all its programmes on a web site and no longer bought in programmes from elsewhere that are currently used to fill the schedules, a huge amount of money would be saved.
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