[1andrew1]

Council tax levy could replace TV licence fee in future funding model

Under the proposal all households would pay for the BBC through their local authority bill

The TV licence fee could be abolished and replaced with a new levy on council tax bills, according to a House of Lords committee that looked at the best way to fund the BBC in the future.

Under the proposal, all households would pay for the BBC through their local authority bill, with low-earning families paying less for the broadcaster’s services. This would end the traditional link to owning a television set and ensure that people who only use the BBC’s online or radio services also have to pay to use them.

“We see quite a lot of potential advantages to it,” said the Conservative peer Tina Stowell, who chairs the cross-party House of Lords communications and digital committee.

She said her committee was not definitively backing the council tax-based funding model but said it worked well in Germany. “We see this as a viable proposition that needs to be taken very seriously,” she said.

Possible models for replacing the licence fee – and the verdict of the House of Lords committee

• Advertising-funded model: Would result in a “multibillion-pound reduction in income for the BBC” and would harm other commercial broadcasters such as ITV by taking away their advertising income.
• Netflix-style subscription: Unlikely to produce enough money and technically challenging given the ongoing popularity of traditional television and radio channels. A paywall would cut off large chunks of the public from the BBC, undermining the idea of a national broadcaster.
• A monthly BBC levy on broadband contracts: Dismissed as little improvement over the existing licence fee and hard to means test. Could put households off signing up to internet connections or other phone contracts.
• A new ringfenced income tax to fund the BBC: Could be easily means tested but it would be “politically controversial” to add a new line to payslips for BBC funding.
• A universal council tax levy: Given an approving write-up by the House of Lords committee. They say it would be hard to evade, could be means tested so less well-off people pay less, and would be relatively easy to collect the money.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/20...-funding-model