Tony Hall calls for BBC license fee to be extended to iPlayer
BBC director general Tony Hall is calling for a loophole in present license fee regulation, which allows households to watch programming on digital catch-up services for free, to be closed.
The move would affect an estimated half a million households in the UK who have opted out of the charge by disconnecting their tellies to watch pre-recorded content via iPlayer and other services on their computers, smartphones and tablets.
Speaking at the Oxford Media Convention Hall said: “One of the advantages of the licence fee is that it's flexible and has adapted over the years. When and how best to take the next step is, of course, a matter for the government.
"Our view is that there is room for modernisation so that the fee applies to the consumption of BBC TV programmes, whether live on BBC 1 or on-demand via the iPlayer or other devices."
Households currently shell-out £12 a month for the right to watch live television in the UK but Hall said internal BBC research showed the public was prepared to stump up as much as £20 for access.
At present around 90 per cent of all television is viewed live with less than 2 per cent accounted for by on demand content.