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BBC Tv Licensing

Not paying TV licence could be decriminalised – 70 sent to jail for non-payment in 2012

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By Ishbel Macleod, PR and social media consultant

March 8, 2014 | 1 min read

Non-payment of the £145.50 TV licence fee could be decriminalised during the BBC charter review before 2017, culture secretary Maria Miller has said.

However, the BBC has said that turning the offence from a criminal one to a civil one could lead to more people failing to pay.

This comes just days after the BBC announced plans to turn BBC Three into an online channel next year, with the aim of saving £65m.

A spokesman for the culture secretary said: "Maria will put decriminalisation of the licence fee on the table during charter review discussions, but to do it before makes no sense.

"She has made clear that the BBC needs to get its house in order, particularly when it comes to governance and transparency, having decriminalisation on the table during the negotiations will focus the BBC's minds."

In 2012, about 155,000 were convicted and fined for not paying the fee, and 70 were jailed.

Last year, TV Licensing launched a campaign revealing the strange excuses people gave to get out of paying the fee.

BBC Tv Licensing

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