ISBA director welcomes 'outdated' BBC licence fee shake up favouring subscription model
The director of the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) has embraced a report from the UK culture, media and sport select committee claiming the BBC licence fee should be canned as soon as possible for a fairer alternative.
Bob Wootton, ISBA director
Earlier today (Thursday 26 February) MPs concluded in the Future of the BBC report that the licence fee has “no long term future” and that BBC iPlayer should be blocked off to non-payers with the use of encryption.
Following the news, Bob Wootton, ISBA director, said the BBC should look to embrace a subscription model, denying citizens access to TV and web services if they fail to pay up.
Wootton said: “We absolutely welcome the committee report's challenge to the licence fee which we believe to be outdated, but it will probably have to persist until infrastructure catches up and IP-based permission is widely possible, at which point, probably in 2020, the BBC will move to a subscription model."
The ISBA director also brought into question the effectiveness of the BBC Trust: “Time and time again yet more serious questions about governance were raised. The board of governors was discredited and sadly, the trust has proved not much better including the recent proposal for directors to be overseen by a commission which is unwieldy and will probably be populated by the same pool of people.”
He concluded: “The UK has a varied, vibrant and successful media industry to partner with and we of course don’t welcome any 'unfair' competition which doesn't take advertising and forces our partners to close.”
This comes after Wootton weighed in on the English Premier League TV rights row stating the £5.13bn investment was vital from BT Sport and Sky Sports as consumers have "little loyalty" to broadcasters.