Study finds just 32.6% support existing BBC license fee
A study of 2,000 TV license fee payers has found that fewer than one in three (32.6 per cent) support the charge as it currently exists whilst 95 per cent would be unwilling to stump up any more than the current fee of £145.50 per year.
The survey was conducted by TV and broadband advice website Cable.co.uk against the backdrop of the BBC charter review, which is likely to usher in big changes to the way the broadcaster operates and is funded.
Cable.co.uk's consumer TV and broadband expert, Dan Howdle, said: "We can pay a few pounds a month for Netflix, Amazon Prime Instant Video, Now TV and a host of other more specialist streaming services such as WWE. Added to that, many of us have a Sky,Virgin Media or BT box under our TVs, offering us access to exactly what we want to watch at any given time.
“The problem, then, becomes not one of the depreciation of BBC content, but one of our expectation of the marketplace. We expect to have a choice. There is a growing feeling that where Netflix and ilk charge us for what we choose to watch, the BBC forces us to pay whether we watch it or not.
“The fact that the licence fee is payable irrespective of household income is something the British public clearly feel has to change. The recent noises toward a household levy, then, would appear to be a sensible direction to aim."
However a BBC spokesperson said: “This survey shows support for universal funding of the BBC and little appetite for subscription or advertising despite a leading main question. Both the Government and BBC have agreed the licence fee should be modernised to include people watching catch-up TV – so no one is suggesting it stays ‘indefinitely in its current form’. In fact research shows that the percentage of people who think the licence fee is the best way to pay for programmes like Strictly, The Great British Bake Off, and Sherlock has risen significantly from 31% in 2004 to 48% today.”
Strength of feeling against the present system was not matched by consensus on the alternatives however, with a scaled fee based on household income marginally ahead with support of 24.08 per cent of those quizzed.