BBC could tap celeb backers to encourage pensioners to volunteer their license fee
The BBC could leverage support from prominent over 75s to encourage people within the same age range to continue paying the licence fee.
The campaign could be launched after chancellor George Osborne last year announced that over 75s would no longer have to pay their license fees from 2020. The decision has reportedly left a £700m gap in the public broadcaster’s funding.
In reaction to the cuts, the corporation is looking to tap the likes of Helen Mirren, Terry Wogan, Michael Parkinson and Melvyn Bragg for a campaign encouraging the elderly to pay the fee, which currently sits at £145.50 a year
A BBC source released the news to the Press Association: “We want to explore the options, in particular on how voluntary payments might work. It’s early days, this work is only just beginning.”
It was claimed that the campaign is among several fundraising ideas emerging after the BBC enlisted consultancy firm, Frontier Economics, to help it devise “the best approach to asking people for contributions”.