Labour might pressure Netflix and Amazon Prime subscribers ‘to pay TV licence price’ to fund the BBC
Labour may force customers of the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney and Apple to fork out even more money to pay the £180-a-year TV licence fee to help fund the corporation, even if they do not watch it.
The changes are expected to be announced later this year(Image: Getty Images)
Ministers are drawing up plans which could see subscribers charged more to fund the BBC.
Labour may force customers of the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney and Apple to fork out even more money to pay the £180-a-year TV licence fee to help fund the corporation, even if they do not watch it.
Insiders said that Keir Starmer’s government are considering the approach to start from the end of 2027, which will mean a blanket approach where the licence fee is expanded to cover streaming platforms.
The other plan included funding the BBC with advertising or a new subscription model but they are hesitant to do that in case it hurts ITV and Channel 4.
At present, a TV licence is not needed to watch on demand shows but that could change under the new plans to raise funds for the flagging BBC. But changing this could be an option for Labour when the current BBC charter ends in December 2027.
The culture secretary Lisa Nandy previously told how she was trying to come up with ideas but had said how she worried that a move from licence fee to a BBC subscription would disconnect the nation.
She said last year: ‘If you believe, as I do, that one of the greatest strengths of the BBC is its ability to unite the nation that has found multiple ways to divide itself, then I think you’ve got to be cautious about the use of subscriptions and paywalls.’
The BBC has declined to comment on the report, saying it was for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, but has seen income fall by a quarter in ten years.
It now must make £500million of savings, and could need to cut 2,000 jobs in the next two years to save money.
But in March a BBC paper on its future described how 80% of the UK pay the licence fee – even though the corporation believes 94% of the population use BBC services on TV, radio or online each month.
The document warned: “Households that watch or record live TV – on the BBC or elsewhere – or use BBC iPlayer to watch BBC content are required to hold a licence.
“The number of people consuming live TV has fallen, as has the volume of live TV consumed. This is because audience behaviour has changed at a pace and scale not anticipated in the last Charter Review.
“The general approach others [abroad] have taken has been to restore universality of payment while taking steps to enhance fairness through progressive pricing or concessions to help those on lower incomes’.
It has been reported that streamers are not happy about plans. One senior streaming source said: “It’s pretty desperate to argue that everyone should be made to pay for the BBC whether they watch it or not.
“The BBC needs to think more radically and creatively about how to generate income in ways that don’t undermine universal access.”
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said in a statement: “The government does not comment on speculation.
“We are reviewing responses to the BBC Charter Review consultation and will set out our decisions in a white paper to be published later this year.'”
Ministers are also considering calls for a system which sees wealthier households pay more than poorer ones.
