Andrew Neil describes BBC licence fee as a 'Straitjacket'

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The BBC licence fee has come under attack after the broadcaster was warned its funding model is “no longer fit for purpose” as it celebrates its 100th birthday. The Government is responsible for setting the cost of the TV licence, and in January announced it would remain unchanged at £159 for two years, followed by annual rises in line with inflation for four years from April 1, 2024. Today, the BBC celebrates its 100th birthday, but many have continued to question whether the world-famous broadcaster can continue to survive in its current form.

The cost and value the TV licence provides has come under the spotlight, particularly with millions of UK households struggling to make ends meet as they desperately try to get to grips with the cost of living crisis.

Rebecca Ryan, Campaign Director at Defund the BBC, said that while the broadcaster was “once a great institution founded on sound principles”, the funding model it now operates “is no longer fit for purpose in the digital age”.

She hit out at the BBC for being able to “tax” Britons in return for watching live television when providing high quality content, but claimed it has failed miserably on all counts.

Ms Ryan told Express.co.uk: “The BBC was once a great institution founded on sound principles, but its funding model is no longer fit for purpose in the digital age.

“The BBC is allowed to tax Britons for the pleasure of watching any “live” TV – non-BBC included – and in return is supposed to deliver high quality, impartial broadcasting that represents all parts of the UK. It no longer does that, on any count.”

“So, the BBC now faces a double hit as more and more people turn away from linear programming – watching on-demand instead – driven by technological changes and by the BBC’s output’s lack of appeal, as the broadcaster turns its back on middle-aged and older viewers in a futile attempt to woo the youth audience.”

The Defund the BBC Campaign Director launched a further furious attack on the broadcaster, claiming it is “rightly seen as a wasteful organisation that is tone deaf to the concerns and interests of average Britons”.

She continued: “Once seen as a kindly Auntie, the Beeb is now akin to the spoiled, finger-wagging woke-warrior, Saint Greta, all while forcing us to keep their metro-centric elite employees in overpaid comfort. ‘How dare you!’ indeed.

In a further warning for the BBC, Ms Ryan warned “the window of opportunity is closing” for the broadcaster to “rejuvenate” itself in the modern age.

The campaigner demanded the only way to push these changes through is for the BBC to be forced to fund itself, which would see it “put the interests of willing paying customers first”.

Ms Ryan concluded: “Many of us would like to see the BBC slimmed down, rejuvenated and delivering the high-quality journalism of yesteryear. But the window of opportunity is closing for the Beeb.

“The only way to force through such changes is for the broadcaster to be made to stand on its own two feet financially. Then the BBC will have to stop being a woke campaign organisation and put the interests of willing paying customers first.”

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The current £159 cost of the licence fee covers all devices and television sets within a household, but various discounts and concessions are available to those who are considered to be in vulnerable groups.

For example, people who are 75 or over claim Pension Credit can get a free television licence, although many critics have demanded anyone past this age should be afforded this luxury.

Furthermore, people who are legally blind are able to claim a 50 percent discount on their licence fee.

Earlier this year, the government said the licence fee would be frozen for the next two years, primarily because of the cost of living crisis and to give the Government time to explore alternative funding options for the BBC.

Among the options reportedly being considered is a subscription service model which would replace the traditional compulsory model.

Former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said: “The BBC is a great national institution with a unique place in our cultural heritage.

“It broadcasts British values and identities all over the world and reaches hundreds of millions of people every day.

“But at a time when families are facing a sharp increase in their living costs, we simply could not justify asking hard-working households to pay even more for their TV licence.

“This is a fair settlement for the BBC and for licence fee payers. The BBC must support people at a time when their finances are strained, make savings and efficiencies, and use the billions in public funding it receives to deliver for viewers, listeners and users.”

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