The TV licence debate has called into question the future of the BBC and its services. Former chief executive of Channel 5 David Elstein took aim at the broadcasting giant for their threatening attitude on the issue. He criticised the BBC for threatening court action and fines for those who would not pay for the service.

While on Sky News Mr Elstein also explained the BBC had been “outclassed” in quality terms for 15 years.

He said: “The cuts that are going to have to take place this year are mostly a function of the decision by the Government not to fund free tv licences for the over 75.

“They will have shifted the burden to the BBC.

“The BBC has tried to finesse it.

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“So they will give some over-75s free tv licences but not others.

“Both of those things are really problematic.

“The first because it is going to force them to make 200 million pounds a year saving somewhere.

“The second because trying to get three million people who haven’t paid a tv licence fee for a long time, it is about 20 years now since the over 75s concession was introduced.

“Trying to send them threatening letters, drag them in front of magistrates, fine them, threaten them with imprisonment, the mind boggles.”

The Sky News host replied: “ Then how does the BBC then compete in the world where Netflix spends something like 11 billion dollars on content.

“The BBC can’t possibly compete with that, should it even compete with that?”

Mr Elstein answered: “The difficulty is that the licence fee funding forces the BBC to spread its spending everywhere.

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“Because everyone pays and they have no choice in the matter, they expect something in exchange.

“It is an all-things-for-everyone type of output.

“Whereas Netflix and HBO, Showtime and the major US cable companies they could focus.

“They could focus their spend on major high premium quality output.

“The BBC has been outclassed in quality terms for 15 years now.”

Responding to the controversy surrounding the TV licence, a BBC spokesperson previously said: “As we’ve said before, the licence fee ensures a universal BBC which serves everyone, is the most popular funding system among the public and is agreed as the method of funding the BBC for another 8 years.”

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