BBC licence fee freeze will ‘affect’ output says Tim Davie

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Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has frozen the annual £159 TV licence fee for the next two years to cut costs for households. She has warned the freeze – and licence fee settlement – is just the first step on her “roadmap for reform of the BBC”. She said: “The BBC must be a simpler, leaner organisation that offers better value to licence fee payers.” At today’s hearing, MP for Glenrothes Peter Grant asked Mr Davie: “There are some who would argue we don’t need a state broadcaster in this day and age. There are some who would argue that we don’t actually need the BBC further funded by the licence fee or some other way. What is it that you think the BBC does that no one else can and will do? If the BBC wasn’t there, what are the things that everybody would miss?”

Mr Davie responded: “There is an overwhelming case in my view for the positive effects [of the BBC] for democracy, and for the quality of debate we have – we all have our views around this table about our coverage and how we do things but – that is an important thing for me that needs to be defended. Secondly, there are interventions that are not commercially viable; the local radio we produce, the radio services we produce, much of our TV programming – a commercial model would lead you into a different direction.

“These things are precious to our democracy.”

He added: “I am obsessed with household value, and our pitch for the BBC is not that it’s just a good thing, but it’s also great value for £13 per month.

“Despite all the noise, most people feel that.”

Mr Davie said he has a brief to deliver “public service broadcasting, at a strong public service media”.

He said: “That is one of the things we should be fighting for and that we should be proud of in the UK, and is a huge competitive advantage.

“If we dismantle this, I honestly think we will be doing a disservice not just to our culture and democracy, but also to our economic health of our creative industries.”

Mr Davie claimed that every pound spent on the BBC generates £2.60 in value that flows out from the BBC into the wider society.

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Between 2010-2019 the average number of prosecutions for TV licence offences ran at 123,500, according to the Ministry of Justice. The rate in the last two years halved because of the pandemic but is expected to rise again.

Approximately 75 percent of those prosecuted are women.

How do you think the licence fee should be funded? Have your say in the comments section below.

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