The BBC’s chairman is prepared to consider new forms of funding for the public broadcaster as the current licence fee based system looks set to end.
Richard Sharp told The Sunday Times the options to replace the £159 a year licence fee includes a levy on all households regardless of whether they have a TV or consume any media; adding a “BBC fee” to the council tax with those with bigger homes paying more than those with smaller homes; or a Netflix-style subscription model.
A further, more controversial option under consideration is a two-tier BBC. This would consist of a basic free BBC service, plus a premium add-on. The premium service would offer “enhanced services”, such as the ability to binge watch drama series.
Sharp noted that in Germany a household levy “raises more money for its public service broadcaster than we do here”. Although Germany’s levy does actually fund multiple public service broadcasters.
The Government has previously indicated that the licence fee should be scrapped. Any change to BBC funding would kick in after the end of the current BBC charter period in 2027-28.
BBC World Service funding at the expense of domestic services
With regards the cost of running the BBC World Service, Sharp confirmed he would be speaking to Government about its funding. He told The Sunday Times he wanted to discuss separate funding for the World Service. The current funding model meant having to “choose between investing in content for domestic consumers or in foreign language services”, he said, adding it was “a real challenge.”
The BBC World Service costs £350 million a year to run. Funding for the service used to come from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The BBC is currently planning to cut BBC Local Radio hours. It is already closing two regional TV news services in Cambridge and Oxford this month. And it has already cut UK-focused news hours on its News Channel ahead of the merger with BBC World News.
But if the Government increased funding for the BBC World Service, some of the more controversial cuts to UK services could be reduced.