TV licence costs are set to rise once more in just some weeks, taking the associated fee to £174.50 per yr.
The BBC will probably be growing the charge yearly till 2027 in accordance with the current royal constitution. It could possibly impose a major pressure amid a rise within the power cap and the price of dwelling disaster.
Below new proposals, households that solely use streaming providers like Netflix may additionally be required to pay the TV licence charge. This comes as ministers are drafting plans to restructure the company’s funding after the BBC’s present royal constitution expires in 2027.
The royal constitution is an settlement between the Authorities and the BBC on its function and governance. However what precisely is altering with the TV licence? Right here’s a breakdown.
What adjustments are coming to the TV licence?
The BBC TV licence charge is ready to extend by £5 to £174.50 per yr on April 1. The rise is predicated on the annual inflation price.
Sources have instructed Bloomberg that with the intention to make sure the BBC’s survival, the Authorities can be contemplating forcing Netflix and Disney+ subscribers to pay the TV licence charge.
Different choices embody permitting the BBC to make use of promoting, creating a selected tax for streaming providers or making BBC Radio listeners pay.
These potential adjustments are being thought-about as viewing habits have modified as customers gravitate towards on-demand providers.
The talks comply with Tradition Minister Sir Chris Bryant’s assertion that he wished the BBC licence charge to proceed to help a “huge manufacturing funds” for UK-produced TV exhibits and movies.
“I do need the streamers to come back right here. Tom Cruise has made huge investments within the UK,” he stated.
“However I additionally need us to have a system the place a British manufacturing firm is commissioned by others to make one thing that the place the Mental Property (IP), or a number of the IP, stays with the manufacturing firm. I form of need a little bit of each.”
- The BBC TV licence charge is ready to extend by £5 to £174.50 per yr on April 1.
- Viewing habits have modified as customers gravitate towards on-demand providers, subsequently, the TV licence may very well be prolonged to cowl Netflix and Disney Plus providers.
- You’ll must be lined by the TV licence in the event you’re watching LIVE TV on a tv, laptop, pill, video games console, smartphone or another system.
- This is applicable to watching ‘stay TV’ through internet-only providers resembling Amazon Prime Video and Now TV.
- You presently don’t want a TV licence in the event you’re watching movies on YouTube or catching up in your favorite sequence on Netflix.
- State pensioners who’re aged 75 and older and qualify for pension credit score are eligible for a free TV licence.
In response to Jay Hunt, chairperson of the British Movie Institute (BFI), British public service broadcasters (PSBs) can successfully cohabit with streaming behemoths like Netflix and Apple TV Plus.
She stated: “There’s an rising thesis that the one tv that speaks to British audiences is made by public service broadcasters.
“I’ve spent most of my profession in public service tv and extraordinary programming is popping out of the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, the entire time, however it’s also now popping out of inward funding.”
Hunt added that exhibits like Sluggish Horses, Rivals and Child Reindeer are a couple of examples that “there’s nice British content material being made past the PSBs as effectively”.
There have been additionally rumours circulating that the licence charge can be lined by normal taxation.
Nevertheless, Tradition Secretary Lisa Nandy dominated this one out on BBC Breakfast saying that the license charge is “not solely inadequate, it is elevating inadequate cash to help the BBC, however it’s also deeply regressive”.
Cash raised from the licence charge pays for BBC exhibits and providers – together with TV, the BBC web site, podcasts, iPlayer, apps, in addition to radio.
Your family has to pay the charge in the event you’re watching stay tv on a tv, laptop, pill, video games console, smartphone or another system. This contains watching stay Premier League matches on Amazon Prime.
Who’s eligible for a free TV licence?
State pensioners who’re aged 75 and older and qualify for pension credit score are eligible for a free TV licence.
In response to the TV Licensing web site, ”you, because the licence holder, are 75 years or older and also you, or your accomplice dwelling on the similar tackle, obtain Pension Credit score”.
People who’re retired, over 60, disabled, or reside in care amenities or protected housing can get hold of their licence for a reduced worth of £7.50.
And a 50 per cent low cost is out there for many who are registered blind or who stay with somebody who’s.
People who find themselves struggling to pay can unfold the associated fee throughout 12 months utilizing the Easy Fee Plan.
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