The enormity of the BBC‘s licence fee crisis has been uncovered as figures reveal a significant reduction in the number of people paying the tax. Despite Britain’s population continuing to grow around 200,000 fewer households hold TV licence compared to a year ago. The announcement of these numbers comes in the same period that reports are claiming that Downing Street is planning to scrap the fee and pivot the broadcaster into a Netflix-style subscription service.
The Daily Mail are this morning citing unnamed sources that suggest that No 10 wants to force the corporation to sell off most of its radio stations, including Radio 1 and Radio 2 as part of a culling of its range of services The figures that were obtained by the Daily Mail show that in November 2018 there were 25,805,141 licences in the UK, but in November that number dropped to 25,606,957, an annual fall of 198,184. The final month, up to November 2019, shows a drop of 62,000 licences from the previous month.
There is a growing appeal of ‘on-demand’ streaming services, especially amongst the young. These services do not require a TV licence. It is thought many are deciding to no longer pay the charge as a result of this. As previously reported by UNN the media regulator Ofcom warned that the BBC might not survive in its current form unless it took drastic measures to win back what it described as a ‘lost generation’ of younger audiences.
These reports, added with others that UNN has brought you, are portraying the BBC’s future as getting bleaker by the day. Could, the BBC’s behaviour consisting of anti-Brexit bias, significant cultural wokeness and poor-quality content see an end to its existence in its current form?
Current Affairs Correspondent | My name is Oliver Down I am 22, and a staunch brexiteer. I am a Bristolian lad who studied politics in Leicester. I believe in free speech and accurate journalism and I won’t be afraid to give you “the other side” of the story!
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