BBC fee could be scrapped for Netflix model, says Boris Johnson

The BBC licence fee could be scrapped and replaced with a pay-to-watch subscription model under a Conservative government.

Boris Johnson at a rally near Gloucester, England. Picture: Getty Images

The BBC annual licence fee could be scrapped and replaced with a pay-to-watch subscription model under a Conservative government, Boris Johnson says.

Speaking at a campaign rally, the British Prime Minister questioned whether the present funding model “still makes sense” in a digital world.

In an unexpected move, he ­announced he was “looking at” ­decriminalising non-payment of the licence as Tory sources suggested that a fully subscription-based service, such as Netflix, would come under consideration.

The plan, which is not in the party’s manifesto, will face resistance from the BBC and be seen by opponents as a political attack on the broadcaster.

A leaked BBC document warned that viewing by young people was “dangerously close to the brink” because “output is not standing up well enough to tough international competition”.

Asked at an event in Tyne and Wear whether a Tory government would abolish the licence fee, Mr Johnson said: “I am certainly looking at it.

“You have to ask yourself whether that approach to funding a TV, a media organisation, still makes sense in the long term, given the way other organisations manage to fund themselves. How long can you justify a system whereby everybody who has a TV has to pay to fund a particular set of TV and radio channels?”

The licence-fee system cannot be scrapped until the BBC’s royal charter expires in 2027. However, proposals to decriminalise non-payment could be put forward before a “mid-term review” in 2022, which will determine the price of the licence, now £154.50 ($297.50), pegged to inflation.

Speaking later Mr Johnson said the BBC was not going to be privatised but warned that the ­licence fee “needs to be argued for”. “A lot of court cases and courts’ time are taken up with prosecuting people for failing to pay their licence fee, so it’s an issue for the criminal justice system as much as anything else,” he said. “We are looking at the possibility of decriminalising not paying (the fee) ... there have been many cases that strike people as heavy-handed.”

Ministry of Justice figures show that 129,446 prosecutions were brought for licence-fee evasion last year, resulting in 120,533 fines, the average being £176, significantly less than the £1000 maximum. Prosecutions have been thought to account for about 10 per cent of cases in magistrates courts in recent years.

The number of people cancelling their TV licences had jumped as viewers ditched the BBC in favour of streaming services. More than 860,000 were cancelled in 2017-18, compared with 798,000 the year before. Nearly 26 million licences were bought in 2018-19, down 37,000 from the year before.

It is understood Mr Johnson’s comments reflected months of discussion behind the scenes in Downing Street and in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

A BBC has estimated that decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee would cost it £200m a year in lost revenue.

The Times