Time to change the BBC
It's time to abolish the TV tax altogether and instead force the BBC to raise its revenue from advertising or subscriptions. Forcing millions of TV owners to pay for the privilege is draconian, and it's about time this funding model was under threat, argues Ollie Lane
The days of the BBC playing a significant role in society at large, and being held in high esteem as a quintessentially British institution trusted by all are well and truly gone. The days of trusted, impartial news have been replaced by elitist liberal London dogma. This regressive poll tax funded monolith is not just my cup of tea, but survey after survey has demonstrated that the British public attitude is strongly in favour of abolishing the license fee. And is anyone really surprised, given how tone deaf the BBC has been in recent years, getting the mood of the nation woefully wrong time and again?
The arguments for abolishing the license fee are now well known, and in the age of Netflix a tax on TV ownership simply seems absurd. While many would go so far as to abolish the BBC entirely, if the BBC were required to compete on a level playing field, its editorial decisions would be forced to be driven by a proper commercial interest.
By axing the license fee, we would see a balanced service, where the interests of consumers, not the interests of lefty executives, would come to dominate decision making, lest the BBC face a withering of its income. This would mark a major shift from millions of households being compelled to pay for programmes that they do not want, let alone watch. Even those, if they do exist, that like the BBC's output, should be pushing for a subscription model, to ensure the long term viability of the BBC programmes they like. If the BBC is as valued as its supporters claim it is, it's rather curious that they don't foresee millions volunteering to pay for it.
While the question of bias has plagued the BBC in recent years, the fact that the majority of Brits now get their news from social media, or digital sources, is relegating the BBC into irrelevance. With the number of young people watching the BBC year on year dropping continually, even the most ardent defenders of the BBC must now see that it simply is not sustainable, in the long term.
The BBC's slide into partiality has picked up speed in recent years, yet its bias is not one of party politics. It's more insidious than that, and I don't even think the BBC's producers are aware they are bias, they simply think all good people think the way they do, and those that disagree just aren't worth catering to. They see social conservative values as abhorrent, and no longer understand public opinion outside of London (hence the surprise at Brexit, and the Tory majority).
For those that love and loath the BBC alike, it is clear that the funding model has to change, and that the license fee has to go.
