The Written Podcast: Is The TV License Fee Necessary Anymore?

The BBC is falling behind when it comes to making content. They’ve acknowledged this a couple of times over the years, but are slow at doing something about it. The problem they’re facing is strong competition with both online subscriptions based services, and network subscription based services.

The BBC is governed by, well, the government. We, the British public pay a fixed fee every year, known as the TV license, which is an official tax, and because it is a tax set by the government, it comes with all the rules and regulations every other tax comes with – if you don’t pay it, you can end up going to jail. That’s a serious consequence considering you didn’t contribute to funding Bargain Hunt. But, a common misconception when it comes to the TV license tax is, like every other tax, the government doesn’t actually have to spend the money on that specific thing. Just because it’s called the TV license tax, doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll spend all the money given to them by us will all go into making TV programs. They can do what they want with the money. It’s the same with road tax – just because we give them so much money a year; it may have the word road in the name, it doesn’t necessarily mean all the money will be spent filling in the many potholes in the road outside my home.

Taxes are what makes the government comply with the rules of a democracy – we give a percentage of the money we work hard for, so we can have a say on what happens to our country – doesn’t always appear to be that simple, but that’s the nature of a democracy in a nutshell. It’s the same when it comes to the BBC. We give the government a percentage of the money we work hard for to fund the BBC. It’s not only TV programs, though. BBC news, BBC radio, BBC Sport, BBC films, all of which are broadcasted 24/7 all across the UK.

The BBC has produced some amazing TV shows over the decades it’s been operating, there’s no doubt about that. The fact it’s funded by us means the number 1 rule they have to obey is make content for everyone. They have to have a diverse range of programs to entertain everyone in the UK. That’s why they have three TV channels – BBC 1 (also known as the main channel for the giants such as Doctor Who, and Eastenders, BBC 2 (also for the big shows – they produce so many they have to split them across two channels), BBC 3 (which has now migrated to a permanent home on iPlayer, but mainly focusing on experimental shows, those who are breaking through, or repeats of popular shows that’ve broadcasted on BBC 1 and 2, BBC 4 (mainly filled with documentaries). Then they have two children’s channels, CBBC and Cbeebies – one for the toddlers and the other for the children aged 6 upwards – they sometimes produce programs for early teenagers as well. BBC News is a 24/7 account on the news of the world – or the same fifteen minutes over and over again until something different happens. BBC Sport broadcasts the hottest football matches and other sporting events. BBC Parliament focuses solely on the many debates that goes on within the walls of parliament.

The BBC also has many radio stations: BBC Radio 1, Radio 1 Extra, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, Radio 4 Extra, Radio 5 Extra, Radio 6, Radio Scotland, Radio Wales, Radio Asian, Radio Cymru, Radio Cymru 2… all of them serving the rule of diversifying as much of their content as possible, so everyone all over the UK can be entertained by the BBC.

There’s no doubt they’re reaching out to as many people as possible.

As times moved on, they’ve made iPlayer an easier to use service, and has allowed the content that’s available after initial broadcasting to stay on there for longer, giving the chance for more people to see what they are a fan of. In fact, over the past couple of years, iPlayer has grown in popularity among the people that the BBC was forced to make that service only available if you pay the TV license tax, something that previously was not needed to do to watch their shows.

Unfortunately, they’re not doing enough. They might be doing a lot to make a lot of content for a lot of people, but they’re not necessarily making content that’s either on par or better than their competitions – most notably, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, or Networks that require a subscription service to access. These online streaming services are growing at a monumental rate each year, and other streaming services are popping up across the internet. Disney is going to be launching their streaming service next year when the deal between itself and 20^th Century Fox has been finalised. They do release a lot of diverse content, which is why so many people sign up, but two reasons in particular I’ve noticed as to why they’re so popular is because they’re online, and require a payment to access.

Netflix and Amazon Prime follow the same rules as the BBC – make content that’s diverse to reach a broader audience, but those rules are generally more relaxed, than that of the BBC. They require you to be of a certain age to sign up for their services, they can be regulated by the parents who so wish their children not to access the more mature content, but only the child friendly content. And, due to them using the full power of these relaxed rules, allowing them to make stronger content, more people have signed up, giving these services more money to make more and better content, and that has certainly showed. Netflix’s Daredevil’s season 2 would not have made it anywhere near any of the BBC channels, neither would have Amazon Prime’s American Gods.

Game of Thrones is locked behind a door that can only be opened if you pay for access to the channel – and because you’re paying for it, the rules are relaxed, allowing for more creative freedom with each episode. HBO’s Silicon Valley would never make it to the BBC, despite how massively popular it is.

My point is – these streaming services and networks are dominating our TVs because of what they produce. The BBC needs to up their game when it comes to what they make. Sure, it’s mainstream content that’s for the masses – but so are Netflix. Those who don’t like Daredevil can watch House of Cards instead. Those who don’t like American Gods can watch The Grand Tour instead. The BBC is not doing anything wrong when it comes to who they make the content for, it’s what content they make. The BBC needs to have relaxed rules. Maybe create another channel specifically for those edgier shows, more adult orientated shows. Maybe expand their iPlayer more to accommodate an even more diverse range of content.

This brings me to my second point: Budget. The BBC makes so much content, the fixed budget they get each year from the government must accommodate it all. The BBC is challenged with spreading the budget they have across every channel and radio station and news service and sports events as possible yet keep what they make as good as possible. Through our taxes, the British public gives the government billions of pounds each year – if the BBC actually received every single penny we give the government, the BBC would have more money than what Netflix and Amazon Prime makes in a year combined – and look at what the latter two are doing with the money they’re receiving from us across the world.

A notable decline in quality as a result of a diluting budget is Doctor Who. Every year it seems the series receives less and less to play with, yet the series brings in millions of pounds each year, even on the years there isn’t a new series. The special effects are becoming laughable. Top Gear was the number 1 show for the BBC – yet the budget it received was dire compared to what it was making. When Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammoned, and James May went over to Amazon, the budget they were given was eye-watering, and the quality of each episode shot up considerably, whereas Top Gear on the BBC now looks tatty in comparison.

Every year, the BBC always promises to up its game, and yet always falls short of other services. There are people in the UK who dislike having to pay for something they no longer watch, because BBC is not producing good enough content anymore. Gone are the days when the BBC was the only channel you could watch – now there’s so much out there, it almost seems pointless for the government to force us to pay for something that’s increasingly losing people.

Earlier this year, made the discovery that I don’t watch actual TV anymore. I don’t flip over the channels to watch BBC – but instead use Amazon Prime and Netflix. I use iPlayer to watch my BBC shows – and that mainly constitutes three shows – Doctor Who, The Graham Norton Show and Qi. When they’re not on the air, I very rarely watch stuff made by the BBC, mainly sticking to the streaming giants. That basically means I am paying £147 pounds a year to watch three shows, one of which won’t actually be on next year, but instead will be on in 2020. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video combined are cheaper than the TV license tax, and I’m getting a lot more for my money, that’s a statement I know I will be sticking to for quite some time to come.

The thing is, if the government decides to get rid of the TV license tax, that means the BBC is forced to fund their shows via adverts, which means Doctor Who would have five minute segmented adverts ever fifteen minutes… which is exactly what it has when it airs on other channels that the BBC gives permission for them to do for a price… OK. The same goes for Top Gear on Dave. The same goes for Eastenders on Watch. The same goes for many, many other shows made by the BBC shown on other channels… yet they must be getting enough views to constitute the necessity of having that partnership for the companies providing the adverts to pay to have their adverts on that channel… maybe having adverts on the BBC isn’t so bad after all.

Or, instead of adverts, how about the government actually gives all the money we give them – the TV license tax – to the BBC, giving the BBC the opportunity to make better content across the multitude of channels and radio stations they have. There are so many ways to help boost their battles with the online giants, but the government is preventing the BBC from doing just that, yet contradictory promising to make better content the following year.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)