The cynical among us will reckon the BBC making this announcement during the Tory leadership campaign is no coincidence. Personally I think the licence fee is outdated , must be a better way to fund BBC?
This.
How?
Please don’t suggest advertising.
Why?
The common argument against is that we'll end up with TV like the US - but why should we end up with US level of advertising rather than Channel 4 level of advertising? (for example).
I've also accessed the BBC website in the US, where it contains advertising - it really wasn't that bad.
The alternative is a subscription based model - that would result in a lot smaller viewership and the channel would have to be cut back accordingly - a few years ago I would have argued strongly for the retention of government funding of the BBC because it was exceptional; but now it's pretty much just another major network. If it's going to act like a commercial broadcaster it probably should be treated as such.
In effect the BBC is already a subscription based service. It is funded by the licence fee plus any commercial income from selling programmes overseas. It doesn’t get government subsidies, other than the now discontinued, cost of free TV licences for the over 75s.
On the original point, this concession was first introduced in 1999 when the over 75s would all have lived through some of the toughest decades this country has ever faced. By all means phase out the scheme, maybe by saying that the only people who qualify were those born before 1930.
The post-war generations have enjoyed so many other advantages that dishing out free tv licences as a lifetime’s worth of 75th birthday present seems unnecessary.