TV LICENCE FEE

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Former BBC chairman Gavyn Davies said the corporation would be 'unlikely' to ask for a TV licence fee increase when its charter is renewed. Mr Davies said he thought the levy, currently £121, would stay in place when its new charter begins in 2006. But he told an audience in Oxford the BBC would not ask for a rise 'for fear of being laughed out of court'.

Mr Davies left the BBC's board of governors when the corporation was criticised in the Hutton Report. "Those who gain from the existence of the BBC vastly outweigh those who lose," he told the Said Business School, adding that three-quarters of the population valued the BBC at or above the licence fee.

Mr Davies continued, "After their punishing experiences in the past year, I do not expect New Labour politicians to try to meddle with the BBC and its services very much during the charter debate, even though some of them might be itching to do so. The reality of politics should now prevent that."

Mr Davies said, "I doubt if the BBC itself will have the temerity to fly in the face of this misguided tide of chatterati opinion by asking the government for a licence fee settlement in excess of inflation, for fear of being laughed out of court. But the truth is that no other public service in Britain, not the health service, not the schools, not the army and definitely not the police, would ever contemplate accepting a decade-long settlement in which its income is frozen in real terms.

He added, "Why should such a miserly outcome be seen as a 'good' settlement for the BBC, our consistently most successful public service throughout its 80-year life? If the BBC itself feels unable to complain about this, then its friends should certainly do so on its behalf."

Mr Davies also made a dig at Lord Hutton, as well as the Prime Minister's former head of communications, Alastair Campbell, when he said that a glass ceiling for economists such as himself had disappeared. "Perhaps that was over-promotion of the dismal science," he said. "Alastair Campbell and Lord Hutton certainly must have thought so, and together they succeeded in reducing the roll call of economists by one, me."

He added, "While I am on the subject of the noble Lord, now sadly retired, I must commend to your attention Lord Hutton's forthcoming speech on how to run a public inquiry. Should be good." Mr Davies was replaced as BBC chairman by Michael Grade, who took up his post in May 2004.

An influential group of MPs has said the current licence fee remains the "least worst" way to fund the BBC. The Culture, Media and Sport Committee said it should remain the "principal funding mechanism" for the BBC. The committee presented its findings in a report which it will present to the Culture Secretary as part of the BBC's charter review process. The BBC's charter, which expires in 2006, sets out the corporation's role, structure and funding.

The committee said that while the licence fee was "regressive and unfair on the disadvantaged in society" there was "no other viable and credible alternative". The committee, chaired by Labour MP Sir Gerald Kaufman, set out a number of recommendations, from the future role of the corporation to its regulation and governance. Sir Gerald said, "We do not believe that the status quo is an option for the BBC. Our recommendations are aimed at assisting the development of proposals that will take a strong and independent BBC... into what is an uncertain future for broadcasting."

The BBC bought the domain, bbc.com, in 1999 from US firm Boston Business Computing for £212,000. But in the six years since acquiring the domain the Beeb done Nothing with it. Unless, of course, using it to merely redirect visitors to its main bbc.co.uk portal is a good use of licence payers money. A spokesman for the BBC said, "At the time the BBC purchased the bbc.com the internet landscape in the UK and abroad was still developing. The BBC had a duty to both its brand and its users to provide an easy route to its online content and so bought the .com suffix from Boston Business Computing. We are currently looking at the possibilities bbc.com offers us, including its potential as an international facing site. Over the long-term, we feel that this justifies the cost of recovery."

While the BBC may have been able to buyout Boston Business Computing, its tough tactics to extract bbc.org from a small Canadian computer club were nowhere near as successful. In 1999, lawyers acting for the BBC wrote to Big Blue and Cousins demanding it relinquish its bbc.org domain at its own expense even though the Canadian club has legally owned the domain since 1995. Big Blue and Cousins said, "We suffered a temporary challenge when, in December 1999, the British Broadcasting Corporation complained about our use of 'BBC' in our domain name. However, we had a strong case and ultimately prevailed. The BBC just dropped their request." (Source: The Register)

The TV licensing authority sent 225,000 people, who are buried in Brompton Cemetery, a threatening letter warning that they risked a £1,000 fine if they did not buy a £131.50 licence. The letter added that if they did not respond to the letter, their address would be passed on to the enforcement division for further investigation. A spokesman for TV Licensing said, "We have a database of more than 28 million addresses which is constantly being revised and updated. We will look into this particular inquiry and ensure that our records are updated appropriately." (Source: Mail on Sunday, Nov/06)

BBC chiefs demanded inflation-busting increases in the TV licence fee. They want a seven-year blitz of annual rises to take the charge to £180 by claiming extra money is needed to fund the switch to digital telly and pay for new programmes. Director general Mark Thompson wants a year-on-year increase in the fee of 2.3% above inflation from 2007. As inflation stands, that would mean every household having to cough up at least £6 more each year until 2014. After the seven-year period, the fee would have risen by almost £50 to just under £180. All households with TVs must have a licence, even if they are used to view only non-BBC stations, like BSkyB. Must they? See: TV