BBC Chairman Richard Sharp is graciously is prepared to consider new forms of funding for the broadcaster, according to his interview with The Sunday Times.
Among them would be a levy on all households regardless of whether they have a TV or consume any media. He would also look at adding a “BBC fee” to council tax, o achieve some with those with bigger homes paying more than those with smaller homes. And, according to The Times, he'd contemplate a Netflix-style subscription model.
But he rejects funding from general taxation, because, he says "politicians should not control the BBC's purse strings".
Someone needs to take him through the last twelve years, where George Osborne, a politician, clearly controlled BBC funding. Even further back, in 2006, the OBR deemed the licence fee effectively part of general taxation, and therefore part of the calculations fashionable at that time about the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement.
His alternative: a household tax would require new infrastucture to collect, but the Germans seem to have sorted that. Non-payment of the Rundfunkbeitrag can hit your credit score, important if you're a renter. But it's not immune from politicians. The CDU sees public service broadcasting in a “deep crisis”, and proposes a commission is to draw up reform proposals that will significantly reduce costs.
Council Tax is now effectively controlled by central Government; who's to say that local politicians woulddn't want a say on a BBC precept ?
A complete move to subscription ends the BBC as public service broadcaster. A partial move to subscription is unsustainable, and should not be contemplated; one bit of the BBC producing proletariat tv for the C2DEs under the Ofcom cosh, while posh people wander through the media gardens and cafes of a National Trust BBC. Think harder, Sharpie.
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