Hard core Tories aiming to tame BBC, by freezing license fees

Monday, January 17th 2022 - 09:34 UTC

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Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries proposal to freeze license payment fees for two years could leave BBC in need of some US$ 2,74 billion

Hardcore Tories, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, could finally be reaching a long-time target, taming the independent British Broadcasting Corporation. In effect, BBC could face an uncertain future following a decision by the administration of PM Johnson to freeze the fees that help finance the global news giant, according to a report by the London newspaper Mail on Sunday.

In effect the decision by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries to freeze license payment fees for two years could leave BBC in need of some US$ 2,74 billion

Likewise subsequent fee increases may be set below levels of inflation, meaning that the funding gap for the broadcaster could become even greater.

Dorries said on Twitter: “This license fee announcement will be the last.”

“Time now to discuss and debate new ways of funding, supporting and selling great British content,” she added.

The loss of finances will likely prove to be a blow to the BBC's on-air services as the broadcaster competes with privately funded channels as well as other forms of the communications media such a Netflix.

Negotiations between the public broadcaster and the government over the increase to the TV license — currently £159 paid per household per year — began in November. The license basically curtails the avalanche of commercial publicity.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government has previously railed against the fee for public broadcasting and has suggested reforming the way that the BBC is funded.

“The prime minister and the culture secretary seem hell-bent on attacking this great British institution because they don't like its journalism,” said Lucy Powell, Labour lawmaker and culture policy chief.

The Mail on Sunday said that the BBC had been at loggerheads with the conservative government over a perceived left-wing bias. A particular area of contention has been the issue of Brexit, the BBC's coverage of which has been seen by pro-Brexit parties as overly critical.