Britain's Deficient Democracy The television licence
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"This is an official warning that the TV Licenseing Enforcement Division will be proceeding with a full investigation of the above address. This is because there is still no record of a TV licence at this property."
Letter from the state broadcaster
"Our officers may ask to inspect your licence and television equipment at any time, but you do not have to let them into your home without a search warrant. "We can end or change your licence at any time by writing to you."
From the television licence form sent to every household in Britain |  |
"The Greatest Force for Cultural Good on the Face of the Earth"
Despite this setback the extraordinary prospect of state licencing of personal computers that was raised in a 2005 government "green paper" on the future of the BBC has not been removed. The green paper said that a "levy" on owners of personal computers might be necessary to finance the broadcaster. This would happen if large numbers switched to watching TV on the Internet instead of using traditional television receivers.
It is not clear whether the government was thinking of requiring computer owners to buy an annual licence to use their equipment, as is the case with TVs. This seems likely, however, as a one-off tax on computer purchases would need to be prohibitively high in order to bring in the necessary revenue.
At present the government is only able to deny citizens the right to watch TV programmes. If the law was changed as suggested all communication through the Internet, including access to news and discussion sites, would require government permission.
Extortion for Cultural Good
Mr. Thompson made his claim that the arrogant state media giant was the greatest power for cultural good as his company was on the verge of winning its battle for the government to both renew its charter that was due to expire in 2006 and keep the TV licensing system that gives it £3bn a year of other people’s money to spend as it likes.
Although the BBC is to be allowed to continue its extortion, it will no longer have it all its own way. The government is to review the licence fee system again in 2010, instead of waiting for the new ten year charter to expire. And its board of governors have been replaced by an independent trust.
The bloated broadcaster promised to increase its output of serious programmes, shed 1350 jobs and out-source some functions to cut costs. This unusual responsiveness to public concern at a time when it has felt under threat is a powerful demonstration of the effectiveness of that accountability that the company so fiercely resists. But like the legislators-for-life in Parliament and our hereditary head of state the BBC treats the idea of accoutability to the people with contempt.
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State Media Giant Facts |
| BBC annual income £3.532bn
TV tax revenue £3bn
Programmes expenditure £2.38bn (17% increase)
Salaries £1.26bn
Annual admin. costs £400m
Trading deficit £314.6m
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Annual cost of digital channels £192.6m
Annual cost of News24 £23.8m
Average weekly viewers News24 3.3m
Annual cost of BBC4 £41.2m
Annual cost of Web site £73m
TV channels - 8
Radio stations - 44 |
| Number of premises with licence to view TV 24.1M
Number of premises BBC estimates evade tax 1.7m | |
Most viewers of the BBC’s many channels will see little to support Mr. Thompson’s claim that it spends the £3bn it takes from TV owners to promote cultural good. They are more likely to witness a torrent of mediocre programmes.
The idea of public service broadcasting that the BBC embraces and that taxpayers must support includes a lottery draw, endless soaps and snooker marathons. A Financial Times journalist has described most BBC programmes as "dumbed down" and "virtually indistinguishable from (those on) commercial channels." He characterised some as "fifth rate" and "garbage."
In the "weapons of mass destruction dossier" scandal the BBC was seen to take advantage of the trust widely placed in it to give credence to a dubious news story, exaggerating the status of its anonymous source. The then BBC chief Gavyn Davies admitted to the Hutton enquiry into to the death of that source, David Kelly, that his corporation had not validated its allegation that the government had used false intelligence to make its case for war before broadcasting it.
How They Get The Money
What is worse, the corporation raises its money with methods that no private business or public agency would dare use. It puts a price on free speech by trying to prevent those who will not pay its licence fee watching commercial TV, even satellite and cable channels. The corporation demands its £121 a year fee from owners of TV enabled personal computers as well as TV and VCR owners.
One and a half millon do not pay the fee. Some reject the idea of licencing. Some nationalists in Northern Ireland have refused in protest against British rule. Many cannot afford it. The maximum fine for not paying the tax on free speech is £1000. However, the average is only £100, with £41 in court costs added. More than 50 per cent of those fined still do not pay for a licence to view.
The Well Connected BBC "The prospect of the UK without the BBC funded by the licence fee is anywhere between improbably to impossible because the BBC is one of the most loved and trusted UK institutions." Tessa Jowell, Minister of Culture The good friends of the BBC include:
Tessa Jowell. Minister for sport and culture
Patricia Hodgson. Former Director of Independent Television Commission (regulates TV companies that compete with BBC). Formerly head of BBC Policy & Planning.
Nick Lovegrove. Assistant to Patricia Hodgson at ITC. Formerly BBC official.
Sue Nye. Head of private office of Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.
John Birt. Head of Prime Minister's forward strategy unit. Formerly BBC Directory General.
Bill Bush. Adviser to Culture Minister Tessa Jowell. Formerly BBC head of political research.
Source: The Financial Times
The Financial Times has described Ms. Jowell as "a consistent champion" of the BBC. It said she had “defeated calls” from political allies and foes to significantly change the licence fee system. The FT noted that the Prime Minister had accepted a statement by Ms. Jowell that her husband, who has been the subject of corruption allegations in Italy, "did not tell her for four year (that) he had received a $600,000 gift".
To enforce its demands the BBC monitors every household in Britain and harasses householders that have not bought one of its licences. Stores selling TVs are required to file reports on purchasers. The Royal Mail makes a report to the licensing agency when people move home. The BBC's investigators patrol the streets using electronic eavesdropping devices, for which they need no warrant in the UK, to locate those who are watching TV without a licence. In their advertisement they boast of this disgraceful behaviour to intimidate licence refusers.
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Those who do not have a licence, even those who own no TV or VCR, can expect some close attention from the BBC's investigators. After a number of threatening letters its agents will visit. They will demand to search without a warrant if the property owner says she does not have a TV. (Here's a public admission of that from the head licence enforcer David Legge).
The agents have paid particular attention to single mothers in poor neighbourhoods who, experience tells them, are more likely to confess to watching TV without permission. This gives them the evidence to make their case in court and have the “criminal” fined. The eavesdropping data alone is insufficient.
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TV licence evaders are predominantly female, many of them benefit recipients with children. Most are single, struggling to keep their families financially afloat . . . (The Citizens Advice Bureau reports that the BBC’s collection agency pursues known offenders as the easiest target). 
Joan Horton, Justice of the Peace.
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The continuation of the licence system was expected by critics of the corporation. They had hoped, however, that as the means of delivering TV become increasingly sophisticated in the next few years and the BBC loses even more viewers, it would become impossible for the state broadcaster to hang on to privileges that are more in keeping with the East Germany of the 1950s than a free society. The threat of personal computer licencing has now put this in doubt.
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However, public resistance to the licence has been growing. The BBC’s own research in 2004 showed that the number who would rather the BBC went out of business than pay the licence fee had doubled to 19% of the population.
A licence resistance group has sprung up around journalist Jonathan Miller who intends to argue before
the European Court that his human rights have been breached if he is convicted on watching TV without a licence. Legal aid has been given to a group of low-income Liverpool residents who face the same charge.
And Vladimir Bukovsky, a survivor of the Soviet prison camps, has publicly declared that he will not pay the licence, claiming that the BBC has a pro-European bias that puts it in breach of its charter.
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How They Spend The Money
The licence, a form of poll tax, costs £121 a year. The cost of collecting this tax on free speech was around £146.4M a year, according to the Corporation’s 2003 annual report. That is to say that the first 1,262,207 licence fees collected paid not for the BBC's TV channels or radio stations, but for revenue collection! £146M of taxpayers' money wasted.
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The £3 billion in fees collected by the licence enforcers provide 86 percent of the running costs of the British Broadcasting Corp's national TV channels and many radio stations. The government and BBC agreed in 2000 that for each of the next seven years the licence fee should be increased by 1.5 percent more than inflation. Thus, its revenue has increased even as its share of TV viewers has declined.
In the 3 years to 2003 the Corporation's spending on TV, radio and Internet services increased by 35 per cent, or £616m. Despite a 4 percent increase in income the BBC ended the year with a trading deficit of £314.6m. Its pre-tax loss was £299m and its net deficit £74m.
The out-of-control BBC started more new services in 2002 and 2003 than in the first 80 years of its existence. The state broadcaster increased its expenditure on programmes by 17 percent in the 2002 - 2003 financial year, bringing the total to £2.38b.
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It could receive a grant directly from the Exchequer, with its editorial independence guaranteed by statute. With the millions saved on collection and enforcement, the compensating adjustment to income tax would be tiny, with most households breaking even. Thousands of low-income households would be relieved of an onerous burden. The forgetful and disorganised would not be criminalised.
Broadcasting Policy Group.
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Not content with spending taxpayers’ money on 8 TV channels and 44 radio stations, its spent another £73m on Web sites. £193m was spent on digital channels that are unavailable to most payers of the licence tax. BBC4, which has cost taxpayers £30m had only 4,000 viewers for some programmes.
Although funded by taxpayers the BBC it not accountable to Parliament. Nor has it allowed the National Audit Officer or Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to inspect its financial records. However, in February 2003 press reports indicated that the government would not oppose a change in the law that would force the Corporation to open its books to the Audit Office.
The Resistance
A Personal Account
BBC Resistance
American Views
Viewcrime
Gilbert-and-Sullivan
If you think opposition to the TV licence is overheated, try imagining this. The government comes to the conclusion, very reasonably, that the British press does not do a good job. It sensationalises, it exaggerates, it trivialises etc. They hit on the idea of public service print media. A daily newspaper. Serious. Responsible. Comprehensive. An independent commission will have oversight. Impartiality will be its watchword.
But how to finance this paragon? Easy. A tax on newspaper readers. Just require that anybody who wants to buy a newspaper have an official licence to read. It would cost just a few pounds a year. Credit card size to flash at the checkout.
What's the objection? Its done already for TV and everybody admires BBC News.
The Enforcer Capita, a firm to which many public and private concerns outsource their support services, has the contract for the collection of the BBC's television tax. The broadcasting giant is paying Capita at least £500,000,000 for the ten year contract. Capita's 1500 enforcers have been trying to reduce from 8% to 5% the number of TV users who are thought by the BBC not to pay the annual tax without which watching commercial channels or using a video recorder is illegal. That would give the corporation another £60M each year for its portfolio of TV channels and radio stations, and for its web site and search engine. Students in particular are to be targeted. Here's a
Capita advert for a "self-motivated and forward-thinking" enforcer.
The annual bonus of Capita chairperson Rod Aldridge will increase if his firm can force more people to pay the tax. His remuneration package in 2001 was £438,847. The BBC: Windsor family servant
A death in the family
The Abolish the TV Licence Campaign
Harassed for having no TV
"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Top
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