BBC may charge BSkyB in retransmission fees row

The BBC is to consider charging BSkyB for channels such as BBC1 if retransmission fees are not dropped.

The issue has been made a priority for the BBC since the appointments of new director general Tony Hall and director of strategy and digital, James Purnell.

The corporation – which currently pays BSkyB £5 million a year to carry TV and radio channels on Sky’s Pay TV service – has said that unless BSkyB drops the fees, the BBC will charge the satellite broadcaster for some channels.

The BBC’s director of policy and strategy, John Tate, described BSkyB’s use of BBC services as a ‘free ride’.

“Sky should do the decent thing and stop charging licence fee payers to carry BBC services that, in reality, underpin their ability to generate enormous profits,” he said.

Channel 4 and ITV have backed the BBC in its pursuit to have retransmission fees dropped, with a spokesperson for ITV telling the Guardian that “we [ITV] do not believe that this regulation is keeping with the competitive market place we are in today.”