Tony Hall: licence fee should include BBC iPlayer

The director general of the BBC, Tony Hall, has said that the licence fee should be extended to include people watching content via iPlayer.

Speaking at the Oxford Media Convention on Wednesday, Hall said: “There is room for modernisation so that the fee applies to the consumption of BBC TV programmes, whether live on BBC One or on-demand via the iPlayer.”

Lord Hall made a strong defence of the £145 annual licence fee, which is due for renewal in 2016, saying that critics who argue the fee is a “dinosaur from a pre-digital age, doomed to inevitable extinction” were wrong.

Currently, anyone who watches or records traditional TV broadcasts must pay the fee, however, shows watched via the BBC’s online VOD platform, iPlayer, are currently exempt.

Almost a million people downloaded the iPlayer mobile and tablet apps over the Christmas period, taking the overall download figure past the 20 million mark. However, around 90% of all television viewing is still live – with less than 2% of households consuming only on-demand TV content.

It is estimated that 500,000 UK households do not have a television set but watch BBC programmes on-demand on the iPlayer.