Government’s BBC Stance “Closed Minded” Says Yeo

Shadow media secretary Tim Yeo has spoken out against the Government’s position on BBC funding, describing it as “closed minded”.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell, recently commented that the chances of a significant change to the way the BBC is funded when the charter comes up for renewal in a couple of year’s time, were “somewhere between the improbable and the impossible.”

Yeo argues: “In the ten years since the last charter renewal the whole television sector has radically changed. To simply dismiss the alternative possibilities before the debate has taken place not only shows a closed mind but may also work against the interests of viewers and broadcasters.”

The Government had previously promised to conduct a review of the BBC’s financing between 2004 and 2006. Speaking on the BBC’s own current affairs radio programme Today, Yeo argued that the possibility, in a digital Britain, of subscription-only services and pay-per-view meant that the options were no longer a license fee or privatisation.

In a statement he continues: “The BBC license fee is in effect a television tax which all viewers must pay even if they never watch BBC programmes. New technology offers the opportunity for different payment methods that should be examined when the charter renewal takes place in 2006.”

Conservative Party: 020 7984 8100 www.conservatives.com DCMS: 020 7211 6200 www.culture.gov.uk

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