Digital Licence Fee Could Be £24

People wishing to subscribe to digital television services would have to pay an extra £24 on top their existing licence fee, under proposals outlined by a Government advisory panel today.

The independent committee, chaired by economist Gavyn Davies, has recommended that a temporary licence supplement – starting at £1.99 a month and gradually reducing – would be the best way of funding the BBC’s new digital services. The committee stated that as a result of the plan, the BBC should make itself more accountable and privatise some of its activities.

There has been widespread opposition to the proposed increase in the licence fee from the BBC’s commercial rivals (see Commercial Broadcasters Unite Against BBC ‘Digital Tax’). The alliance, which includes ITV, BSkyB and Cable & Wireless, has previously stated that an increase would ‘represent a substantial disincentive to the take up of digital television’.

The BBC has responded to these arguments by stating that a licence fee linked to the introduction of new technology, like the introduction of colour television, ‘has proved effective in the past’.

Department of Culture, Media and Sport: 0171 211 6200