Television viewers could be hit by a new “Netflix tax” under Government plans to extend the £180-a-year BBC licence fee to streaming platforms.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is reportedly examining ways to increase BBC funding as part of a new blueprint expected to be published before Christmas.
Under the potential changes, people watching services including Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and YouTube could face an additional charge.
One of Netflix’s current top-ranked shows is Below, a Canadian supernatural drama starring US actor Josh Hartnett.
The reported proposals come as the number of people paying the television licence fee continues to fall.
Figures revealed last month showed that 94 per cent of the UK population accesses BBC coverage, while only 80 per cent holds a licence.
The royal charter, which governs the BBC’s structure and funding arrangements, is renewed every decade. The current charter is due to expire in December next year.
One option under consideration would extend the licence fee to cover people who watch streaming services but do not watch BBC programmes or pay the existing charge.
One of Netflix’s most popular current series is Below, starring US actor Josh Hartnett (pictured)
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is considering a proposed “Netflix tax” as an extension of the television licence fee (pictured arriving for a Cabinet meeting in Downing Street on October 13)
The Telegraph reported that some of the additional revenue could be used to support local journalism.
BBC director-general Matt Brittin, who took up the role in May this year, recently said BBC News should be available on streaming platforms and social media to help justify a new universal levy.
Mr Brittin, the former head of Google in Europe, argues that the licence fee is holding the corporation back. He has described it as “no longer fit for purpose” and suggested that a household levy could provide an alternative source of funding.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, he said: “What we need to look at is the current model.
“You pay the licence fee if you watch live TV or you’re on iPlayer. I’d like to see reform that allows us to be where audiences are.
“I think BBC content should be on Netflix, on YouTube, on TikTok, on Spotify, and Instagram, and everywhere where audiences are.
“Particularly news, actually, which I think is part of disinfecting misinformation. It’s our job to be everywhere.”
The BBC’s latest annual report said 23.3 million television licences were purchased during the past year. That was 539,000 fewer than in the previous 12 months and nearly 2 million below the total recorded five years ago.
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BBC director-general Matt Brittin, who took over in May this year, has said the corporation is “held back” by the licence fee, which he described as “no longer fit for purpose”
Responding to the proposed extension of the licence fee, a BBC spokesman said: “We have consistently argued that the current funding model is outdated and needs reform.
‘We will continue to engage with government to secure a new charter that provides sustainable, sufficient and universal funding so the BBC can deliver for audiences for generations to come.’
The BBC says licence fee funding has fallen by £1.3 billion, about 25 per cent, over the past decade.
About 60 per cent of this is said to be through Government freezes of the fee and about 40 per cent due to fewer households paying.
A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said: ‘As has been made clear in numerous meetings, speeches, visits and interviews over the past year, the Culture Secretary is heavily engaged in the future direction of the BBC.
‘She has made this Charter Review a clear priority, with the aim of putting the Corporation on a sustainable financial footing, so that it has the resources it needs to continue to deliver for the country.
‘Next steps for BBC Charter Renewal and funding will be set out in a white paper which will be published in due course.’
Ms Nandy has previously described the BBC as ‘an institution that matters deeply to the democratic process in this country and to the health of our nation’.
The minister, who has had a series of meetings with Mr Brittin since his appointment, also said the corporation ‘has to have sustainable funding in order to thrive’.
The BBC’s veteran world affairs editor John Simpson last week said the corporation was going through ‘the worst crisis in its history’.
The 82-year-old, who has been with the BBC for six decades, predicted it would no longer exist unless funding was sorted out – and he branded viewers who do not pay the licence fee ‘shoplifters’.
Mr Simpson said the BBC ‘constitutes the essence of what it is to be British’ and is ‘respected across the world’.
But he added: ‘I do think this is the worst position the BBC has ever been in.
‘I think there is a real possibility we’re going to lose it as it is unless the Government and the BBC together can come up with a decent way of funding it.
‘I think the licence fee has had it. If people can decide they simply don’t want to pay, we’ve had it, we’re finished.’
Speaking to the Radio Times, he added: ‘Don’t tell me these people [who have stopped paying their licence fee] don’t watch the BBC. Of course they do. For me, that’s just like shoplifting.’
