Based on the videos from Big Clive I thought I'd throw in my tuppence about the BBC License Fee.
As of 1st April 2026, the annual BBC TV Licence fee in the UK is £180 for colour, or £60.50 for black and white.
I used to think that the BBC was the best value television in the world but now I am not so sure. It was unforgivable when the free license fee for over 75s was cancelled. This stopped on August 1st 2020.
You may wish to sign this petition if you think free TV licenses for over 75s should be reinstated.
The Labour Party did not immmediately reinstate this benefit when they came to power in 2024.
For some people free to air television and the BBC in particular is their only window on the world and it should be available to entertain, educate and inform people who have worked hard all their lives.
The BBC generated a total group revenue of £5.9 billion in 2024/25, with £3.8 billion from the public licence fee and £2.2 billion from commercial activities.
My actual gripe is with the BBC License Enforcement run by the Government's favourite outsourcer, Capita, and their threatening letters to unoccupied properties, sometimes elderly people with dementia or people that do not use BBC services. Also the nonsense that you need a license fee to watch YouTube is unacceptable. I think Google would say something different about that.
Capita's contract to administer and enforce the TV licence fee for the BBC is worth £456m over five years (running from July 2022 to June 2027).
There were 25,550 convictions for licence fee evasion in 2024. Even if the maximum penalty was £1000 and each person had to buy a license at £180 that's a total revenue recovery of £30,090,000. Not worth the £91.2M cost per year. It's like a shop paying a secuirty guard £30k to prevent theft of £10k a year. Just stop it.
Also, when their "top talent" includes such disliked people like Gary Lineker and programmes that have clearly run their course like Casualty you have to question their decisions.
What would be the alternative? There is no login feature on Freeview. Advertising? Possibly. They do it often enough on other channels that show BBC content on subscription services e.g. U&Gold, Really, Quest, Great!, That's TV, Rewind etc.
Note: I pay my license fee diligently every year. Never take out a license near the end of the month. You'll lose a month the following year. Always take it out from the 1st day of the month. I wish someone had told me that when I took out mine.
3rd May 2026 16:00, Posted by Michael.