BBC Bosses “Open Minded” on licensing fee – Deadline

BBC executives have indicated for the first time that they may be open to a change in the company’s funding model after 2027.

Director-General Tim Davie told a BBC House fundraising meeting yesterday that he is “open-minded” about the future of the £ 159 ($ 200) annual fee, as long as it does not lose audiences, while chairman Richard Sharp told the BBC is prepared to face “existential questions” about the future.

Davie, who opposed the “danger” of changing the established funding model, said he and Sharp would be closely involved in the UK government’s forthcoming landmark review of the fee, which starts next month.

Culture Minister Nadine Dorries, who recently stamped the sale of Channel 4, has indicated that the BBC prefers to change the way it is funded when the charter ends in 2027. She has frozen the license fee for the next two years, a move that will the BBC will lose around £ 1.5 billion ($ 1.9 billion) over the next five years, it says.

Davie praised the license fee for “successfully delivering on our values ​​over many years” and said the BBC needs to emphasize its “total offer” to separate it from the deep pockets of the United States.

“If you look at any major media organization, Disney says, they have a comprehensive offering and they’ll have to be dynamic to change that,” he added. “We have a comprehensive offering, including radio, local news, sports and entertainment, and the challenge for us is to provide value for everyone. [VoD player] BBC iPlayer is not trying to replicate Netflix. “

Sharp said the BBC is examining data in the smallest detail to find out how it can better attract underserved audiences, namely young people, working-class people and ethnic minorities.

“We see segments where we can do better and data is our friend,” he added. “Value is not a unique measure, and of course from time to time there will be segments and pockets of society that do not see us as intimately as we would like them to be. If there are pockets that do not engage, then we are have to look at it as a board. ”