“TV licence is good value for money” – MP

THE TV licence fee – which works out at 40p a day – is good value for money, according to Warrington North MP Helen Jones.
Ms Jones, chairman of the House of Commons petitions committee, led a committee debate on the TV licence fee and said it represented very good value for money and was a successful model that should be kept.
In a wide-ranging contribution she highlighted the various other options for funding the BBC.
These included the German model of having a broadcasting levy on every household and the Finish model of funding via personal taxation.
She said: “Some people say that the BBC should become a streaming service, but that would not allow it to fund the programmes it is required to – for minority interests, for the regions, for different language services and so on.
“There is also advertising – but funding programmes through advertising is not free, as many people seem to think. It is actually added to the cost of everything we buy. I pay for it when I purchase goods in the shops.”
The MP pointed out advertising would mean the BBC “fishing in the same pool” as the commercial broadcasters with advertisers wanting spots during popular programmes.
Only a public service broadcaster was likely to offer programmes like a cycle of Shakespeare’s history plays, Dickens as a serial, opera, ballet, the Proms, The Sky at Night and the incredible output from the national history unit which included the Blue Planet documentaries.
She added: “The independence of the BBC is also preserved by the licence fee, preventing it from being subject to the demands of advertisers or of an overweening proprietor.
“BBC news is the most watched news provider in the country and is still overwhelmingly the most trusted with 57 per cent of people trusting it compared to 11 per cent trusting its nearest rival.
“When there are attempts to intervene in and influence votes – a lot of it coming from Russia and other providers – having an independent news provider is essential to a functioning democracy. I would pay my licence fee for that alone, frankly. At 40p a day, which is what it works out at, I do not think it can be considered onerous.”
The MP added: “I think that we get a good service from the BBC. We think that our television is terrible, until we go abroad and look at what is provided there. We ought to celebrate our public service broadcasting. We ought to ensure that it continues and, because of that, it has to be paid for.”