Technology killed the BBC

• Licence fee out of date and must be scrapped, urges new report
• BBC “stubbornly survived” as world “changed beyond recognition”
• Former minister warns BBC faces “adapt or die moment”
• Move to a subscription model or axe BBC 

 
Changing technology has killed the BBC and the licence fee must be scrapped, according to a major new report launched today. 
 
‘Outdated, Outpaced and Out of Touch: The Future of the BBC Licence Fee’, a major new white paper from Defund the BBC, warns that the BBC is a “shadow of its former self” with serious doubts over the licence fee model being “in the best interests of the taxpaying public” and “unsustainable” in the modern age. 
 
The report says that it is time to “properly explore” the commercialisation of the BBC and turn it into a subscription service like that of Sky, Netflix, HBO or Disney+. 
 
It warns that “traditional broadcast media is rapidly becoming obsolete with precipitous falls in consumption between generations.” The rapid switch to the “fundamentally different” pattern of streaming platforms is “defining change” in how the public is choosing to watch television. 
 
The report labels the stunning success of streaming platforms a “remarkable contrast to the decline of traditional broadcast TV”. Analysis suggests that, in a record first, Brits will spend more on streaming services than traditional TV packages in 2025. If this proves accurate, it will have taken only 13 years for streaming platforms to have eclipsed traditional broadcast media.
 
Meanwhile, Defund claims that the BBC has “lurched from failure to scandal in a seemingly unending cycle of mistakes and problems. The public’s view and support for the BBC is a long way from its rose-tinted heyday.”
 
It warns that “People are looking at the BBC and finding it, lacking. Lacking judgement, lacking common sense and lacking the ability to remain impartial when many of its staff have clearly been captured by ideology.”
 
Only last year, in a clear demonstration of what Defund describes as a “shocking collapse in trust”, YouGov polling discovered that just 27 per cent of the UK believed that the BBC is “generally neutral”. 
 
This comes as income from the BBC licence fee continues to decline year on year and the BBC is consistently running on a deficit despite a total income of nearly £6 billion in 2023 – more than twice that of its longest running domestic rival, ITV.   
 
Defund the BBC claims that there is a choice to be made by the Government and the BBC. 
 
It asks if the best future for the BBC is really “to continue to yoke the taxpayer to the unjust licence fee and continuing decline.” Instead, they suggest the BBC could be “free to compete effectively with its broadcast and streaming rivals” by embracing commercialisation and ending the compulsory licence fee. 
 
Any other option is deeply unpopular as “for the past 5 years, support for the general taxation funding going to the BBC has never been above ten per cent. Meanwhile, support for the licence fee model is always less than a third of the public.”
 
The report says that if the BBC is the “success if claims to be”, it should not be afraid of changing to a competitive and commercial subscription model. 
 
Commenting in the foreword former minister Sir John Hayes MP, Chairman of the Common Sense Group, said:
 
“In a world that is more technologically-savvy, where most have a smartphone in their pocket or multiple devices in the one household, the appetite to consume content has increased and, therefore, new entrants in the market have soaked up this demand in the form of streaming services.
 
“It just can’t be ignored, therefore, that the BBC finds itself at a critical juncture. Perhaps, it is facing an ‘adapt or die’ moment?
 
“So, how can we guarantee ‘our’ BBC and enhance the product on offer for Britons in a world of endless technological disruption? Fortunately, the authors of this report nourish us with ideas on how to do just that!”
 
Rebecca Ryan, Campaign Director of Defund the BBC, said:
 
“Continuing with the tired status quo of the licence fee is not an option. It is simply not fit for purpose in this age of streaming platforms and subscription services.
 
“The BBC has clearly become complacent in its failures, knowing that government and the taxpayer are still forced to keep the bloated organisation stumbling on. 
 
“Ending the safety net of the licence fee and forcing it to compete as a commercial enterprise will ensure that it is brought back to the standards that it was created to represent.”