BBC considers locking iPlayer to people who don’t pay | UK | News

BBC iPlayer viewers could face being locked out of the free online streaming service in the future as the company considers ways to recover lost money from people who opt out of paying the license fee. Figures released last month showed more than half a million people had stopped paying the £180 annual fee in the past, and the cost of this evasion and refusal to pay is estimated to cost the BBC over £1bn a year.

It is estimated that 94% of the UK population uses BBC services each month, but only 80% pay the license fee. The current BBC contract under which the funding was agreed ends on 31 December 2027. The streamer also faces growing competition from US giant streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon and Disney+, which do not require viewers to pay licensing fees to watch online.

Due to the 3 minutes and 45 seconds promotional ad broadcast by the BBC during the half-time of the July 19 World Cup final, viewers were asked “What did the BBC do for me?” The question was posed. The star-studded montage request for funding was led by comedian Romesh Ranganathan and featured hit shows such as Strictly Come Dancing and EastEnders. The clip ended with Louis Theroux standing next to an oversized kill switch and telling Romesh, “None of this needs to exist if we don’t want it to.”

The funding crisis at the 103-year-old publisher is clearly preoccupied by senior management. Showbiz news site Deadline reported that the BBC’s chief customer officer, Kerris Bright, told all staff in a phone call on Monday that locking down the iPlayer could be an “opportunity” for the future.

Ms. Bright added that locking down iPlayer “could definitely be an opportunity for us, depending on the financing model,” as the company moves more into IPTV, i.e. an internet TV-based world.

He added: “The data says today [that] Definitely [it] It’s not the magic way to generate more income. “There’s probably more cost than revenue involved in this, but it’s definitely something we need to continue to look at because it might be something you really want to do in the future.”

Ms Bright admitted it did not make sense to block iPlayer at the moment, but said the BBC would keep the idea under review as broadcast technology improved.

Lisa Nandy, who currently serves as Andy Burnham’s Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, hinted last month that the Government was considering extending the license fee model to streaming services such as Netflix and others. He told a cross-party select committee that Labor was committed to “protecting but reforming the license fee”.

Proposals to include US sites in the fee have drawn criticism from the Motion Picture Association, which represents broadcasters and studios.

The BBC’s new director general, Matt Brittin, said last month that the BBC was doing “as much as possible” on license fee collection, but added that it was “yesterday’s model” and a “broken flush” that was “no longer fit for purpose”.

He said: “The BBC is in talks with the government about a new contract, which is likely to lead to funding model changes. The BBC is not being prescriptive about what could replace the license fee, but thinks the government should reconsider the compulsory household tax it has previously rejected.”

Using a television receiver without a valid license may lead to prosecution, court appearances and a fine of up to £1,000. Cases are usually heard in criminal courts of peace. If the fine is not paid, the court that imposed the penalty may impose a prison sentence. The penalty is not for non-payment of the license fee, but for non-payment of the court fine.

Concerns have been raised about the impact of license fee enforcement action on vulnerable people and the gender disparity in prosecutions for TV license evasion.