The BBC’s response to the government’s consultation on decriminalising the licence fee is out. Their £4 billion solution to funding Gary Lineker? Switching the charge onto broadband bills – portraying it as an ‘efficiency measure’. Forgive Guido for not taking the BBC seriously in its desire to make efficiency savings…

The 40-page response states:

“In some countries the TV licence, or equivalent, is linked directly to an existing common household bill. For example, it is collected through electricity bills in Italy and the equivalent of council tax bills in France. Another option to consider as the UK progresses towards universal access could be broadband bills.”

Not content with charging TV users for services they don’t want, they’ve moved onto asking internet users – who may not even own a TV – to pay for the BBC. The genius part of the plan? If you wanted to watch Netflix on your mobile phone, you’d still be forced to fund the Beeb without even owning a television. 

The TaxPayers’ Alliance’s James Roberts says

“With the nation stuck at home, making use of our broadband, the Beeb’s spotted an opportunity to slap a TV tax on the internet. Not only would it be wrong to have to pay the BBC protection money to watch Netflix, a broadband tax would also be terrible for smaller providers, whack up prices and drive poorer people offline. Ministers should take this as recognition that the licence fee is simply not fit for the twenty-first century, and that a decriminalisation of the TV tax should be the first step to future reforms.”  

Here’s an idea, why doesn’t the BBC instead of wanting to tax us to watch Netflix, make programmes people will be willing to pay for, like Netflix…

Read the BBC submission in full below: