Television viewers could be hit by a new “Netflix tax” under Government plans to extend the £180-a-year BBC licence fee to streaming platforms.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is reportedly examining ways to increase the corporation’s funding as part of a new blueprint expected to be published before Christmas.
Under the potential changes, people watching services including Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and YouTube could be required to pay an additional charge.
One of Netflix’s current top-ranked shows is Below, a Canadian supernatural drama starring American actor Josh Hartnett.
The reported proposals come as the number of people paying the licence fee continues to fall.
Figures revealed last month showed that 94 per cent of the UK population accesses BBC coverage, while only 80 per cent holds a licence.
The royal charter governs the BBC’s arrangements, including its funding, and is renewed every decade. The current charter is due to expire in December next year.
One option under consideration would extend the charge to people who watch streaming services but do not view BBC programmes or currently pay the licence fee.
Netflix’s current hit series Below stars US actor Josh Hartnett, pictured
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, pictured arriving for a Cabinet meeting in Downing Street on October 13, is considering a proposed “Netflix tax” as an extension of the TV licence fee
The Independent reported that some of the additional revenue could be used to support local journalism.
BBC director-general Matt Brittin, who took up the role in May this year, recently said BBC News should be available across streaming platforms and social media to help justify a new universal levy.
Mr Brittin, the former head of Google in Europe, said the BBC was being “held back” by a licence fee that was “no longer fit for purpose”. He has suggested that a household levy could provide an alternative way of funding the corporation.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, he said: “What we need to look at is the current model.
“You pay the licence fee if you watch live TV or you’re on iPlayer. I’d like to see reform that allows us to be where audiences are.
“I think BBC content should be on Netflix, on YouTube, on TikTok, on Spotify, and Instagram, and everywhere where audiences are.
“Particularly news, actually, which I think is part of disinfecting misinformation. It’s our job to be everywhere.”
The BBC’s latest annual report showed that 23.3 million licences were purchased over the past year. That was 539,000 fewer than in the previous 12 months and almost 2 million below the figure recorded five years ago.
BBC director-general Matt Brittin, who took over in May this year, has said the corporation is “held back” by a licence fee he considers “no longer fit for purpose”
Responding to the proposed extension of the licence fee, a BBC spokesman said: “We have consistently argued that the current funding model is outdated and needs reform.
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‘We will continue to engage with government to secure a new charter that provides sustainable, sufficient and universal funding so the BBC can deliver for audiences for generations to come.’
The BBC says licence fee funding has fallen by £1.3 billion, about 25 per cent, over the past decade.
About 60 per cent of this is said to be through Government freezes of the fee and about 40 per cent due to fewer households paying.
Conservative MP and shadow minister Ben Obese-Jecty, posting on X on Friday, said: ‘Extending the licence fee to streaming platforms is a disgraceful over-reach by this Labour Government.
‘The licence fee is already an anachronism. Platforms like Apple, HBO, Paramount etc… all offer higher quality programmes. Why should customers pay twice?
‘What the Government should be doing is challenging the BBC leadership to make the corporation competitive in today’s age.
‘Given the BBC’s back catalogue why can’t it create its own streaming platform full of classic comedy, historic news reports, great sporting fixtures, as well as popular new programmes?
‘Meanwhile a generation of young people who watch non-linear online programming on their phones will be expected to pay a fee for a licence to watch a television they don’t even own.’
A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said: ‘As has been made clear in numerous meetings, speeches, visits and interviews over the past year, the Culture Secretary is heavily engaged in the future direction of the BBC.
‘She has made this Charter Review a clear priority, with the aim of putting the Corporation on a sustainable financial footing, so that it has the resources it needs to continue to deliver for the country.
‘Next steps for BBC Charter Renewal and funding will be set out in a white paper which will be published in due course.’
Ms Nandy has previously described the BBC as ‘an institution that matters deeply to the democratic process in this country and to the health of our nation’.
The minister, who has had a series of meetings with Mr Brittin since his appointment, also said the corporation ‘has to have sustainable funding in order to thrive’.
The BBC’s veteran world affairs editor John Simpson last week said the corporation was going through ‘the worst crisis in its history’.
The 82-year-old, who has been with the BBC for six decades, predicted it would no longer exist unless funding was sorted out – and he branded viewers who do not pay the licence fee ‘shoplifters’.
Mr Simpson said the BBC ‘constitutes the essence of what it is to be British’ and is ‘respected across the world’.
But he added: ‘I do think this is the worst position the BBC has ever been in.
‘I think there is a real possibility we’re going to lose it as it is unless the Government and the BBC together can come up with a decent way of funding it.
‘I think the licence fee has had it. If people can decide they simply don’t want to pay, we’ve had it, we’re finished.’
Speaking to the Radio Times, he added: ‘Don’t tell me these people [who have stopped paying their licence fee] don’t watch the BBC. Of course they do. For me, that’s just like shoplifting.’