00:00Fewer TV licences are now in force across the UK, with the total dropping by more than
00:06half a million in a year. For households across the West Midlands, the annual charge of £180
00:14sits alongside other bills while streaming and on-demand services give viewers far more
00:20choice than ever before.
00:22But of course there's no doubt about the fact that it's a huge corporation, employs
00:27many thousands of people, it really is feeling the pressure of not having enough finance
00:32to do what it does, there is cost-cutting going on, and of course its main source of revenue,
00:37apart from selling programmes overseas, is the licence fee in this country. But of course
00:42the licence fee is to avail of the services of the BBC. What is the choice? The BBC becomes
00:48privatised and of course it lives on its wits like everyone else.
00:51The licence fee helps fund local and national services in the West Midlands. That includes
00:57Midlands Today, BBC Radio WN and local online news, alongside national television, radio,
01:05iPlayer and Sounds. BBC services still reach more than 9 in 10 UK adults each month, but
01:13traditional broadcast television continues to lose viewers as on-demand viewing grows. A
01:20licence is still required for live television on any service and for BBC iPlayer. It's not
01:26needed for non-live on-demand services such as Netflix or Disney Plus if no live television
01:33or iPlayer is watched. The falling licence total has intensified debate over whether the funding
01:40model reflects changing habits and offers value for money.
01:44So the difficulty that I think a lot of people have with this, you're expected to pay a licence
01:49for something you may never use. So in the sense that I think a lot of people would have
01:53big problems, even I think the use of the BBC, that they're being forced to pay for something
01:59that they don't avail of. So it's really, really difficult. I suspect that this is kite-flying
02:05to a certain extent. And surely in the technological age in which we live, it must be possible to
02:11sort of to use a sort of electronic form of surveillance, which of course knows that you've
02:16paid your fee. So you can only sort of access the services if you've got the sort of the valid
02:22licence. There are still around 23.3 million TV licences in force across the UK. So the system
02:31continues to fund services used by millions of people. But the way BBC is funded is under
02:37growing scrutiny as viewing havocs change. The current Royal Charter expires at the end
02:43of December 2027, with a new charter expected from January 2028. That review will help shape
02:52the BBC's future, including how its services are funding and what audiences receive in return.
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