Plans for a radical overhaul of the licence fee strengthen the Midlands’ claim for a fair share of BBC investment, according to a city MP.
Director-general Tony Hall is expected to today call for a broadcasting levy that would apply to every household to fund the state broadcaster.
It is thought the move will mean all families, regardless of whether they have a television, will have to pay to fund the BBC.
This comes after the Post launched a campaign calling for fair funding in the Midlands. Presently, this region invests £942 million a year in the broadcaster through licence fees and yet the BBC spends only £80 million here.
Gisela Stuart (Lab Edgbaston) said having a catch-all levy would increase pressure on the BBC to stop ignoring the Midlands.
She said: “This strengthens our case because we will have a directly population-based levy which no longer has anything to do with owning a television.
“It makes the argument about a correlation between where money is raised and expenditure in that region all the stronger.”
The Post’s campaign calls for half of all money raised for the BBC in the Midlands to be spent here, as well as other similar demands.
With the broadcaster set to renegotiate its 10-year charter, the Birmingham Post is calling for the BBC to invest the same proportion of its budget here that it does in the North or South.
If that were the case the region would be £7.8 billion better off over the next decade.
Last week the parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport Committee said the £145.50 annual licence fee should ultimately be replaced by a German-style “broadcasting levy” that would apply to every household.
The change would allow the BBC to collect funds from the estimated 500,000 households which claim not to have a television or only watch programmes on-demand through platforms like the BBC iPlayer.
