BBC boss: I’ll axe shows if licence cheats escape court
BBC boss Danny Cohen was accused of ‘holding viewers to ransom’ yesterday after he threatened to axe programmes if licence fee evaders are no longer sent to court.
The director of television warned that the Corporation would probably have to cut entire services - such as TV channels or radio stations - if non-payment of the £145.50-a-year licence was decriminalised.
In a surprisingly combative move, Mr Cohen also threatened the government over proposals to force the BBC to give the licence fee free to the over-75s.
‘If the BBC takes on more financial obligations, it’s got less money to spend on content. It’s as simple as that,’ he told a conference of television executives in London.
‘If we took on one of those things – decriminalisation or over-75’s licence fees – we’d just make fewer programmes, and that is something I think none of us want to do.
‘It may also mean fewer services. So we have to be aware of that in all those negotiations [with the Government], and I think that anything that makes the BBC unable to commission great content, and quality content, can’t be good for licence fee payers,’ he said.
Mr Cohen’s comments come amid mounting concerns that the BBC comes down too heavily on licence fee evaders.
Around 3,000 people a week end up in court for failing to pay the licence fee, accounting for around a tenth of all cases before a magistrate, and between 50 and 70 people a year are jailed.
MPs have repeatedly called for licence fee evasion to be decriminalised, and are expected to press the issue as the Government begins negotiations over the BBC’s new funding package – the so-called Charter Renewal. However, BBC executives are worried that many viewers will stop paying the annual charge if there is no longer any threat of jail – putting a dent in its income.
The Corporation is expecting to have a difficult ride over funding negotiations, following the appointment of John Whittingdale as Culture Secretary.
Mr Whittingdale, formerly chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, has been a particularly fierce critic of the BBC’s spending habits, and warned in a report earlier this year that the BBC should prepare for the end of the TV licence fee within a decade.
Yesterday, Mr Cohen – who earns £327,800 a year – said that the Corporation would not be able to take any more cuts without affecting content on screen.
‘Do I personally think we can keep salami slicing the content budget? No. I think if there is a significant reduction in the licence fee, we are going to have a lot less content. Will we have to close services? Yes, I think so,’ he said.
MPs interpreted his remarks as an attack. ‘This sounds like a threat than a reasoned argument in favour of the licence fee,’ said Conservative Andrew Percy. ‘Viewers shouldn’t be held to ransom in this way.’
Eyebrows are also likely to be raised at Mr Cohen’s poverty plea, given growing evidence of the spending habits of BBC executives.
Last week, the Daily Mail revealed that the BBC’s controller of entertainment of commissioning, Mark Linsey, has spent nearly £800 of licence fee payers’ money on just seven taxis.
Meanwhile, new figures suggest that the Corporation is still stuffed full of middle managers, despite the on-screen cuts.
According to Private Eye, it had 776 ‘ band 11’ executives last June, two-thirds of whom were paid more than £73,883 – the supposed maximum for that level.