BBC must stop taking viewers for granted

ONCE untouchable atop a pedestal, tough questions are increasingly being asked about the BBC – specifically over its role and how it should be funded.

Most people still regard Auntie as a great national institution. But rising numbers raise eyebrows at the broadcaster devouring a gargantuan £3.7 billion a year in licence fees. In an era of multiple-choice streaming services such as Netflix, this compulsory tax feels as archaic as a blackand-white set.

And, slowly but surely, the number paying is dropping. This alarming fact should concentrate the mind of whoever becomes the new director-general. Indeed, if a progressively sizeable rump of the population opts not to fork out and the under-30s continue to switch off in droves, the BBC will soon face a genuine cash crisis.

Meanwhile, Downing Street – aggrieved at what it perceives as anti-Tory bias – is threatening to replace the licence fee with a subscription model and force the monolith to scrap channels and stations, including Radio 1 and 2. True, much of this is hyperbole from No 10 apparatchiks happy to talk tough anonymously. But nor can it be blithely ignored.

Irrespective of political posturing, the cultural and technological cliff- edge is approaching.

What to do? Some suggest reducing the annual charge to fund a basic BBC package that adheres to Lord Reith’s founding principles: Inform, educate and entertain. People could then pay a subscription for top-up channels.

But whatever the funding formula, after years of drift it is time for leadership at the corporation. If the BBC wants to avoid being consigned to history, the new D-G must use their imagination to make meaningful reforms. It can’t carry on taking the viewers for granted.