JEREMY’S SHOW OF SUPPORT FOR BEEB Star happy to pay licence fee

JEREMY Vine has hit back at calls to scrap the licence fee.

The broadcaster thinks making the BBC a subscription service would be bad for the public.

He said: “I have been at the BBC for 30 years and I think it should continue with the licence fee because I can’t think of anything better.

“I think once you have a subscription it basically gets turned into small packets of this and that.

“The BBC has just got to keep making good programmes and we’ll come through. But it’s hard.

“We have to justify the licence fee every day by producing good shows.”

In recent years scores of MPs have called for the licence fee to be scrapped.

And last October, Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan said she was open to making it a subscription service.

She revealed she was “openminded” on the issue if it could be proved a new system would work.

Brits have been charged the licence fee to access BBC TV and radio services for more than 70 years. But record numbers of people are now cancelling it because they prefer commercial rivals including Netflix.

Jeremy said: “The licence fee is under threat because of digital more than anything else. The competition is ferocious now.

“Netflix is amazing. You’ve got Amazon, you’ve got the Sky channels, there’s HBO and Disney+ is coming.

“We know it’s a tough market. The strongest thing about the BBC is that it’s British. And Netflix isn’t.”

The BBC has boasted a string of hits over the past year.

And it has secured a series of nominations for this year’s National Television Awards.

Jeremy said: “It’s great to see the BBC step up so rapidly in drama with Fleabag, Killing Eve and Line Of Duty, which are three of the best.”