BBC ‘bid to check data from satellite viewers’

SATELLITE and cable TV firms could be forced to hand over the personal data of millions of customers to help the BBC hunt down licence fee evaders.

Proposals buried in the BBC White Paper on Thursday suggest Sky, Virgin and BT should pass their subscriber data to licensing authorities.

That could include customers’ names, addresses, dates of birth, and other personal information. The data could then be cross-checked with the licence fee database to identify anyone using a TV but not paying up.

If effective, this could prompt a surge in the number of people hauled before the courts for failure to pay the £145.50 fee.

But the ‘data grab’ will also raise concerns about privacy. There is a legal question around whether handing over the information would breach the Data Protection Act.

The proposal was first contained in a review of TV licensing carried out by top QC, David Perry, last year.

And on Thursday the White Paper stated: ‘The Perry Review recommended that TV Licensing may be better able to target households without

‘Improve value for money for the licence-payer’

a TV licence if there were a requirement for cable and satellite television companies to share their subscription information with TV Licensing.

‘The review suggested this could improve value for money for the licence fee payer. The Government intends to explore this with subscription providers.’

Many MPs have long argued for failure to pay the TV licence to be made a civil rather than criminal offence.

Licence fee evasion is the most commonly prosecuted offence in the criminal courts in England and Wales.

Every week about 3,000 people are issued with fines of up to £1,000 for not having a TV licence.

The problem has become more pressing in recent years because fewer households have traditional TV sets as more people watch ‘catch-up’ TV on tablets, computers and smartphones.

According to Ofcom, the telecommunications watchdog, 300,000 fewer homes had a television at the end of last year, compared to the previous year.

BT and Sky did not respond to requests for comment last night.

A Virgin Media spokesman said: ‘We note this statement in the White Paper and we will discuss with the Government in due course.’