French get rid of TV licence fee as Macron tries to tackle cost of living

Move to get rid of annual payment sparks fears that the independence of state broadcasters is in jeopardy

THE French senate has voted to scrap the annual television licence fee in an effort to tackle the cost of living crisis.

The move serves as a warning about the future of a funding model that has long supported public broadcasters in many European countries, including the UK.

Until now, French households have paid an annual fee – currently set at €138 (£115) – that has provided the majority of income for the public broadcasters including France Télévisions, Radio France, the Franco-german broadcaster Arte, France 24 and Radio France Internationale (RFI).

The fee, which generated €3.2billion (£2.7billion) last year, was established in 1933 but will now be abolished.

It follows an election promise from president Emmanuel Macron to scrap the fee as a way to fight the rising cost of living, but sparked a row over the funding of independent journalism.

“We should be removing taxes that weigh on the French people,” Gabriel Attal, the public accounts minister, said of the pledge in June.

But he added that the government was still “very attached to our public broadcasters” and would find a way to make sure they remained independent.

After debating the issue at length into the early hours of yesterday morning, the senate – which holds a centre-right majority – agreed the licence fee was “obsolete”, at least in part because of the transition from television to online streaming services like Netflix and Disney Plus.

Instead, the senate agreed to support the public broadcasters using VAT revenues until the end of 2024.

Rima Abdul Malak, the French culture minister, said the government was still committed to the public broadcasting sector and that funding would be provided while they created a “road map” for the sector.

But some members expressed concern that the VAT solution was only temporary. “We agreed to abolish the tax but the question remains as to how we will finance tomorrow’s public broadcasting,” Laurent Lafon, the chairman of the culture committee, told Le Monde. Those on the political Left said they opposed the legislation altogether, with some accusing the government of “creating the conditions for weakening” public broadcasting.

Pierre Ouzoulias, a senator with the French communist party, said public broadcasting “is essential to contribute to the mission of independence” of information.

The French senate’s vote comes as the UK is reviewing whether to scrap the £159 BBC licence fee, with Conservative MPS pushing to abolish it.

Earlier this year, Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary, confirmed that the national TV licence fee – which makes up the majority of the BBC’S funding – would be frozen for the next two years, and the funding model could be eliminated by 2027.

The UK TV licence provided the BBC with £3.5billion in the 2020-21 financial year, which helped to pay for TV, radio, online news and entertainment, podcasts and BBC iplayer. Last week, Nigel Farage, former leader of the Brexit Party, applauded the French National Assembly’s passing of the bill. “If only ours would have the courage,” he said on Twitter.

The French senate’s decision is part of a larger budget package aimed at tackling the cost of living crisis, which is expected to be finalised in the next few days.

Other measures in the €20million package include prolonging an existing freeze on gas and electricity prices, and raising pensions and social benefits.

Once the funding is approved by the senate, it will be sent back to the National Assembly for final approval.

Last year, nearly two million people told the BBC they no longer needed a TV licence, with the corporation predicting that more viewers will desert them “at least in the short-to-medium term”.

A total of 1.96 million households said they did not watch the BBC or other live television in 2021-22, a rise of 270,000 on the previous year and equating to £42 million in lost revenue.