Sir Terry questions future of BBC licence fee, but he still thinks it’s good value
SIR Terry Wogan has been one of the BBC’s best-loved faces and voices for the past 50 years.
But the veteran broadcaster has now raised questions over the licence fee, saying the Corporation is no longer the ‘national broadcaster’ it once was.
He said subscription services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime were eroding the BBC’s position, and queried the validity of licensing TVs when so many viewers tuned in via new technology.
In a candid interview with The Mail on Sunday’s Event magazine, the 77-year-old former chat show host said: ‘There has to be a question mark over the licence fee now, because of different viewing habits.
‘Young people are not watching television any more, they are watching their iPads. Everything is changing. It’s not a matter of having a national broadcaster.’
Viewers only have to pay the £145.50 fee to watch programmes at the same time they are broadcast, but that is set to change following the latest licence fee settlement. It has also been mooted that the fee be replaced by a levy on households, rather than TV ownership.
Despite his criticisms, Sir Terry said the Corporation had a valuable role and everyone should pay ‘something’ towards it – even though he recognised the system’s problems.
He explained: ‘You’re trying to produce quality but you also have to produce quantity because everybody is paying the licence fee.’
But Sir Terry added: ‘I think the licence fee is good value, compared to what it costs to watch Sky. I don’t know what people are bellyaching about.’
The former Blankety Blank host still presents a Sunday morning show on Radio 2 as well as the BBC’s Children In Need appeal.
But he said he had not been asked to sign the controversial ‘luvvies’ letter’ to Prime Minister David Cameron backing the BBC, organised by its director of television, Danny Cohen. He said: ‘I wasn’t asked to contribute. That’s why my name is missing.’
But he pointed out that he wasn’t the only BBC star absent, saying: ‘Was Mary Berry asked? Was Bruce Forsyth asked? One would have imagined they would be asked, rather than Daniel Craig or JK Rowling’ – who did sign.
Pushed on whether he would have signed, he declined to say.
In the wide-ranging interview, Sir Terry also called for a change in the law on assisted suicide, saying he might go to Swiss clinic Dignitas ‘if I was in enough pain’ .
And he risked falling out with the Queen by branding her cousin Lord Mountbatten, who was murdered in 1979 by a bomb planted by the IRA, a charlatan.
Mary Berry was unavailable for comment, while Sir Bruce’s spokesman said he was not aware of any approach over the letter.