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Oxford at forefront of BBC license fee debate

Oxford found itself at centre of BBC TV license fee debate last week, as the University’s journalism institute released a study on BBC funding, and the BBC Director-General addressed the Oxford Media Convention.

Researchers at Oxford University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found that, in the absence of the BBC, British consumers could expect less value for money, and the investment in UK television would be significantly lower.

The study, entitled ‘What if there were no BBC television?’, is intended to contribute to the debate on BBC funding, ahead of its charter renewal in 2016. The study found that investment in first-run UK television content could fall by up to 50%.

Professor Patrick Barwise, who authored the study, told Cherwell, “We wanted to test the widespread presumption that consumers would be better served if the BBC were smaller and provided only narrowly defined public service programmes that the market won’t. Our analysis shows the opposite”.

He continued, “The main issue is to ensure that the BBC itself is properly funded beyond 2016. That’s in the best interest of the public as both consumers and citizens, and very much in the interest of UK programme producers.”

The study was released in the same week as as BBC Director-General Tony Hall defended the licence fee in his speech to the Oxford Media Convention. Speaking last Wednesday, he said, “every day the BBC is actively chosen by the British public close to 150 million times. Every day, the average use of the BBC is over six hours per household. Each hour of that consumption costs each person in the household three pence. I challenge anyone to find better value for money than that for high-quality advertising-free content”.

He continued, “Twenty years ago, the BBC received nearly 40% of all the revenues in broadcasting. Now the figure is around a quarter – 25% – a much smaller part of the media market. Twenty years ago, the licence fee was over £147 in today’s money – now it’s a bit lower. But look what you get. Twenty years ago, we had two TV stations, five national radio stations, and local and Nations radio. Now we deliver four times more television channels, twice as many national radio stations, impressive web services and the iPlayer”.

Some polls have shown that up to 70% of people want to abolish the BBC funding through the TV licencing fee.

One Hertford student commented, “I think the BBC makes a valuable contribution to Britain. I like the BBC the most out of all the channels, and I think I prefer BBC to many of the alternatives.”

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