It has emerged that nearly half a million TV viewers watch their favourite programmes online for free, instead of paying a licence fee.
This legal loophole means that viewers can avoid the £145.50 fee and still watch their favourite shows without technically doing anything wrong.
It’s impossible for the BBC to come up with exact statistics, as you can’t monitor who’s watching their programming online.
The admission from the corporation suggests that in the future, the licensing fee arrangement will have to be remodelled in order to keep up with new technology.
In a statement written to the Commons culture, media and sport committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the corportation’s future, the BBC said: “The licence fee definition remains robust, with only 1-2% of households consuming exclusively on-demand content. However, the definition could start to create perverse incentives, with a fee payable for some ways of consuming BBC TV but not others.”
Image credit: BBC iPlayer website
