Would you be prepared to give up your free TV Licence?
The BBC has announced that it is planning to bring in some “Silver Celebrities” in a campaign to encourage people aged over 75 to give up their free TV licences.
The BBC are exploring ways to encourage elderly viewers and listeners to consider paying the annual £145.50 charge on a voluntary basis. They are considering bringing in celebrities such as Sir Terry Wogan and Helen Mirren to help persuade TV viewers aged over 75 to give up their free TV licences.
In July, the BBC struck a deal with the government to shoulder the costs of providing free TV licences to the over-75s. The free TV licence will cost the government £468 million per annum by 2018-19. The government and BBC believe that many pensioners may agree to paying. The BBC have said that one other option would be to remove free TV licences if a person aged over 75 lives in a household with younger people in it. There will also be a review to see if the age of free licences should be raised above 75.
“The BBC has asked independent experts to advise on how to go about attracting voluntary contributions from over 75s when the government reduces its support,” said a BBC spokesman.
What are your views on this new plan from the BBC and the government? Should all pensioners over 75 be entitled to a free TV licence? Would you consider offering to pay voluntarily if you are over 75? Do you know anyone who would want to opt back in to paying their licence fee? Do you love the BBC enough to pay £2.80 a week for your licence? Should it be means tested?
What are your views?
We'd love to hear your comments
Log in to comment
You need to be logged in to interact with Silversurfers. Please use the button below if you already have an account.
LoginNot a member?
You need to be a member to interact with Silversurfers. Joining is free and simple to do. Click the button below to join today!
JoinCommunity Terms & Conditions
Content standards
These content standards apply to any and all material which you contribute to our site (contributions), and to any interactive services associated with it.
You must comply with the spirit of the following standards as well as the letter. The standards apply to each part of any contribution as well as to its whole.
Contributions must:
be accurate (where they state facts); be genuinely held (where they state opinions); and comply with applicable law in the UK and in any country from which they are posted.
Contributions must not:
contain any material which is defamatory of any person; or contain any material which is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory; or promote sexually explicit material; or promote violence; promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age; or infringe any copyright, database right or trade mark of any other person; or be likely to deceive any person; or be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence; or promote any illegal activity; or be threatening, abuse or invade another’s privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety; or be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person; or be used to impersonate any person, or to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person; or give the impression that they emanate from us, if this is not the case; or advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.
Nurturing a safe environment
Our Silversurfers community is designed to foster friendships, based on trust, honesty, integrity and loyalty and is underpinned by these values.
We don't tolerate swearing, and reserve the right to remove any posts which we feel may offend others... let's keep it friendly!
The BBC should ask the high proportion of Scottish and Northern Irish who do not pay the TV Licence to cough up.
A growing number of people are refusing to pay, and there is very little that the BBC can do about it, they have no right to enter homes and you don't have to answer their letters, or their questions.
The Australians refused, en masse, to buy the TV licence, and it was abolished.
However, I suspect that the Great British public are too lily livered for civil disobedience. I also suspect that many thousands of the over 75's will offer to pay up!
The obvious over staffing of many programmes would be a good start. For example the morning breakfast show on BBC 1 has become a joke,with far too many 'presenters' delivering a show of deteriorating standards.
As for bringing in the likes of T Wogan and H Mirren. Will they be making their appeals gratis or will there be another nice little payout?