BBC licence fee: is it really fit for the 21st century?

The question is posed purely in terms of the enjoyment – the worth, the value, the fun – you get from the BBC. As a consumer, a viewer, a punter, a critic, does the BBC mean much to you any more? Long gone are the days when the BBC was basically all we had and so by default was the centre of cultural life. We’re media-rich now, and time-poor.

When you weigh the BBC, and judge it, does the broadcaster – as its founder Lord Reith promised it would do – still “inform, educate and entertain” you? And if it does, is the BBC doing it better than its many rivals?

Our crowded broadcasting landscape means there’s no longer a place for BBC exceptionalism. It has to earn its place like everyone else. Among 16 to 34-year-olds, the BBC struggles to remain relevant. Less than half of that key demographic watch it, boding ill for the future.

The BBC’s back is against the wall. In our increasingly divided society, people of all political persuasions believe the channel is partisan. The left and right both hate it. Hardline Scottish nationalists and hardline Brexiters detest the BBC – it’s either part of a treacherous pro-union conspiracy, or in league with Brussels.

After the criticism Boris Johnson rightly got for dodging tough interviews during the General Election, the Prime Minister seems ready to come for the BBC’s licence fee now. There’s speculation about it being replaced with an opt-in subscription model like Netflix.

Of course, given that this is Britain in 2020, the debate around the BBC’s future will degenerate into yet another front in our endless culture wars and produce much heat but little light – like a 1950s TV set.

One side will say that any threat to the BBC will see Britain’s media landscape turn American, with right-wing propagandists fronting channels like Fox News. The other side will say the BBC is unfairly propped up by taxpayers to the detriment of other media outlets, skewing British cultural life.

The future of the BBC will be determined on purely political grounds – which is very strange. The BBC must be the only media institution in any democracy which is judged by a political yardstick. Everything else in the media landscape – radio, print, cinema, TV, online – is judged on much more simple criteria: do people like it and are they happy to pay for it?

So let’s judge the BBC on purely critical grounds. Let’s set aside the political wrangle – and let’s address this central question: if the broadcaster vanished tomorrow, would you care in terms of the value and entertainment it brings you?

As the screw began tightening on the BBC, I’ve started to monitor my own consumption of its programming. I wanted to see just how important it was in my life. Would I be happy without it?

I was unpleasantly surprised to find that the BBC plays a much smaller role in my life than I thought. Full disclosure: I’ve worked for the BBC, and I’m also one of those liberal types who has spoken of the BBC as an essential pillar of British life. So, I thought when I began studying my own viewing and listening habits, that given my background the BBC would be both the journalistic and entertainment mainstay of my life. It’s not.

My household is media-hungry. We take nearly every TV service there is: terrestrial TV, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Sky TV, Apple TV. We’ve got Alexas in most rooms so we can listen to radio. The house is filled with books, newspapers and magazines. We’re happy to pay for media.

However, the question is then raised: am I happy with the way I’m required to pay for the BBC, compared to how I pay for other media? Would the public be better served if we could choose the parts of the BBC we wish to pay for?

These questions come increasingly into focus for me as I find the BBC taking up an ever diminishing sliver of my life. The same seems to be true for many other members of the public.

Just look at what’s happening with the BBC’s news channel. Of all the services the corporation provides, this is the one I most respect. It’s dependable, impartial, informative. However, like the BBC’s drama and comedy output, which is threatened by both homegrown competitors Channel 4 and international media such as Netflix, the news service is under pressure from viewers consuming current affairs online via sites like Facebook.

The reach of the BBC News channel is declining. In the second quarter of 2019, it had 18 million viewers. Five years previously, there were 25 million.

When it comes to the most popular TV channel, as of September 2019, it was Channel 4 with a 77% positivity rating. BBC1 was second with 76%, then ITV with 70%.

I find myself agreeing with the public. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched the BBC’s Six O’Clock News. I wait for Channel 4 news at 7pm. It’s smarter, more international, more in-depth. If I had to pick the channel I get most value from it’s Channel 4. But Channel 4 isn’t put on a pedestal. It provides public service broadcasting and it’s commercially self-funded.

I’d certainly miss BBC Newsnight, in particular the reporting of Emily Maitlis, television’s best journalist. As to the rest of BBC TV’s news and current affairs there’s not much I couldn’t live without. I’d certainly survive without the clickbait of Question Time. In Scotland, STV’s Scottish news is as good, if not better, than BBC Scotland.

Radio is a different matter. I’m very fond of BBC radio. I love Radio 6 music, I like a bit of Radio 2’s Jo Whiley in the background when I’ve chores to do, and I’m a Radio 4 fan. One programme I’d really miss is Radio 4’s In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg – the best and cleverest talk show ever made, I reckon. If the BBC vanished, though, could I happily survive on podcasts and commercial radio, which I find myself increasingly listening to? Probably.

The one part of the BBC I’d hate to lose is BBC Four. Its documentary output is excellent. From populist history shows fronted by Lucy Worsley and the channel’s Friday night music documentaries, to erudite and in-depth explorations of art and science, BBC Four – for me at least – fulfils the pledge to educate, entertain and inform. But if the BBC was to disappear, alternatives do exist – Sky Arts and a plethora of documentary channels.

However, BBC Four is the broadcaster’s least-watched channel. In 2019, BBC One had a reach of 55 million, Channel 4 51 million, BBC Two 50 million, Channel 5 48 million, ITV 45 million. BBC Four had a reach of 28 million, putting it in the same fighting weight as ITV4 and Dave.

Perhaps that’s because the upstart Netflix has got into documentaries in a big way. The BBC’s Storyville strand was once the gold standard of TV documentary making, but these days if you want to watch an Oscar-winning documentary, or a documentary that’s going to show you things you’ve never seen before, then Netflix is the place to go. And, of course, there’s Channel 4’s acclaimed factual output as well, which also easily rivals the BBC.

The most remarkable water-cooler documentary of the last year was Tell Me Who I Am on Netflix – charting the story of the lives of two adult male twins, one of whom had lost their memory, while the other lived with the knowledge of the history of abuse they had suffered as children.

For me, it’s BBC One I could really do without. I find its drama output poor, its light entertainment toe-curling. For light entertainment, I head to Channel 4. If I want something relatively mindless, I’ll opt for Gogglebox or First Dates rather than Strictly Come Dancing.

In terms of BBC drama, even Line Of Duty or Bodyguard – which critics responded to as if Shakespeare had risen from the grave – are in my opinion just cliche-riddled cop shows.

If I want original drama then I’ll likely turn to Channel 4 once again, or Netflix, Amazon Prime or Sky with their streaming box sets. You don’t get great long-form TV drama on the BBC. A series like Killing Eve is a rarity. HBO is the global hub of the best TV drama, with a pedigree of refined and intelligent programming like The Wire, Six Feet Under and The Sopranos.

If you want to watch a great blockbuster series like Game Of Thrones – also from HBO – then you’re more likely to find it on Sky Atlantic than the BBC. A new comedy? Netflix is where I’ll look.

There’s something quintessentially middle-class, middle-aged and middle-brow about BBC drama and comedy. If you distilled BBC drama down into one show it would probably look like Last Tango In Halifax. It’s a family saga set in Yorkshire. It’s relatively entertaining, a sort of Cold Feet meets All Creatures Great And Small. It’s cosy – as edgy as a butter knife.

Channel 4 drama reflects British life back to viewers in a much more sophisticated way, while Netflix takes you all over the world in a kaleidoscope of genres. There’s German thrillers, French horror, Brazilian sci-fi, Belgium cop shows, American comedies, Israeli spy dramas. It’s unusual for me now to watch a long-running show unless it’s on Netflix.

For films, we never choose the BBC or any other terrestrial channel. We search Sky Cinema, Netflix and Amazon. Why wait until 10pm to watch a movie on the BBC when you can stream the same movie right now from another service?

No-one in my house is that interested in sport, but it’s how we’ve chosen to opt out of sports programming that’s important, in terms of how the BBC offers its services. With our household Sky package we’ve said no to the sports subscription. Our children are now adults, so we’ve long cancelled the subscription to kids’ programming. We’ve modelled our Sky subscription around what we like as a family: drama, comedy, films and documentaries.

Choice is often hugely overrated – just think of all those hours you’ve spent scrolling through Netflix trying to find something to watch but bewildered by choice. However, flexibility in choosing what you pay for is only fair. Sky understands that I don’t like sport so makes it possible for me to buy the bits I want, and discard the bits I don’t. The BBC doesn’t get it – yet.

Why can’t I pay for the BBC’s documentaries, its quizzes (Only Connect is surely the best quiz on TV) and radio – and dump the rest? I don’t want soaps, terrible Saturday night shows, and mediocre dramas. I’m also happy to pay for BBC news. The full-spectrum hatred that BBC news gets proves that in terms of journalism it’s doing its job.

However, the rest of the BBC’s output isn’t for me. So reduce my licence fee accordingly. Netflix and Sky have flexible packages, why not the BBC? A flexible BBC subscription fee doesn’t immediately mean an end to all Government support. Some state funding could remain. But that’s another discussion.

From April, the licence fee will be £157.50 a year. Make my payment proportional to my consumption. If I want to opt into everything, fine, charge me the full £157.50. If I want a slimmed-down package, then charge me a fair share. Netflix, for example, charges for three different packages: Basic at £5.99 per month, Standard at £7.99, and Premium at £9.99.

Unlike every other media outlet, the BBC doesn’t woo me for my money, it demands my money. The others earn it, they persuade me to part with my cash – and they don’t have the law on their side threatening court.

I always thought I’d remain a loyal BBC subject. But I’m starting to rebel. I don’t want to be a subject any longer. I’d like to take control of what I pay for. So, in answer to the question I posed myself – does the BBC really matter? – I’m increasingly leaning towards the answer: sadly, less and less.

The media landscape has changed – but the BBC hasn’t. The result is that while once I truly thought I couldn’t imagine a world without the BBC, I’m coming to the unhappy conclusion that although I wouldn’t want to do without the BBC completely, if I had to give it up, I could as there are plenty of good alternatives out there now.

The only way the BBC can win back people like me is for the broadcaster to change and enter the 21st century before it’s too late.