An eight week period of consultation into decriminalising the licence fee has begun and could have a huge impact on the future of the BBC.

Most of the BBC's budget comes from the public paying the fees but if it no longer results in criminal sanctions the broadcaster fears it will lose out on £200million a year.

In this day and age of streaming services and subscription packages is a mandatory licence fee still a viable option, or does the BBC need to move with the times and adapt?

The Claim

Baroness Morgan, the government's culture secretary, said the time had come to "think carefully" about the relevance of the licence fee.

She argued that non-payment of the licence fee resulting in criminal sanctions "punishes the vulnerable", insisting the consultation was needed to determine "a fair and proportionate approach to licence fee penalties and payments".

The culture secretary also said looking at TV licences was not an attack on the BBC.

Non-payment of the licence fee would drop down to being a civil debt, a matter dealt with through civil courts and bailiffs rather than prosecution and the potential for time in jail or a fine of up to £1,000.

When more people are looking online for their entertainment and the BBC is struggling to attract younger audiences it suggests a licence that everyone has to pay if they want a TV is pushing an outdated model.

Times change and the BBC must change with them, if the licence fee is not representing value for money and members of the public are being unjustly punished for not paying then perhaps it should be decriminalised.

The Counter Claim

However, the government has been accused of pursuing a vendetta against the broadcaster and using their review into the licence fee to hit the BBC where it hurts. 

The Independent described prime minister Boris Johnson as having "stepped up his assault on the BBC" by taking a course of action they have been told will cost the broadcaster millions.

The appointment of Tory MP Julian Knight as head of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee has been seen as a blow to the BBC. 

Knight previously described the broadcaster's Today programme, which the government has banned ministers from appearing on, as a "byword for metropolitan elitism" and said the licence fee was "a modern version of Charles I's Ship Money".

The Financial Times quotes media analysis group Enders Analysis as describing the government's push to relax punishment for not paying the licence fee at a time when the BBC will ask over 75s to start paying again as a "pincer movement to cause the BBC to wither and implode".

An independent review from criminal barrister found the current licence fee system and punishments to be "broadly fair and proportionate". 

Maybe the BBC does need to change and the licence fee is outdated, but if that change is being enforced by a government trying to undermine the BBC then it's highly unlikely to be for the better.

The Facts

The move comes at a time when the BBC is having to cut 450 jobs in order to make £80million worth of savings, with more pressure to run a balanced budget. 

The government and the BBC have been at loggerheads for a while, with one of the current reasons for conflict being the broadcaster asking over-75s to pay the licence fee.

Former prime minister Theresa May promised in 2017 that the perk would be preserved but the BBC has said it can no longer afford to cover around three million Brits not having to pay. 

The broadcaster was made responsible for free TV licences for over 75s in 2015 by the chancellor of the exchequer at the time, George Osborne.

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A report published last year from the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee said the government was wrong to "bounce" the BBC into covering the cost of free TV licences as it was "not sustainable" for the broadcaster to do so.

The report described government ministers as "disingenuous" for assuming the broadcaster could keep footing the bill and said it was "absurd" that the government had handed responsibility for making a decision on welfare to the BBC. 

New negotiations for the licence fee will take place in 2021 and the committee said they must be conducted in a "wholly different way" after the last round of talks were done behind closed doors.

Last year there were around 26 million active TV licences in the UK, making £3.69billion in revenue for the BBC. 

Crime figures from 2018 saw 121,000 people convicted of not paying their TV licence with the average fine issued being £176, slightly more than the annual cost of £154.50 for a colour TV licence. The licence fee cost will rise by £3 on April 1.