[Mort]

I am a massive proponent and supporter of the universal access to all BBC services, but I acknowledge the model is outmoded and increasingly coming under fire for not aligning with modern methods of 'subscription' and access.

The ultimate endgame may seem quite draconian, but I think something is ultimately achievable. Here's one hastily assembled concept for a modernised licensing and access structure for you to pick through the bones of. Perhaps the end result is a little gentler than this fairly rigid structure, but although I prefer one licence for everything for everyone, I also accept that the current model cannot remain forever.


First step: pare the free-to-air, free-to-access services to the bone - BBC One and BBC Two only, perhaps doing less of the same sort of thing for fewer hours in the day, or a rolling multi-hour repeated block of programmes like some international news channels do (e.g. NHK World TV). A new block could start every evening for primetime, with Breakfast and some news simulcast through the morning as currently happens, so you don't have 4x repeats of a block per day. During times of live major sporting coverage, a more limited offering of 'crown jewels' Category A programmes could be offered free-to-air, to continue the tradition of us alll being able to share nationally significant moments. More in-depth coverage of other events could be available only through a paid licence tier.

For radio, only keep one talk station and two music stations - either specific stations, or programme blocks selected from the current national networks. All existing nations & regions stations kept free-to-receive, so all BBC Local Radio and R. Scotland, R. Ulster, R. Cymru Wales etc.

A modernisation in approach to BBC Local Radio stations would also need to happen, to increase their budget relative to as it stands and give them more independence over what sort of programming they would like to run. At the moment even with the latest cuts they still super-serve the older, middle class demographics. However for many they remain a lifeline, local radio's societal importance is not to be understated.

The BBC's radio networks are at the heart of their critical public service offering, and as the national broadcaster the BBC has an obligation to be able to communicate to every citizen, particularly in times of emergency, even today radio is prioritised above TV stations.


Any free-to-receive, free-to-view basic service would form part of a 'basic' offering, giving people unwilling or unable to pay anything with an effectively free-tier TV licence entitlement, and which could still be linked to a BBC or Freely account. This would let them stream the equivalent services, and also access a limited amount of iPlayer content, for no cost. A mechanism to offer entitlement upgrades for monthly, weekly or daily access to more online on-demand content could then be offered (linear or on-demand), or likewise specifically granting access to certain titles 'live' or 'recently broadcast' channels/programmes, for example.

A 'basics' tier could offer far fewer programmes on-demand, and some rolling streams of other programmes, a little like what ITVX and other OTT platforms already do with their themed/single-programme 'channels'.


Then, establish a middle-ground 'essentials' TV Licence which is considerably cheaper (perhaps 40-50%?), from which the aforementioned core radio and TV services are funded. Provide either a sliding cost reduction, or an increase in services available, based on means-tested acceptance, to those who request it. Offer unfettered access for a lower price to all content for anyone involved in the education sector, public healthcare sector or the emergency services.

For the middle-ground 'essentials' entitlement, iPlayer availability windows could be restricted to all the programmes but with a delay of a week or two - then only available for a shorter period of time. Some of the biggest programmes could either be included or excluded from the 'freemium' availability window, with all of the deep catalogue, boxsets and films requiring a TVL requirement.


For other households not entitled to a discount, they could still choose between the free 'basic', 'essentials' or the unlimited 'Freely' tier - at the same price as the current TVL, more likely a little higher to match inevitable future inflation. This tier would cost the most, but entitle the household to access everything currently offered across all services on linear, on-demand and all platforms, in the highest quality possible. More and expanded content would also be offered around major live events, sports coverage, all current linear channels, on-demand and series/film archives, plus an increased amount of live and on-demand UHD and HDR content which is much costlier to make and deliver.



To enforce this tiered model, the BBC would have to move almost everything except the 'basics' offering either behind encryption (DSAT viewing cards/DTT CAMs) or online only, both linear and on-demand - with entitlement automatically granted through the link to the BBC Account which stores the household's TV Licence information. Set and forget, with easy onboarding processes for new customers or licence holders. This data might even be accessible automatically, so someone with a TV licence registered to their address wouldn't have to do anything to receive the content if they had Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview+/Freely/some other DTH service installed at their property, the association could be done using registered address.

You'd then also be able to make it possible to pay/downgrade/upgrade between tiers through any of the main TV distribution operators, similar to how you can "press red to get Sky Sports today".


This sort of functionality, and multi-mode access, could be facilitated by a BBC/Freely account, or both accounts could be linked for additional seamless access. Given the JV between all the PSBs is still going to happen, as far as I'm aware, this could be a good 'carrot' to encourage adoption.



There would be a need to work with existing DTT, cable and DSAT providers to integrate Freely/BBC account information into a customer's account, and make this access as seamless as possible (not having to jump between apps, just tune in and watch programmes exactly as they can at the moment). On a point of principle, I would push for any recordings made to PVRs to be free of encryption, despite an entitlement being required on the viewing card to watch or record. Regardless of 'tier', I would also push to guarantee no broadcast commercials or product placement across any programme on any platform, this would be one of my 'red lines'.



I think the BBC will have to end up with this type of more nuanced TV Licence concept, abstracted away to a 'basic/essentials/Freely' type structure, and a sliding scale system for means-testing viewers and those on benefits. This could hopefully be facilitated in partnership with local councils, as they should already hopefully have some sort of system and information related to assessment in place, or could be co-funded by the BBC and government to establish them. Otherwise, some third-party could assume an assessment function for those proactively requesting a discounted service. Hopefully not Capita, given their track record with this sort of thing.


I personally think the law needs to be amended so that family members are covered by a family's licence for no extra cost, even if they have their own logins or are in a different location (students away from home). If the new account-based entitlement model was implemented, a student could even theoretically pay the difference between the "essentials" and "Freely" tiers to access everything, if they wanted to. This could even become a way of getting secondary income from viewers through spontaneous tier upgrades, or upgrades for specific bundles of programming or broadcast windows.


It would be fairly easy to monitor the number of linked accounts on a TVL entitlement for signs of misuse/account sharing against terms of use, taking a slightly lenient approach as Netflix did for years.

BBC/Freely account functionality could also be expanded to track purchases and entitlements for commercial offerings from either BBC Studios, Britbox, Freely and the like. There are loads of BBC Worldwide/Studios channels around the world showing a mixture of content we can't currently receive in the UK, some due to commercial rights arrangements. Personally I would love to be able to also watch these, even if it meant a premium on top of the main licence fee.



So, there's one potential solution.

It would be painful to implement, result in disquiet from some people (me included) and probably howls of complaint and protest from others. You could also contend this sort of massive change needs to happen for the BBC to remain a mainstream operator, while preserving the essence of its public service obligation.

I think two absolutely fundamental requirements are to never introduce commercial advertising or product placement, and maintain the BBC as a corporation independent of government funding. Offer as much as financially possible for truly zero cost to the consumer, then hope you can convert some in future - who may currently be paying nothing, either in protest or through lack of interest.

One less-discussed potential benefit to implementing conditional access might be that the BBC (either PSB or Studios/worldwide) could then offer some further subscription bundles for overseas viewers or ex-pats, disrupting the grey market for unofficial reception or third-party sale of UK satellite systems. This would be an epic headache of rights and contractual obligations to sort out, but the same process was undertaken for the advent of iPlayer and online streaming. Nothing is impossible when the prospect of more money for rights-holders is on the table.