Barwise: Public supports licence fee rise

Professor Patrick Barwise of the London Business School has concluded a BBC-commissioned independent report on the BBC's bid to raise the licence fee to £150 by 2013 by saying that "most people would prefer a bigger, stronger BBC to a smaller, weaker one," even where some extra cost is involved.

Barwise drew his conclusions based on research performed by Human Capital, MORI, Opinion Leader Research and BMRB. Subjects examined in the course of the report include the public's willingness to pay at all for the BBC, public reaction to proposed new BBC services, and how the public thinks the BBC should spend the fee.

Human Capital research showed that in 2004, 80% of citizens were willing to pay the £120 licence fee. This drops to 70% by 2013 with a £150 fee, if the BBC simply continued to fund existing services. However, it rose slightly to 75% if the BBC introduced new services in tandem with the fee rise. Barwise noted that these projections are inherently uncertain because "[t]he main factor influencing the public’s willingness to pay for the BBC will be the perceived quality of its programmes, especially on its main TV channels."

In terms of public reaction to a range of new services from the BBC - including those currently undergoing trials, such as 7-day catch up TV, VOD services and HDTV - there was significant public support for on demand TV and radio, the creative archive, and learning support for teenagers. HDTV, however, came near the bottom of the pile in terms of where consumers thought the BBC's priorities should be. Barwise remarked that consumers did not necessarily understand that in the short term, catch up TV and the creative archive were broadband applications rather than ones that would be immediately available on TV and that that could significantly impact the poll's findings.

The report concluded that the public has a generally high level of support for the BBC. Barwise cites one example in particular: "A particular case in point was the March 2006 OLR citizens’ forum. At the start of the day, the level of approval for the BBC was an impressive 86%. Remarkably, in the course of the day, the approval level increased to 93% as the participants learned more about the range of BBC services, their role in people’s lives, and the challenge of managing them in a complex, competitive, and fast-changing market."

Barwise concluded: "[T]he research demonstrates a high level of support for the BBC, its role in driving digital Britain, and most of its proposed new services, and a willingness to pay a licence fee of £150 (in 2005 prices) by 2013/14 in order to fund it."