THE BBC could delay the scrapping of free TV licences for the over 75s until October, it was reported today.
The corporation has already put plans to force more people to pay the £157.50 fee on ice until August due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But now it could be extended until October, the Sunday Times reported.
The move is set to be discussed at a board meeting next month, it said.
But senior BBC figures have allegedly signalled they want to delay the unpopular change again.
A Whitehall insider said: “They’ve said August, but we’ve been told from the top of the BBC that they’re going to extend that to October.
“They say they won’t go any later than that — that’s the crux point and the government won’t intervene on that. It also won’t bail them out.”
The BBC said the decision was still “under review” at the moment and no decisions had yet been made.
The changes to the licence fee are expected to save £450million for the Beeb, who has lost out huge chunks of its audience to Netflix and Amazon Prime in recent years.
After August only one million pensioners who get pension credit will be allowed to get their licence for free – a move which has sparked outrage among MPs.
Julian Knight, a Conservative MP and chairman of the digital, culture, media and sport committee, said: “If this is postponed, it will be welcome to the millions of Britons who faced losing their TV licence in the middle of a pandemic.
“I would hope any further delay would give the government and the BBC an opportunity to come together and thrash out a settlement to ensure that free TVs are retained for the remainder of the charter period [until 2027].”
A BBC spokesperson said:”The BBC has made no such decision and it is wrong to suggest we have.
“The BBC’s position is that we have delayed implementation until August – and we are doing what we have always said – which is keeping that decision under review.”
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.hellofaread.com/politics/kids-have-near-zero-risk-of-getting-covid-at-school-as-just-11-have-died-from-virus-study-finds/
