BBC licence fee should be means-tested, former chairman suggests

The BBC licence fee should be means-tested, a former chairman of the corporation has suggested. In his first interview with the BBC since leaving the broadcaster, Richard Sharp said lower-income households could pay “less than those people who are well off”. Mr Sharp, 68, claimed everybody should be able to consume BBC content and should be subsidised accordingly. He said the corporation offered far more – with the World Service, news, sport and radio – than rival platforms such as Netflix. The former chairman suggested there were “opportunities for creativity” to ensure people don’t get “left behind in their opportunities for free media consumption”. Mr Sharp resigned as chairman of the BBC in April last year after a report into his appointment found he had “failed to disclose potential perceived conflicts of interest”, including his involvement in the facilitation of an £800,000 loan for Boris Johnson, who was Prime Minister at the time. His comments come after Tim Davie, director general of the BBC, this week announced the corporation’s plans to explore how to reform the licence fee. Mr Davie floated the idea that wealthier Britons could be made to pay a higher fee, but the Conservatives made clear this...

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