Older viewers want new approach to BBC funding
Responding to reports that the BBC may be planning to ask over 75s to contribute towards their BBC licence fee, Paul Green, director of communications for retirement specialists Saga commented:
“The over-50s are among the strongest champions of the BBC and value its programming. However, they need to be very cautious not to drive away their support with such simplistic measures. In a poll of 10,000 older people, three quarters of the over 70s were opposed to taking away the free TV licence.
"There is a growing sense that the BBC has to look wider than the licence fee for funding. Saga’s members applaud the absence of adverts interrupting programmes, but 63% of those who supported change thought that sponsorship of programmes should help balance the BBC's books.
“The BBC’s leaders need to open their minds to new sources of cash and ensure that any additional funds raised go back into programming and not into BBC Bureaucracy. They need to be more a grade A program maker than a W1A bureaucratic sitcom.”
