§ 10. Mr. Steve Webb (Northavon)What will be the aggregate payment to Government from Channel 3 licences in 1999; and what is the corresponding figure for 1998. [62136]
§ The Minister for Tourism, Film and Broadcasting (Janet Anderson)Those broadcasters making payments to the Exchequer under the terms of the Broadcasting Act 1990 paid £423 million in 1997, the last year for which figures are available. Payments for 1998 will be of the same order, subject to the companies' performance in securing advertising and sponsorship income, on which part of the payments are based. It is not possible accurately to forecast the 1999 payment levels, which will be lower because of the renewal of eight of the 16 Channel 3 licences on different terms.
§ Mr. WebbI am grateful to the Minister. Newspaper reports suggest that the ITV companies will receive a 598 windfall of £75 million, and it occurs to me that that is a third of the cost of free television licences for the over-75s. The money that BSkyB is bidding for Manchester United would pay for free licences for that group for three years. However, the Government's review of the cost of concessionary television licences is restricted to BBC funding. Will the Minister extend that remit to see whether money can be found from commercial, satellite and cable television to provide free licences for old people?
§ Janet AndersonI thank the hon. Gentleman for that question. The review is about to commence and the concessionary licence scheme will be given detailed consideration but, in this review, will be restricted to BBC funding. As the Government have said on many occasions, we accept that the present system is unfair and unsatisfactory.