§ Dr. George TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made 519W of the relative value for money of the television licence fee for those viewers who cannot receive the regional broadcasts appropriate to their home. [77396]
§ Janet AndersonA television licence is required to install or use television receiving apparatus to receive any television programme service, as defined by the Broadcasting Act 1990. The licence fee is therefore a payment for permission to receive television broadcasts and not for a service provided. It is payable in full irrespective of the services that can be received or the use made of those services. Linkage of the level of the fee to the services available to, or used by, individual licence holders would undermine the principle of a universal licence fee to fund the BBC's services and would be wholly impractical to administer.