BR Video: Diverting licence fee to ITV regional news splits public

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 24-Jun-09, 09:00

LONDON - People are divided on giving BBC licence fee money to ITV but agree Britain needs more than one channel to provide regional news programmes, according to members of the public interviewed in the latest Brand Republic video -- watch it now.

Lord Carter's Digital Britain report, released last week, suggested giving commercial media players direct access to £130m plus of the licence fee for the first time to finance the provision of local TV news beyond the BBC.

However, people interviewed in the latest Brand Republic video had differing opinions about the plan. Some thought that it was a good idea, saying that the BBC should share the money as it was the fair thing to do.

Others felt that sharing the licence fee money was not the way forward because they were worried that the quality of BBC programmes would be diminished.

One man said he was opposed to the licence fee being shared because he believed the commercial side should raise their money through advertising revenue.

However, the majority agreed that the UK needs more than one channel to provide regional news programmes, saying that it is important to have a "choice" and have the ability to access a "broad view".