BBC Charter Renewal Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
Cameron Thomas
Main Page: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)Department Debates - View all Cameron Thomas's debates with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
BBC Charter Renewal
Cameron Thomas Excerpts(3 days, 22 hours ago)
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Sir John Whittingdale
Whether or not it is value for money is a debate that the BBC has advanced for as long as I have been debating the BBC. The question is: what do we compare it with? Is 25p value for money, or is £1.50 value for money? Unless it is decided what the BBC should be doing, we cannot determine that.
The other big factor is that paying the licence fee is not a choice. People do not have the opportunity not to pay; if they want the BBC, and indeed live television at all, they are required by law to pay the licence fee. Saying, “Oh, it’s fantastic value for money,” is very difficult when nobody has ever been given the opportunity to demonstrate whether they think it is value for money by choosing whether to pay for it.
Cameron Thomas (Tewkesbury) (LD)
One thing I learned recently on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee is that one way the BBC provides value for money is by being one of the only sources—if not the only source—of income for children’s content creators. Without that income, we would not get quality content for our children. There is a way of looking at this not purely from an individual perspective, but as an investment in the future. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree with that?